How do you know if you were successful in life?

Ok yes I will admit that it's likely uncomfortable for a fish to be taken out of the water and they don't really take too kindly to it but besides being uncomfortable and irritated they aren't exactly harmed. They don't die once released back into the water after about a minute or two of "suffocating". You'll find that most anglers are respectable folks who actually care about the fish themselves and do their best to minimize their discomfort and not harm them.

In fact just the other day I went out on my boat for a leisure cruise and to try out a new reel that I bought and I accidentally caught a fish on my first cast. I was just tossing the lure to see how to reel handled. Anyway, not actually going "fishing" i left my tackle bag in the house and law of nature would have it this particular decent sized smallmouth bass decided to inhale my lure. After about 3 mins of trying to get this hook out with my fingers to no avail I set the fish back in the water and slowly made my way all the way back to the shore of my yard, let the line out and released the drag so the fish could swim around a bit, walked all the way back to my house, grabbed my pliers, came back down, and proceeded with what was basically surgery trying to get this hook out from halfway inside the fish. Had to stop and put him back in the water about 5 times before I was finally able to maneuver this hook out. Held him by the tail in the water for a few mins while he regained his strength and with a small tap off he went. Whole ordeal took about 45 mins.

For a lot of folks a fish that swallowed a treble hook with all three barbs attached is a dead fish. Rip the guts out to get your lure back or cut the line. Since I had no plans to eat it (it was too big, they don't taste as good when they're that big) I decided I would do my best to save it because I don't kill what I don't eat, at least not intentionally. So instead of spending the evening cruising around on my boat like I planned I spent it trying to save some random fish that I catch about 10 of per outing on average.

So, I won't apologize for being a fisherman....it's what I enjoy most in life and while I understand that it's not exactly the most fun for the fish themselves to get caught by me I do actually do the best I can to minimize their discomfort. I'm pretty sure there are worse animal abusers out there than I am....