Fish Slime

I see many posts about fish handling and care mentioning being cautious about touching the fish as removing the slime coating to be harmful, and some sites to even go as far to saying it's commonly fatal. 

 

I don't believe this to be the case, or at least believe it to be so critically the case. I fish several local ponds that get a good bit of fishing traffic, and I frequently see other anglers, and myself included, handling fish with bare hands that haven't been wetted prior to doing so. Yet I never, ever see dead fish in these bodies of water. If rubbing off the fish's slime was so lethal, wouldn't I see more dead fish?

 

I'm not saying I do it intentionally, but many times if I can't lip the bass due to it flopping around, I may grasp it under the belly as that many times will calm the fish while I'm unhooking it.

 

What's your take? Am I wrong in my assumptions? or is it more a tale of caution to the fish rather than imminent death?

I'm with you.

 I probably have seen more die from being gut hooked or too long a fight,  I've yet to see a fish go belly up from a 60 second or less fight, they swim off pretty frisky.