Grabbing the line is terrible haha. Best to get them close to boat with about 4-6ft of line out or so and bring them to you using the rod.

Hahahaha...I seem to stick myself with hooks in the living room getting tackle together..lol

Life's too short. No

A lot more can go wrong with bending down to retrieve the fish by hand, especially with the smaller ones. Much easier on my body to flip them in the boat. Its a fish, it just had its eyes crossed with a sharp hook and its jaw jerked a complete 180 degrees under the water. That being said, I treat them with the respect and care they deserve so that they can do it all over again another day!

I have flipped jerk bait fish in the boat on tourney day but was because I barely had hooked...Small fish or fish with a worm hook nicely implanted is fairly secure/safe..When I see the laydown, or line grab, or the rod way up high, im waiting for TV failure..lol..

nope....its better than the way major league fishing has kissed up to the animal rights groups with there dumb azz rules....

I swing up real hard onto the deck, but my deck is padded. Does that help?

Y'all got the wrong idea. I don't care about bass rights, but if you're going to release a fish, keep it healthy so it can go make more baby bass

I hit them in the head with a billy club before I bring them in.

FLW has some of the best catch and release % out there.

Bass are much more tough than say a trout......

Only thing that lives longer is a catfish...leave them in the bottom of the boat for hours. Still breathing.

For me, Swindle summed it up pretty well in this video.

Start at the 3:00 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HLXVfo4YSM

I read somewhere that fish dont feel any pain at all. So as long as they arent killing the fish, by all means do what you have to do to win your tournament.

This statement is genius and if it's was on the internet then it's obviously true.

I've also read that you can hold your cooler up to a pan of hot grease and they will swim right into the grease and not even realize it before they are cooked.

Who's ready to run down to Fork with me to do some harvesting?

Fish do not feel pain, hmmm, so, some "experts" say so.

Since I've never thought about the initial question of this post while watching fishing, I guess it does not bother me.

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And hot water will freeze faster than cold water.