Bass anglers land fish quickly because of the need to use heavy line, and heavier sticks fishing in heavy cover, and the need to pull fish out of that heavy cover. The thrill then, is not in the fight, but more on the hookup. When they lift fish out of the water skipping them across the surface, funny thing...the fish can't swim. A fly angler using lighter tippets can often do the same thing. Rather than allowing the fish to dive, and prolong the fight, they can often lift the fish to the surface, and keep it coming, rather than lowering the rod, and allowing the fish to dive. When we throw big flies to the banks pockets on the heavy current side of the river fishing out of driftboats, when we recognize a fish, say 15" or under, and we use 2x, or even bigger tippets, we call them "skippers"...skip that fish on the surface, get him in and released, and get your fly back out there...just like the bass guy. The ave. time was taken of tourney bass anglers to land a fish was timed, and it was 7 sec. to land a bass.
Landing a tarpon on a fly takes a skilled angler realizing how much pressure he can put on a rod. Most anglers have no idea, and never do apply the maximum pressure they could apply with the rod. My neighbor is a fly fishing tarpon guy that grew up in Florida. With his tarpon fly rod, he can pick up a 10 lb bucket of sand with the rod, and that is what kinda pressure he wants to apply to a tarpon to land it in a reasonable time, and release it.

This is an interesting subject. I tend to think that "playing" the fish into the boat would cause less overall shock to the fish and allow better recovery. The key is keeping the photoshoot to a minimum.

All good comments (except for the spam I nuked)... I'm all for playing fish... letting them run... in so far that doing so is essential to actually landing them. I use a net (rubber mesh), though I have a lot of friends who would argue that nets are more harm than good. What it comes down to for me is, when I watch an angler monkey around with a 15-inch trout for 10-minutes (with a reel that's essentially free-spooling), giddy as the fish streaks away, time after time after (unnecessary) time, I have to think: "C'mon man, enough is enough." Don't you?

i agree with both buckhunter and Sayfu

I will never advocate horsing trout for the sole purpose of easy hook removal later.

Florida tarpon, hello I'll not do it then either.

Washington State Halibut...I will do it then only because I need to put a bullet through his head just to get a 90 pounder in the Boston Whaler.

But I've watched TV guys for years growing up like Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston and Bubba this and Bubba that, yard bass out of the water and body slam them to the bottom of the boat. That's a quick catch but the end result release is death to the bass, in my opinion, due to internal organ damage. Now you've led by example Bubba, and the spawned anglers of this mind set are showing this generation and the next, how not to establish any chapter of "Bass Unlimited."

Let's don't be too down on the bass if he cannot swim when he is not in the water. Marlin are pretty game, but when a tournament angler backs down on them, they can be brought to the boat with astonishing quickness.

Deeter, I'd like to ask the question: What is fly fishing. I'm not referring to the equipment, but how we go about it. I don't agree with fishing the lightest terminal tackle for an oversized fish or over sizing said tackle so you can horse a fish in. It's not sporting if you hook and rip a fish to hand IMHO. Know your waters and what the proper balance is. I don't see anything wrong with a bit of fight on the water.

kirkdeeter, If you got down to the specifics of fighting a fish, you would know how much lbs of pressure your rod is applying to a fish at what angle you are holding the rod. You would know how much pressure in comparison to how strong your line is...pertaining to fly fishing, how strong your tippet is at the knot. Many anglers simply fish a lot, and learn how to fight fish. Gary Borger, or maybe Jason, but I think it was Gary, addressed this subject in scientific terms many years ago. There was a clock face composed around the angler, and the angles of the rod displayed on the clock face. As I remember, the rod held at 60% provided the maximum pressure applied by the rod. That is where the butt of the rod comes into play at its maximum. More than that, and the pressure applied by the butt is reduced, and the finer diameter tip comes into play putting less pressure on the fish. If you applied rod pressure against a scale you could determine that. Knowing your equipment is a big key. That is why the tarpon guy, who has to apply maximum pressure because of the size, and fight on the fish, knows how much lbs of pressure he is applying....at least the good ones do.

i can land a fish kinda fast but really depends on how big the fish is .

ejunk, If a fish runs, and you horse'um in, you have to fish out of another boat, not mine. When a fish runs, he is exhausting himself pulling against the bend in your rod, and the lbs. of pressure being applied as he runs. A most dangerous time for a netter, which is often ME, is to lower your head putting the net in the water, and the fish dives on another run, and the angler "horses"! If you do not lower the rod, and let the fish make another run, the netter has a good chance of getting a lure in the face, or a fly, whatever you are using. And you have no time to react to it.

a fair point, sayfu, but I don't have a "netter" other than my own right hand (or a boat to fish out of, for that matter). and for the sake of brevity, I didn't get into the exceptions - ie, big fish. I'm talking sub 16" trout here, which is probably what most fly fisherman catch most of the time. get them in, unhook them, let them go, and keep fishing. it's not difficult, it's not dangerous, and there is no need to let a 12" rainbow trout run other than to feed the angler's ego.

yrs-
Evan!

I meant to say a 10 inch rainbow! What I think of when anglers yard a fish in is the grayling I guided anglers for once in awhile in Alaska when Salmon were not running, or just for a change. Beautiful environment, great fish that few ever get a chance to catch because they only exist in non polluted waters, and in virtually all of our lower 48 states there is enough pollution in the streams they can't exist anymore...but for a few river systems.
Anyway, the standard reaction was.."these worthless grayling...no fight at all, just crank them in." And that was because they all had heavy spinning gear for Salmon, or big rainbows. Lighter gear, let'um run, bring them in, and admire a great fish.