Hey Bud, keeping a snagged fish is against the law for obviously very good reasons. A vast majority of snagged and released fish survive because their gills and throats aren't involved. The fish you kept with the hole torn in it's belly might have survived long enough to spawn. I have seen very big holes torn in bellies, sides, and backs of salmon and steelhead by seals that have made it all the way up into upriver areas with the wound semi-healed over. In the few instances that one should die it will provide needed nutrients to the river for juvenile fish to feed on, as Marty mentioned. You were very wrong and against the law to have kept that fish; if unwittingly, now you know not to under any circumstances! Can you imagine if that excuse to keep a fish were acceptable? Whiifftt ... whiifftt ... whiifftt ... whiifftt ... whiifftt ... would be heard a lot more than it is unfortunately heard already. - RT