Micro ... The study is real. It was conducted by Queen's University in Ontario. I'm pretty sure that rainbows were the species of interest here.

While percentages may vary some based on species, the fact that similar studies in very different portions fo the world all point the same way does make it very obvious that when you intend / are required to release your fish, the reposnsible thing to do is: play them quickly, and limit their time out of the water.

Yes, the merits of C&R have been hit pretty hard, but I think thisis an important thread to teach those that don't realize the impacts of keeping fish out of the water for minutes at a time ... maybe we can email it to some of those Saturday morning bass shows!