new to fishing, have some questions

[slowfish]

Im new to fishing and im kind of getting frustrated. The last couple of days I have been fishing in a small creek and in a river for trout. I am using 8lb test line, a small split shot, a size 6 hook about a foot down from the split shot, and a piece of the powerbait trout bait. I have noticed just by placing it in the water near me where i can see, the sinker hits the bottom, but so does my bait. I thought the sinker was supposed to either control the depth(in this case i would need a smaller sinker) or was supposed to hit the bottom and the bait would float up to the side that way its suspended in the water and not resting along the floor. If i use any lighter of a sinker though, im not really going to be able to cast very far at all, not even to the middle of the small river or the creek. What are some things i need to know,somethings i could be doing wrong,what other kind of bait or lure could i use. etc? Would a spinner lure be decent in the moving parts of the river? How should i set up the rig, etc?

For the record, i have done days and days of researching and felt this would be a good way to get a lot of questions answered. Thanks in advance.

Also, the only luck iv ever seem to have fishing is in a lake at night. Ill bait with chicken liver and usually can get a catfish or two.