Has anyone out there float fished nightcrawlers (similar tecnique to the pink rubber worm) for winter steelahead? any Luck?

How about just drift fishing them?

They love those pink rubber worms you would think they couldn't resist the real thing. It would obviously be more work keeping them on well and drifting right.

nightcrawlers used to be the best bait around...until the steelhead started to prefer high tech graphite rods and expensive reels and fancy space-age lures.

just fish them the same way you would eggs or shrimp or any other bait. when i use them i like to hang one under a float. the fish will hold on to them longer than the fake worms and that makes for more hookups.

I've caught plenty of steelhead (winter and summer) on nightcrawlers, under a bobber in snaggy water or drifted like any other bait. When drift fishing a nightcrawler, I always use a corky, and orange has been the best color for me.

They work great on the Rogue River for summer-runs. Just thread it on a #2 hook and use a dark red puffball to hold it in place. I'll sometime put the upper end in the egg-loop to help it stay up. A blood red and black corkie also works well.

I haven't used them under a float, but half the fish I caught last year I used nightcrawlers. I drift them with a homade rag, or just corkie and yarn. I have also just drifted them alone bare hook. That seems to work good when the water is lower and clear. I would bet using them under a float would work just as good as the pink worm.
Buck

Thanks guys for the good info. Just one of those things I have wanted to try but haven't got around to. With the positive info I'm going to get some crawlers next time out. Thanks