It depends on the situation. With a second person in the boat and a big net the locked down drag thing is the way to go. You can totally overpower almost any fish that bites with 25 lb and the faster it goes in the net the better. The theory is that when you're just winching that bass in as fast as you can, and never give it a second to start fighting, the bass never really has a chance to do any acrobatics or build up momentum to tear out a hook. This also goes for shore fishing.

They key in the situation above is that you never let up on the fish for one second. But by yourself in a boat you can run into problems at the side of the boat just like you described. I hooked a fish a couple months ago by myself where I got burned by a locked drag. I powered the fish to the boat as usual but didn't have the net perfectly positioned when it got there. As soon as I let go of the reel handle the fish dove under the boat, straightened out both Owner treble hook, mangled my swimbait, and got away. Not a huge fish either, probably right around 10 lbs. From now on I'm letting off on the drag a little when I'm fishing by myself.