I have back reeled in the past and it does work you have the switch flipped so you can back reel and rather then using the drag you reel in reverse to ease the pressure on the line......if your not good at it, you will lose lots of fish
now what I do is, I have a loose drag all the time, so any time a fish wants to run, it can
and I finger the spool with my index finger putting extra drag whenever it is needed while lifting the rod to 90% then reeling in as I drop the rod back down, then again remove or put my finger back on the spool as needed and do the same thing all over till the fish gets in...very little practice and it will come easy..don't know if I wrote that in a way anyone could follow