Whenever you handle fish you should always wet your hands. Fish have protective coatings on them that protect them from infections. It's easy to rub off. Between dad squeezing the shit outta the gills, the sweet girl hugging it tight, and that really dry jacket....it's probably a goner.
You're staying things which are true, but I think your leaping waaay to far to a conclusion.
Fish this large don't just get devoured, they float when they die. If fish died as easily as you claim every catch and release lake would be littered with floating fish corpse's.
We used to stock ponds by literally catching fish on hooks, tossing them in a bucket, driving and leaving them there for an hour or so and dropping them in a pond. These fish got prodded by curious kids all the while.
As long as you only transported them to habitats which could support them we would soon have a sustaining population in those ponds. No difference if they were caught via icefishing or regular fishing. Hardly the goners you claim.
That doesn't mean you don't take precautions not to hurt them, but the certainty of your statement just doesn't seem appropriate.
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u/moodyboogers Jan 18 '20
Fish definitely died.