I actually spent one season (March till November) trying to determine if eyes on my minnow patterns added to their effectiveness or made it worse. Please keep in mind that I was fishing exclusively for LM bass. After one summer of switching between the same flies with or without eyes, the best I could determine is that if the fish are in an aggressive feeding mood, the eyes enhanced the effectiveness of the pattern. If the fish were in the mood to be a bit finicky where they would slide up behind the fly and maybe pump their jaws a couple of times to "taste" the water or just follow behind the fly, then the patterns with eyes were not as effective. So my definitive answer is "It depends."

Jim Smith