that's always the way things work on BBs. people love burn others on a stake for these things. sh!t happens.

two summers back while plunking got into a very nice 15lb steelhead. while bring to the sand could easily see that it was badly gill hooked. losing blood bad. by the time i got it to the beach it had totally bled out. yes it was a wild fish, a now very dead wild fish. i did my best try get him going again, know it wasn't going to work. so there i had dead wild fish in my hands. my heart was in the right place to see it released. this was witnessed by other plunkers. i eventually put it in the ice chest. figured if anyone wanted to call the game dept they easily could have. i could have grabed all my gear and split and look very guilty. i stayed and till the tide was gone. i fed the family with that fish.

the overall story is simple things happen that cause fish to die. i've released every wild fish for over 18 years now. so no i'm no harvester of wild fish. but sh!t happens.