Craig,

I wasn't trying to imply that you mishandled your fish. When salmon fight in very warm water (like lake WA) it takes a very heavy toll on them, and the survival rate is usually pretty low regardless of how carefully they are handled. That's why it's best to retain your limit and then stop fishing so that the sport quota is met with the least amount of incidental mortality. In you first post, it was the part about "meat gomers" that prompted me to respond at all. In this case, they are probably doing less damage.

FFF,

Yeah, I hate going home after 20 minutes too. I usually practice C&R, mostly because I don't need a lot of fish for the freezer. In certain instances though (like this) it's just too hard on the fish. Even if you did get them to revive, there's no guarantee that they didn't die a few minutes later, just sank to the bottom, and no one knew any different.