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My issue has always been "we dont ever really know" but if your catching and either keeping or releasing you never truly know on the releasing part. If you are fishing and catching / releasing you cant truly know but have to assume some amount of mortality even when releasing. I have caught 20 times more largemouth in my life than stripers so I am basing most of my response on that expertise specifically but I have caught 10 bass in a couple hours on the same lure/ method and release 9 confident they would live no issue but that one ....that one was roughed up and bled more than the other 9 combined......we've all been there and cant deny it happens. Catch and release all you want...make yourself feel good about releasing but fact of the matter is you are weakening every fish you catch in some manner. Some (and maybe most) will survive....but some will suffer. Some may die 15 minutes later and some may not... some will heal, some might suffer infection and die a month later....my point is we cant prove catch and release is a hundred percent survival or hundred percent fatality. some will go one way or other...just like humans in a fight. Some could die in minutes from a blow to the head or some could get so brutally beaten and live against all odds. But don't ever assume every fish you release magically survives just because you released it.
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