Under certain conditions, steelhead will hit just about everything. Beads can be really deadly for winter run fish. Especially early run fish that run into eggs from late season salmon along with later in the season when the steelhead start to spawn themselves and the fresher fish that come in a little later in the season will gladly take a bead if presented right. Early in the year, steelhead aren't that picky from what I've noticed. They will hit just about anything that you would normally use for steelhead if you can find them. As the season goes on, they see so much of the typical baits that sometimes a switch to something different triggers a bite (twitched jigs can be killer later). So yes, try beads as you could easily get fish to bite them (if you find them of course). Big bonus with beads is that you can regularly get a lot of bull trout and other species as a bi-catch. Early in the year, don't focus on what you're using too too much, just fish something you are decently confident in. Just cover a lot of water because finding them is the trick. As the season progresses, try working different baits through runs that you're confident are holding fish.