Hey fellas
You know the issue of keeping fish alive and healthy when releasing them has always been very important to me. Before I got in to bass fishing I was a trout fisherman and caught and released hundreds of trout. You want to talk about a fish that is sensitive to rough handling, trout are it. When I catch trout I prefer not to even touch them and just use a pair of hemostats to remove the hook while the fish is still in the water. If I am going to take a picture I might lift the fish out of the water with both hands, already wet, and snap a quick picture. Trust me, I know how to handle fish.
When it comes to bass you are looking at a fish that is about 10 times tougher than a trout. When you look at that fish on the carpet, that fish was probably out of the water for no more than a minute. I have my digital camera in my cooler always, and when I catch a fish that I want to take a picture of I just lip it, lay it in the boat, grab the camera with the other hand, pop the lens cap off with my mouth and snap a picture. That fish and every other bass I have ever snapped a picture of are certainly still alive and swimming around the lakes I caught them in. When you lay a decent size fish over 4lbs on the carpet they usually don't move at all. Seems like the bigger ones just don't feel inclined to flop around.
So I dunno, I probably sound defensive here, but I am being defensive because I think that taking a picture like that is such a "no big deal" kind of thing.
And as for taking the pictures, I guess it could seem like I am trying to brag and say, hey look at this fish I caught blah blah blah, but I do it really for my own record, so that next year and the year after I can look back at my old reports and remember each fish and what I caught it on, what the conditions were like etc.
Looking at this fish I know I will remember the pink at the base of the fins and the redness around the mouth. Those are signs that the fish has been feeding heavily on crawdads, something to think about when you are trying to decide what to use.