I believe Mr jcasebee is referring to fighting a fish with the line pinched to the grip as opposed to getting the fish on the reel.
In my experience, normally there's not often a lot of time to get the fish on the reel
With a good bass and the cover that they will often try to escape to, you need to get control right away
There's rarely time to reel in any extra line
Do the best you can, that's what makes it fun