Dru, you must learn to get the fish on the reel. Do not find yourself with a pile of line on the water (or ground) when the big one hits. Yes, I know you can play and land small fish by stripping line in by hand, BUT, I'll bet you would have landed that fish if you had been playing him off the reel. A big part of fly fishing is line control. That means in the casting AND playing the fish.

If you get caught with too much line out and have a fish on, pinch the line against the rod and reel the excess line up right away.
You can get the fish on the reel, but it is a lot easier to have your line under control all the time.

We're enjoying your writing too.