Live nightcrawler is a killer bait for steelhead. They also catch searun cutts, bows, suckers, and whitefish. Unless you're sight fishing, you never know what's tap, tap, tapping on the other end. I like to bury the hook in the middle, and add a small corky for flotation. They're a good bait to run through a hole that has been pounded all day by conventional drift gear.