Nothing wrong with the methods you are using. It keep in mind you have to fish a river that has fish in it currently and you have to fish holes that hold fish. I have caught hundreds and hundreds of steelhead in Oregon. I used to fish for them 200 days a year.

Explain your bead setup. I may be able to provide some assistance. I like my bead 3/4" above the hook pegged solid. Go to dollar tree and buy a 1$ BBQ brush with silicone bristles. They are slightly tapered and you can run them through the hole in the bead and make it snug to peg the bead solid. One brush can get you 100+ bead setups. Use a #4 or # 6 hook. 18" above your bead put a single split shot on the line. Then go another 6-7 feet and put your bobber on. You want a lot of leader. So it lightly bounces the bottom. Very lightly. Not dragging.

Are you bank fishing or in a boat. Have you tried traditional drift fishing. With say a corky and yarn or shrimp. I used to go to the food store and buy uncooked shrimp and catch piles of steelhead on them. Below a corky drift fishing. Or side drifting from a boat. Which is mega effective. Just remember to use the lightest amount of weight possible. To achieve a light tap every 3-5 seconds. Your not trying to dredge the river. Light leaders. 6-8 lb test 24"-48" leaders depending on water depth and clarity. Try and fish the rivers on the drop. You can always pm me and I can go not greater depth on setups and what not.

It's hard to give you advice about how to fish an area without seeing it. But I can tell you this. Bottoms of sets of rapids where the current kinda tightens up. Fish the inside of those heavy currents. Fish the insides of corners. We are call them fishing "the tailouts" of sets of rapids. Don't fish the heavy current fish the inside seams. bobber fishing can be very effective on fishing very slow moving water where drift fishing makes it difficult.