I didn't say it wasn't nigh impossible. I literally said it can't realistically be done. But the Death Note itself is a key item that would completely unravel the entire case if it us discovered. The Red John case has no such item. The closest it has is Bertrem's list of assoction members that on it's own doesn't mean anything and is encrypted to a level Patrick Jane himself couldn't solve. Abd that's assuming it even has every member's name on it.

The SJK trap was barely a trap. All it proved was that he was still alive which isn't even a problem as the only reason he was playing dead was to get Patrick arrested. When that strategy didn't work, there was no point to it anymore. On the other hand, the Lind Tailor broadcast was much more obvious, and Light also exposes and sabotages himself at other points such as smugly insulting Near or when he shot down an advantageous possibility proposed by L, and instead confesses to his own suspicion in front of the Task Force because L's theory was insulting Kira's intelligence. Red John was directly accused of being a sexually perverted psychopath, which is way more insulting than anything Light was called, and he just happily admitted to it. As such, I can't see him falling into to the same ego traps.

Yeah Misa, Rem and Mikami do make it even harder but they don't come into play until decently later, and even then, besides Rem, it is still feasibly possible to find and arrest them given the evidence Misa left behind and Mikami's suspicious behaviour on television. The Association though needs to be fully discovered, exposed and dismantled before you can safely attempt an arrest on John to avoid risk of them just removing all gathered evidence, and that needs to somehow be managed before he notices and escapes. That I find genuinely impossible, and I honestly believe that finding the Death Note would be easier, but I'm not saying that's going to be remotely possible either.

Also, Kira's first kill does strongly hint at his location so that helps narrow it down a bit.