Jacob,
Congrats on a very nice fish. Seems as though a few others are a little jealous. I can remember how excited I was after landing my first 20 pounder. That fish went to the taxidermist. So you sending back certainly has to feel a lot better than killing it.

I don’t know how much, or if any harm comes to a fish on the bank for a very short time, but let me tell ya. I was fishing on a river in Minnesota, for large German Browns, when an explosion of minnows erupted from the water. A few minnows ended up on the gravel bar I was standing on, and much to my surprise, a brown of about 5 pounds or so, leapt onto the the bar, flip flopped over to one of the minnows, and grabbed it in it’s jaws and flip flopped back to the river. I was just wondering if this fish knew how much harm it was doing to itself, by getting sand all over it’s body?

I would venture to say that the fish survived. Mine didn’t. Don’t let the extremists run you off and enjoy your fishing while you still can. Seems that some just want to keep it all for themselves, unless you use the same hook, same bait, same rod, hold your tongue the same way, etc, etc.
I’m not condoning mishandling these precious fish, but what makes some think they should become a fish cop all of a sudden? Isn’t it better to lead by example, than to chastise someone else?

My .02
Catarafter