Anytime I have a big fish on the line, my primary thought is, "Get this thing in the boat." Don't dilly-dally, just get the grabbers or the net and land it.

I can't help but notice videos of other fishermen with seemingly the opposite thought process. A 4-5 lb smallie caught with a jerk bait and only one barb of the treble hook in its mouth. And then ensues a five minute dance next to the boat of the fish with just its head out of the water, flopping all around, and this cool customer trying to lip the fish. If I tried that type of care and patience, the bass would throw the hook immediately and be gone. Or maybe it wouldn't??? I'm too scared to try it and lose a huge fish.

What am I missing here?

Without knowing you, meaning have you caught a lot of fish, big fish, how often you fish - one must have confidence in sharpness of your hook-line-rod-reel-(drag) and, most important, one's self. Most of that comes with experience.

Stay calm and play the fish. Horsing a bigger fish usually ends in disappointment. I'll adjust my drag as I play a fish.

One thing that gets neglected by novice fisherman is not sharpening your hooks often, especially on brand new lures. I will not tie on a lure until each hook sticks to my fingernail.

You are missing nothing. Guys try to lip fish for the fun of doing it like they do on fishing shows. I'm with you; get that effer in and unhooked and get the lure back in the water where it belongs. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary pageantry in landing and releasing fish these days. I blame the internet. :) Get it in and throw it back, I say. Nobody's watching.

Everything depends upon the circumstances. If the fish is a significant challenge to your tackle-especially line strength then you play/tire it out. You also tire it out if the options for netting are limited. My 60+ years of fishing experience says that, in general, keeping good pressure on while tiring the large fish is the best option.

Last September when I was catching 15 to 19 inch brookies hand over fist they were doubling over my lightweight, 6 1/2 foot rod with 6# test pretty good...and making my reel sing. I know from my brother's filming that they were taking about 3 minutes to land. I could have hauled them in much more quickly. Now these do not qualify as huge fish, however, that I caught at least 20 of them and did not loose a single one-and only one was too deeply hooked to release informs me that my method here was a good choice.

Otherwise, we are all informed by a variety of points of information. Here, I have caught a ton of fish in my lifetime and have never sharpened a hook-so, I do not believe it has anything to do with anything in this regard.

To answer the question one only needs to watch how a musky fisherman hauls in one. If you were to start a stopwatch from the time it’s hook until released it would not be that long. From the rod, reel, line, leader, swivel, hook, everything is designed for big fish. Then it gets close to the boat and and you net it. Leave the fish in the water, remove the hooks, hoist it out for a picture and back in the water. I’m always amazed how fast all this takes place. I also try to emulate this process because it’s better for the fish than playing it for 20 minutes.