My first fish ever on my pin was a mid teens summer run. And on the second run I forgot what I was doing and let go of the spool! I was only 15 minutes into my very first day "learning to cast" and purposely fished a spot I thought had no fish in it.
That day I hooked a few more steelhead and lost them all due to slack line from letting go of the spool.
I've been at it over a month now and feel like I have a good grasp on pinning and haven't had any issues at all controlling fish.

It's alot easier then I thought it would be...and now everything just feels natural. But I haven't put my pin down sense i started. I've fished it every day and leave all my other rods/reels at home