The tenkara fish was in a section with a "pool" of aprox. 30 yards; the rod is 13' and was using a 12.5' ferruled leader with a 5-6' tippet.  I always keep rod high- between 11-2 oclock, with my arm raised (think statue of liberty), was able to contain the runs the fish made to within that cone by doing that.  I didn't really have to chase fish, which surprised me.  The theory w/ Tenkara is if runs hard, throw rod in, fish will not feel the resistance and settle back in.  Your retrieve rod and go again, thankfully didn't come to that, would have hard time convincing myself to let her go.
Believe I have it captured on gopro, have to look tonight.  Entire fight was under 4 minutes, but the challenge is the last couple of feet, need to have enough room to beach them.
I only invert the rod when I want to turn the fish, believe it or not, I found you can have them go anyway you want them to by doing this.  It puts the brakes on and turns them around in under 5 seconds, then put rod tip back up to "normal" high position.  My landing rate over last four days was 80-85% (two knot failures, my fault)  Largest fish was 28-28.5" (current difference of opinion w/ friend that measured it, lol) on 2lb; believe fight was under 6 minutes, but also involved me, having to cross creek to land (easier on other side).  Will also check time tonight.  All fish I hooked were contained to 25-30 yards the entire 4 days on various streams that had potential for huge runs (witnessed several by others).  The shock absorbing action of noodle rod (older BPS microlite series IM6 absolutely love.  Have Loomis, Lami's & St Croix but keep going back to this rod. Still looking for exact model for backup.  Found 8' but not 8.5')  and consistent steady drag are very beneficial.

absolutley correct SIDE PRESSURE been doin that trick for twenty plus years  aka low tipping the rod      wears them out  they turn sideways     when u holod the rod high they just dig down  and make the battle longer     if they run downstream and you run out of real estate   open bail let line go slack  sometimes they think they are free then resume the  battle  works sometimes

CAPTAIN HOOK
Fished one whole season with 2 lb. test on my spinning SS 430 Penn. Lost a lot in the beginning especially the early fresh Steelhead. As I learned to play the fish , work my drag proper , and mastered reeling backwards I landed many a nice Steelie ! Yes you can reel backwards and give line with tighter drag sets on bigger fish. Works great once you learn.
 
Landed my largest creek Erie Steelhead on 2lb. test / 13lbs. 32"
 
Only did that one season just to improve my personal skills.....it's a challenge ! 

I use the same technique on walleye casting also works great.

chartist
If you're using 4x tippet on a fly rod, you won't land many steelies....1x or 2x for steelhead.

Depends on the manufacturer.  x ratings differ in poundage between manufacturers and sometime within the same manufacturer.  Cortland 333 classic 9' 5x leader is rated at 4lbs, while Cortland fairplay 7.5' 5x is 3.5lbs. 
 I used 5x Orvis Green Mtn leader with 4 lb seagaur tippet this week, was 3/3 on flyrod.  Lowest rating leader I fish for Erie Steelhead is 3x (depending water conditions).  Cant horse them in obviously.

If you are using 1X or 2X you won't be hooking any steelhead in the streams.

If you guys are looing for any SS series let me know; I live 9 miles from where they used to be made (Hegins,Pa) before moving overseas; they are quite prevalent around here and can pick up a quality used (barely) at decent price.  I used to get several a week and sell online.
 
There is a start up called IRT-which is alot of the old Penn key employees, but they are currently focusing on high end saltwater spinning applications.