Fly shop story?

Hey everyone Was at my local flyshop here i the city . We were discussing steelhead fishing. One of the guys start telling a story about a teen catching a good number of fish. Believable. He said every time the guy hooked a fish he put the tip of his rod in the water and had little trouble giuding the fish to the net. Never heard of landing a fish by putting your rod tip in the water during the retrieve. It was late season according to the guy, and the fish weren't fighting hard like an early fall fish. Any one ever see this kind of retrieve? Any comments? Thanks everyone.

Putting the rod in the water, or at least near it pulls the fish straight from it's side (side pressure). This way you aren't lifting the weight of the fish up, so it's causing the fish to work harder. 

It is the best way to tire a fish fast, but if the fish has allot of line out it's best to keep the rod high until you can get it closer. The more line you have out, the more line you'll have running along the bottom to find snags/rocks to cut it.

Depending on how late in the season and the air temp. that rod tip could freeze solid real fast.

This guy wasn't fighting fish, he was literally sticking his rod tip under the water, and "jigging" his bait up and down the current. I have a picture somewhere, if I find it I will post it. You had to be there, he was well over six feet tall, and even though it was a warm day, he was decked out in an outfit that you would wear to Heinz Field in November. Fish had to be swimming past him, front and back, as he was standing in the middle of the area below the falls on Walnut.