First, make sure you keep your rod tip high and the upper half of the rod bent! Do not let the butt section of the rod get parallel to the water surface and allow the tip to point at the streaking fish. Keep an angle to your running fish. Hence the name of the sport: angling. Your rod is a spring that absorbs shock use it! As line peels off the reel the resistance of the fly line increases dramatically as the amount of line increases. You must back off on the pressure you are applying to the fish as it makes its initial burst. Keep your rod tip as high as possible (hold the rod well above your head if necessary), this will keep a significant amount of line out of the water and reduce friction that can break a line or weaken a hook set. Resist the urge to "palm" or slow down the reels spool. A decent drag set properly prior to the hook set has no emotion. It does not care if the fish is 8 inches or eight pounds! Let the reels drag do its job. When you do finally see that mysterious thin line called backing peeling off the reels spool, rest assured you have a substantial adversary on the end and your fight is in the infancy stages. The weight of the line and the reels drag will eventually slow the fish down if your gear is properly matched to the potential of the water you are angling in. Observe where potential obstacles like weed beds, anchor lines and shallow water are. You must watch the lines direction and put side strain on your fish by moving the rid tip opposite to the direction the fish is motoring immediately. Do not strip backing! Whatever it takes, keep the reel spool turning if the fish alters direction and comes back towards you. Backing materials do not lay as well as fly lines and not only will you lose the fish, you will be in the penalty box trying to untangle a gob of Dacron!