Personally I don't believe long leaders are necessary in most conditions. With standard drift fishing gear such as corkies and spin-n-glows, I never use more than about 24 inches, and even less if visability is 2 feet or less. It would also depend on what type of water I'm fishing. In faster water with a broken surfice, I'm definately going to use shorter leaders. However, if I'm in a smooth slower tailout, I may want to lenghthen it a bit. Steelhead don't know what mono is and generally don't care unless you are in extremely gin clear conditions. One of the best steelhead fisherman I know, never uses bait for steelhead, and consistantly outfishes everyone. He uses very short leaders(18 inches) I really think he's able to feel the fish sooner, therefore he is getting more opportunities to set the hook on fish that may otherwise have pick up the lure and spit it out if you were using a much longer leader. Using bait, I think the longer leaders are ok since their going to hold onto it much longer. The other thing I see him doing is setting the hook more often when the line stops. I would like to think that I can detect most steelhead strikes,however, I think there are many times where a steelhead does nothing but stop you lure/bait and if you don't set the hook, they're going to spit it out without you feeling a thing. Anyway,you should try shorter leaders when fishing with a buddy to compare your catch rates. I think you'll find your catch ratio will go up. Tight lines.