I think I picked the pattern up fly fishing - I feel like the first part of my drag system is my arms. I used to fight back, now I just let them surge and try to keep constant pressure on them, so rubberbanding a little. (Largemouth)

 

I still run my drag on the light side on most of my rods too. I can get a little more if I need it with my thumb.

Dwight said it perfectly👍👍

It depends on what the cover is like and what tackle I'm using.  There have been a few times when the vegetation was thick enough that I could just bury the bass in the weeds and run the boat over to pick it up.