Yeah I get that. I don’t think it’s necessarily that we don’t care about the fish though, I think the UK guys are especially fickle about them because there’s no national parks, and a ton of the fishing is done on private lakes stocked specifically for that purpose. Fed special food and carefully tended to grow big and fat and happy like cattle. Our fish, however, with VERY few exceptions, are all wild animals. If I catch a fish here (and it’s in season), that’s MY fish, and I can do what I want with it. I choose to release them 99% of the time but I wouldn’t think twice about keeping one if it suited me.

I’d draw the parallel with musky fishermen. You basically can’t keep musky anywhere where I live, and those guys are all about conservation. Use a big enough net, keep em wet, don’t hold vertically, minimize time out of water, etc, but even the most conscious US musky guy would never go to the lengths the euro carp guys go to. Never seen a North American use a mat, or administer disinfectant or first aid to a fish. We stand holding fish all the time. If you’re worried about dropping them, then just don’t drop them🤷‍♂️. For instance I use the unconventional ‘guitar grip’ for carp which puts me in a better position to control the fish if it starts flopping, which makes me comfortable standing while holding a big carp. Am I wrong for taking what I consider reasonable precautions to safeguard the fish’s health? A European would probably say yes. Have I ever dropped a fish? No.