All the opinions are interesting. I have a strong opinion on this topic because of one of my misadventures…..

I was fishing alone in the Yoop, really "alone", nobody within miles of me and I got in trouble because I was careless in releasing a fish. Rather than using the net, I chose lean over the side of the boat with a set of heavy LONG needlenose pliars in my right bare hand. The fish had only a single hook point (the bottom treble of a Poes Giant Jackpot) in the front top lip. I was just gonna grab the hook with the pliars, just pop it out, right? Well as soon as I touched the hook shank with those pliars the fish exploded next to the boat. My instinct was to jerk my hand out of there but 1) I was not fast enough and 2) those long pliars were not long enough. So I suddenly found myself attached to a healthy upper 30"s fish that jerked me around for maybe 5 or 8 seconds of boat-side thrashing. I'm laying over the side of the boat so the fish doesn't hang off my hand while I fumble to find those pliars. I find them and am lucky to reach over and with one grab/jerk the fish is unhooked. I lift my right hand and I am very hooked, the one hook in me was buried to the shank
in one hole and the hook tip was peeking out another hole about 2" away.

Ok, I have to shorten this story…here's the skinny from releasing the fish..

* I was unable to cut the hook away from the bait with the side cutters I had with me.

* I went into shock quickly but did not realize it at first. I was not thinking clearly – I used my hooked hand, with Poes Giant Jackpot still attached, to pull start my 15hp motor.

* The lake is full of timber and I can only go idle speed to the "landing". At one point I put the motor in neutral and try to jerk the hook out with another set of pliars. The hook didn't budge but the pain started. I put the motor back in gear and notice my face is suddenly sweaty and my vision is getting screwed up, like lots of flys are buzzing around and there suare a lot of them and….

* I woke up when the boat hit a tree dead on. Booommmmm! As I came back awake I realized I was now was hanging over the side of the boat, hanging far enough for the top of my head to be in the water. Don't know if i fell forward when I passed out or when I hit the tree.

* Load the boat and drive about an hour to get to the Dickinson County Hospital. Oh, I'm using my hooked hand to shift gears on my manual transmission Jeep. Drove slow and was really concerned about passing out again.

* The ER doc says it's the biggest hook he's ever cut out of someone in his many years of working the ER. One nurse held my hand in a twisted posoition down while another nurse pushed the hook as hard as she could to get the barb to come out of the exit hole. Success, there's the barb! But a setback – the ER side cutters won't cut the hook. An orderly runs off and comes back with some mini-bolts and we start over and push harder to get the bigger tool under the hook barb.

* Doc tells me I am very lucky to have not suffered any nerve damage in my hand.

* Within a week I have a reason to drive to Marquette and there at Gander Mountain I buy a great big Frabil net, mini-bolt cutters and a set of Lindy Gloves.

I never have any problems leaving the fish in the basket in the water at boat side as I gather my release tools, ready the camera and put on my Lindy gloves. Once the fish is unhooked I lift it out of the water (leaving the bait in the basket) and with one wet finger I hit the delayed shutter deal on the camera. One pic if under 40", maybe a couple pics if the fish is over 40". With my improved tools and process I'm usually able to follow the rule "Don't have the fish out of the water longer than you can hold your own breath." and I've never had a fish die on me.

Ok, that's enough story tellin'. But I'll add this thought for your consideration…it seems to me that a properly working drag system on the reel, plus the amount of fight in the fish I've hooked, dictates how fast I'm able to get the fish to the boat. I've replaced the stock drag washers with Smooothies on all my reels, BTW. Any decent fighting fish will pull line on any of my rods. I don't need to freespool like most folks do, even on boatside strikes.

Man, sorry this post is so long!