I have had no issue with fighting fish. The first fish I got on a lite bite was a 3.5# salmon and he made several jumps 50 feet behind the boat without any issues.
I also would agree with Roger's earlier post that my best luck to date has come with between 50 – 75 foot of line out before locking the lite bite down.
As far a friction there really should be no friction when the line is let out or retrieved.
