[TroutFishingBear]

cutthroat: I bet by your descriptions you were fishing for lakers. There are tricks to the trade to get them to bite once you get them on the vex screen. It is helpful for getting lakers to bite, but it is not necessary to find lakers as they are almost always glued on the bottom anyway.
However, it is great for suspending fish like crappies, rainbows, and kokanee.