I know it works for steelhead, I’ve heard it works for Atlantics…

https://www.speypages.com/threads/rod-tip-under-water.428762/?post_id=2704657#post-2704657

 

I learned this trick fishing the south fork of the snake in Idaho. There is a pink PMD hatch there that occurs on the large, submerged gravel bars in the middle of the river. Most of the fish will stack up just on the back side of the gravel bars, meaning you have to pull them upstream in fairly heavy current to land them. Fishing these smaller dries required 5x most of the time. Trying to land the fish with a high rod, puts you at risk for breaking them off. But putting your rod tip in the water, line and all, and reeling them always worked, even on bigger fish and light tippets. It must be something to do with pulling the fish perfectly in line with their streamlined bodies? Not exactly sure but it absolutely works!

 

It worked for me on kings in Alaska this summer so I tried it on a striper that got in the fast lane after snapping up my clouser.

 

Low rod always. Shifting from low to high and back again is great for making a larger hole piercing. Large hole piercing is not conducive to high net percentages.

 

Out of curiosity, I tried the "tip in the water" slow retrieve on a striped bass the other day. Sure enough, I slowly walked him back from a hundred feet down stream like a trained poodle. The fight resumed when I got him upstream and put the heat to him.

I wonder if other species can be tamed the same way.

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It's worked for me on every anadromous fish that's been in that situation. They want to be upstream! You can imagine it might not work on fish headed back to the sea but I have never had that opportunity.