Hey, not to discredit rock bass and perch and the like, but the time for bucketloads of them is coming soon. Trust me I totally understand you frustration with steelhead fishing around this time of year. But for the simplicity of goin by the river and even tossing out a live worm and float on a conventional spinning rod, and hooking into large,beautiful and fresh rainbows, it really can't be beat. I've only really got into steelheading in the last couple of years, but before id just take my 6,6 60 dollar spinning combo and follow my avid steelheader friend around for fun, net his fish and toss worms when he didnt have enough roe to share and caught quite a few of nice fish. For someone who appreciates resident trout fishing, I think given that given the right circumstances, and a nice peice of river, you would fall in love with stealheading like many others on these fourms. P.S. I could however go for nice pan fried perch right now tho, didn't get out for many this ice fishin season....