Firstly, you cannot underestimate the value of great bait. Great eggs can make all the difference many days. I am sure all of you know what I mean there. My gut instinct says he may have been a very competent angler armed with very good bait.
If your eggs were on par, then perhaps your depth was wrong, your drift may not have been optimal, or something about the rig spooked the fish.
I took two years and forced myself to fish floats all but exclusively. Years before I did the same with spinners, and I did it pulling plugs. I have learned that once you master a technique you can catch fish with it. I caught many fish in fast rapid water with roe under a float something I hadn't ever seen done. In those conditions I still believe a good drift fisherman has an edge, but not nearly what you'd think. And running a float into a tailout requires feathering the float a bit which brings the bait up and brings it across on the swing. You can catch tons of fish on a float this way, and by throwing line back into the drift and then feathering it back you can walk a float set deeper than the water depth down a slot and still catch fish. It is just practice, practice and great bait and you will catch fish with floats or driftfishing.

Good luck and happy fishing.