I've seen some guys give a huge yank on the rod. My nephew uses this technique and more often than not, I think he actually rips the hook out of the fishes mouth. I prefer to hold the rod at about a 9 o clock angle and reel until I feel the fish fight or at least good tension on the line. I then hold my reel with my hand (obvious I know) and firmly pull up to the 12 o clock position. My theory is this; if you can feel the fish on the line, the hook should be digging into the fishes mouth. A short tug at this point, should drive it home, if it is not there already, while a huge yank, might pull out a hook that is just in the edge of the mouth. There are way better fisher folks out on the than me, but once I get a fish on the line, it usually comes to the boat. When I loose one, it can keep me up at night reliving what I did wrong.