Noodle or Ice Rod?

you certainly would want an ice rod or short ul rod to ice fish if that is what you are asking.  as for open water i use my 10.5 noodle from september to april.  ive even ice fished trout run at the mouth with it....its a little awkward standing 10.5 feet away from the hole, not to mention fighting a fish under the ice with it.  a short ul rod for trout is good enough to ice fish in my book but thats just me.  it makes it tough in a hut however.  back to the noodle....i use mine for almost every type of lure/bait you can throw at steelhead.  i even drift flies and many agree there are many advantages to drifting flies under a float with shot over a fly rod.  as for line 6 lb is fine and go with a quality line like p line floroclear or even the pure florocarbon.  many use mccoy mean green as well.  people are very particular about line and leaders, etc.  i never use one.  back when i was dirt poor in college and fished steelhead with an ugly stik the only line i could scrounge up was mint green....caught plenty of fish on it.  as far as spring time fishing go as soon as there is another melt.  last saturday was incredible before the freeze.  lots of fish in the upper parts of the creeks but still many down low.  nice time to walk one creek forever and see what happens.  you wont be disappointed.  late winter into spring is a lot of drifting since you are usually dealing with heavier flow and sometimes colored water.  drift single eggs, skein, flies, yarn, minnows if you prefer to carry them, waxies, sucker spawn, blood dots...pretty much anything that is an egg or looks like one.  i dont carry minnows anymore but you can crush them on them in the spring.  i always found springtime steel liked minnows better than in the fall in my experience.  if you can jig certainly use them.  even floating them will work when you cant work them in a fast current.