Thanks guys! I really do care about the fish, so I did make sure to treat it extremely carefully. If there had a been another person nearby, I surely could have done everything needed without bringing the fish on to the beach. But there was no one nearby, and I don't see how I could have held my rod, held the fish, measure the fish, take off my vest, unzip the back compartment, take out the camera, unzip the camera case and take the picture all while holding the fish in the water at the same time.

Thankfully, the fish didn't struggle while he was laying down so he didn't scrape himself or anything. While I wish the circumstances had been slightly different (hell it would have been sweet to get a pic of me holding the fish) I made sure the fish was treated as carefully as possible.