I am relatively new to bass fishing.  I do alot of night fishing at a local pond.  Recently I caught a 5 or 6 pound largemouth using a 1/4 ounce jig.  I hooked him pretty good in top the lip and after trying to remove the hook with my pliers for several minutes, decided it was best to clip the lure and get the fish back in water.  Was this the right thing to do?    

Yes, but I wonder why you could not remove the hook from the top of the mouth.

Maybe a heavier set of pliers would help.

I purchased electrical pliers that are 8 inches long to get deep into the fish's mouth when necessary.

I have also gone through the gills to remove hooks.

But I have never had a problem removing a hook from the top of the mouth.

Could you have pushed the hook through and then clipped the barb off and removed the barbless hook?

And the only time I have had the hook on a jib break off was when I caught a Bowfin and he made a beautiful flip and the jig hook broke off.

Jig hooks are usually strong and they should be removable with a good set of pliers.

I agree with Sam.  Kudos for thinking of the fish first but if you can invest in a better set of pliers, that hook will come right out.  I HIGHLY recommend the Rapala pliers.

Another option you may want to consider is to crush down the barbs on your hooks. With experience, you won't loose as many fish as you might think. Makes hook extraction a breeze.

I sometimes have a little trouble with treble hooks, but not jig or spinnerbait hooks.  I'm getting the more I do it.  What helps me is that I have the pilers that have 3 grooves that keep it clamped down.   That way you can clamp down on the hook and then you can control the hook better then with your hands, and they stay closed so you don't have to wear your hands out holding onto the hook.  They have cheap and work great.

Get a hemostat/clamp they work great. You can clamp them on to the hook and remove the hooks easily. They sell these at Dicks, Bass Pro Shops, Boaters World and even Walmart. Obviously Walmart will have the cheapest price on them. I never have problems removing any hook when I use them be it a single hook or a treble hook.

http://www.scissorsales.com/hemostat.html

are those Hook Removel tools any good?   I've been thinkin about trying these:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=74116&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults