I had similar thoughts. I was thinking "maybe they used 3 frames per second mode on the camera" which, theoretically could make the fish appear to be out of the water longer than it really was???"

But,

The poses are too dis-similiar which means precious seconds(or minutes) that were needed to get all those shots. The part I struggle with is the thing flopping around in the mud. Understandably, the guy was probably pretty jazzed......I would be. But why is it so damn hard for guys to keep a fish in a reasonable(foot or more) amount of water so the fish can recover while measurements pics are being done?

I don't get it.