I wouldn't beat myself up.  Back in the day, we fried thousands of bass and they survived.  These days, I respect bass too much to kill one.

2 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

It's not good for the fish to touch it's body.  Bass have a protective slim to protect them from infection.   Rubbing off this slim could cause the fish to get lesions.  For the same reasons, I do not use a landing net.  If you must touch them, do it with wet hands.  I hold bass by the lower lip.  I always make sure the bass can swim off under it's own power.  Fish are tough animals.  I have caught some that survived horrendous injuries.  It's best to release them as soon as possible.

Yep, my hands were wet and I held lower lip and suported just in front of tail (once again with wet hands

Nice bass, she was a bed fish and stressed from spawning, she will be OK!

Tom

1 minute ago, WRB said:

Nice bass, she was a bed fish and stressed from spawning, she will be OK!

Tom

Awesome! I released her right where I got her if was the case

33 minutes ago, Bird said:

I take horrible pics but return them fairly quick.......prime example. Lol

I have participated in online bowhunting contests for years, where you can enter one antlered and one antlerless whitetail. You have to submit a pic with the bowhunter, the deer and the bow. Trying to do that holding a handheld phone the pics look bad. I tried a small tripod and a digital camera but getting back, supporting the deer and readying for the pic was a PITA. Then...I got a selfie stick!

 

 

Yeah, it’s not photography contest quality, but it takes a much better shot than just holding the phone. So if holding a bass by the lip vs with two hands is good enough for your photo, try a selfie stick. I’m going to get mine out of my hunting daypack and put it in my tackle box the next time I fish. 

I usually fill a live well to take the pressure off.

If it’s around spawn, I get measurements and pics within 15 minutes.

If mid summer it may be an hr.

I often treat the water just in case

I fish to enjoy the great outdoors doing something that I have found I love to do and am willing to spend the time, energy and money necessary to get reasonably decent at.  I also do it to escape the modern world and all of it's trials and distractions.  For that reason, I do not carry a camera, phone, scale, or any such thing with me when I am fishing.  My personal best (that I know of) is 9.3 lbs and the only reason I know that is that I was bank fishing when I caught her and a guy close to me had a scale and wanted to weigh her.  Beyond that, I am thrilled with every fish I catch.  I practice C&R and return fish to the water as quickly as I possibly can.  I smash hook barbs to make this easier on me and the fish.  Have I missed fish because of this?  Maybe.  I dunno.  I don't fish tournaments nor am I chasing records.  I just don't care about any of that.  NONE of this makes me feel "morally superior" or any such nonsense, nor do I have any opinion about those who do, so long as they are fishing lawfully and ethically.  If you did your best to release that fish and she swam away under her own power and did not float to the surface after a bit of time (which based on your concern, I'm sure you watched) you can be reasonably at peace with the premise of her survival.  All we can do is our best.  Most times, that's great.  Sometimes, it isn't and we learn from mistakes.  Be a good steward and all will be well.

4 minutes ago, Jaderose said:

I fish to enjoy the great outdoors doing something that I have found I love to do and am willing to spend the time, energy and money necessary to get reasonably decent at.  I also do it to escape the modern world and all of it's trials and distractions.  For that reason, I do not carry a camera, phone, scale, or any such thing with me when I am fishing.  My personal best (that I know of) is 9.3 lbs and the only reason I know that is that I was bank fishing when I caught her and a guy close to me had a scale and wanted to weigh her.  Beyond that, I am thrilled with every fish I catch.  I practice C&R and return fish to the water as quickly as I possibly can.  I smash hook barbs to make this easier on me and the fish.  Have I missed fish because of this?  Maybe.  I dunno.  I don't fish tournaments nor am I chasing records.  I just don't care about any of that.  NONE of this makes me feel "morally superior" or any such nonsense, nor do I have any opinion about those who do, so long as they are fishing lawfully and ethically.  If you did your best to release that fish and she swam away under her own power and did not float to the surface after a bit of time (which based on your concern, I'm sure you watched) you can be reasonably at peace with the premise of her survival.  All we can do is our best.  Most times, that's great.  Sometimes, it isn't and we learn from mistakes.  Be a good steward and all will be well.

Well said.

I keep my phone in my back pocket so I can snap a photo quickly when I get the fish landed.  If I want to weight it I always have my scale near at hand and not tucked away some where that would take a good amount of time to dig out.  I set myself up to make sure that I never keep a fish out of the water for longer than a minute and a half or so. 

 

I've always been quite the lover of animals, not just the fury little mammals we like to keep as pets.  It hurts my a great bit if I believe I've harmed an animal to the point of death, or to actually have harmed an animal to the point of death.  I take steps to minimize these occurrences.  Its a shame that so many of our species just don't give a d**n if they cause harm to anything other than themselves.  Which is why I refuse to fish or even associate with those with that attitude.

15 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

 

Those plastic fish grippers tied to a parachute cord are a great way to keep a fish in the water, without having to pierce their lip, run a stringer through their gills/jaw, ect.

Never thought of that, great idea!!!

Article in the new In Fisherman addressed this very situation such as in tournaments where bass are out of the water for extended periods of time. Upshot was that your bass should be fine. Congrats.

Fish don't always speed off. Try and get them landed quickly. The less energy they expel during the fight the quicker the recovery. 3 minutes out of water isn't a whole lot in general.

Ive took pictures , weighed and measured fish, and admired them probably too long but I cant remember one fish that didnt swim off afterwards.

That doesnt include the occasional gut hooked or gill damaged fish that dont make it. They wont be wasted though!

thumbs up ... catch and release the bass is a wonderful thing ... don't be a meat fisherman ... it's a finite resource ...

 

good fishing ...

 

https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/catchrelease/bassconserve.phtml

 

 

 

 

Congrats on the PB!

 

I like to hold the fish in the water and grip it by the lip rather loosely. When the fish is strong enough to pull free on its own I figure it'll be fine. If the fight was short and the fish wasn't out of the water long I don't really worry about it, but I like to get releases on video anyways so I don't usually just toss them back in.

 

I've had fish swim away slowly that weren't tuckered out, I figure they're just tripping out on the fact that the big monster (me) is letting them swim away. "holy cow what just happened to me!?"

 

The first 10 seconds of this video is one of my favorite releases (eegads the thumbnail image is scary though! That's me on the right...):