I do a little move on the bigger size fish that might help you guys out. I jokingly call it the death spiral. When the fish gets fairly close to the boat (10-15 feet) I'll start to turn and as I reel them closer I'll spin around and around in a circle. When they are 5-8 feet out thats when I reach for the net and then I wait until they seem tired. If the water is clear you can usually get a look at where and how they are hooked and you can angle your rod/line in a way that holds the fish on the hook. You can put a lot of pressure on fish this way without breaking the line because you're working with the water instead of against it.

It's really hard to crank a big fish straight at you and get a grip on it because it will start thrashing but if you spin them around and around a few times it seems to disorient them or at least tire them out. A lot of times you can just put the net in front of the fish, slow down your kicking and then slack off on the line slightly and they'll dive straight into it.

I started doing this years ago with halibut from the float tube because halibut also have this habit of thrashing around and going crazy if you try to pull them straight at you. If you spin them around a few times while they swim about 2-4 feet under water its really easy to get them. If you've ever halibut fished from a tube, you'll see what I mean if you try it, its almost comical when you put the net out and slack the line and the halibut dives straight in :)