Fish can survive a lot of damage and still live. I caught three sockeye with net damage last year in Lake Washington. One was missing about 3 quare inches of skin, but yet they were still healthy enough to bite and put up a spectauclar fight.

A few other points. If you unintentially snag a fish in the river and let it go, it may die, but if it does those nutrients still go back into the river. If it lives the fish may spawn and then it will still die. All is not lost when the fish dies, but if your methods end up snagging a lot of fish, ask for instruction, or look for a different method.

I have snagged a fish before, and I know that the odds are with me when I say that most, if not all, of you have snagged a fish at least once in your life. Some are on purpose, others not. Mine weren't. Keep it clean. Andy