RN,
Why all the speculatin? Its pretty freakin sad when someone cant post a damn report with out the third degree from "keyboard gamies".

I dont have to elaborate but for the sake of not being labled anything derogitive I will.
The guy in question hooked the fish well above the gravel bar and walked it down to where I was standing, the end of the bar, to get it out of the way of others. The gent in question was not using heavy line and only had hip waders. I personally thought he could have "beached" the fish, but he asked for a net, I had one, Im a nice guy, end of story.
BTW the fish was hooked in the corner of the jaw on , believe it or not, a corky/yarn combo.

The only thing "fishy" about this story is the end result....a fish in the net, hooked legally.

Hope that clears things up for you.

RL