Sat night i fished eels with a manual pick-up and missed four fish. They all picked up the eel and i got the line off the roller, but each time I went to grab the line to put it back on the fish dropped the eel

. When the fish grabbed the eel i was bowing and taking the line off to give the fish slack, letting the line run through my fingers so i could feel the fish slightly like i do with a bail, and before i went to return the line to the roller I was flipping the rod tip to try to give me a little slack.
I know its going to take practice to get used to using the manual pick-up, i still fumble slightly on each cast

....anyone have any suggestions to make the transition from bail to manual any easier?
thanks.