Hi Ryan Goose et all: I agree that a really good fisherman can catch steelhead with any kind of equiment ,bait or whatever. I suspect however that most of us arnt in that class.I know i`m not.
I hate to waste good tailout water on bait. Its one of the best places for flyfishing winter steelhead especially if its a nice warm sunny day.
I`ll admit I dont bother to do a full switch to fly gear,often I wont even remove my float; just put on a good tubefly and strip cast it from a centerpin . Its more fun that way.
coot