That is true… it can just happen. And, in all honesty, I didn't factor in the fact that the fish is so friggin huge that it would take longer to land it than most. We are being super critical here I think but it pains me to see a big-name guys do this. I'd rather see a guy lead by example. There definitely seems to be some self-promotion involved here and I don't care for that. To me, catching a big one and taking some pictures to show your buddies is good enough.
I’ve stayed out of making any judgments on this but…
In the end who is worse; the guy that takes some pics to show his buddies (feed his ego) and has a fish out of the water for no reason… or the guy that tries to release a big fish without a photo and the fish dies?
There’s a very telling bit of info in Tom’s story that was, in my opinion, the reason for the death of this fish. You’ll note that Tom said the front treble on the bait was completely in the fish’s mouth and had her pinned shut. Well… if her jaws were pinned shut then she couldn’t breathe correctly and this was likely the biggest contribution to her death because of the long fight. She simply fought herself to death and not one of us would have done any better with the release. I know that I'm not taking the hooks off my lures just to avoid this situation, that's for sure.
Point taken. The combination of a shut mouth and hard/long fight could definitely kill a fish. But, saying someone taking a fish out of the water for 'no reason' to take a photo and that is solely for self-promotion is not true for all people. If the water isn't too warm and a fish hasn't exhausted itself, I can't knock anyone for taking a picture of a nice fish. Photos are cool and out-of-the-water photos are the best looking picture in my opinion.
"John E. Sox" said:
But, saying someone taking a fish out of the water for 'no reason' to take a photo and that is solely for self-promotion is not true for all people.
First let me say that I'm not bashing anyone for taking a photo of a fish out of the water – I do it.
Now… I wasn't talking "self promotion", someone needs something to promote for it to be self promotion (guide service, magazine, writer, etc). Though ego and self promotion often go hand in hand they're not synonymous.
If we ask the question… Why do we do it? The answer is ego and that's OK. Everyone has one, some keep their ego checks among friends and others do it on the pages of Musky Hunter.
If I caught a 14 foot lake trout I would throw it back because even if I took it home the world would call it a fake and blast me on the internet!
If I caught a muskie like Gelb's, I would take a picture, try to release it, and have a replica made. The biggest problem I have is the whole catching a muskie over 40 lbs thing.
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