Bill, I understand where you are coming from on this. It seems a little lame to me as well, but ...... there is a reason, or at least an explanation.
I am old enough to remember when almost all caught fish (Saltwater) came to boat with a gaff. Needless to say, they came to the boat dead. Catching the fish meant it was dead, and a lot of great fish that could have otherwise been released were never even given the chance. Obviously catch and release was not even heard of in those days.
Today, for better or worse, but I think mostly better, C&R is the norm. BUT, the reason gaffs were used was because it was safer to the fisherman, and frankly a lot easier. The thinking that has been explained to me is that if you are able to "touch the leader", then the fish was clearly close enough to get it with a gaff. If it is close enough for the 'sure thing', the gaff, should it not be considered caught now?
I guess that we have a few options.
One, we could start using gaffs again. With all of the replica mounting options, this makes no sense unless you are going to eat the fish. I believe there is a place for eating angler caught fresh fish, but it does not play well on TV (LOL) for the most part. Also, I don't think I want to eat a Tarpon or a Sail or a ...... Just saying.
Two, we could require one to actually control the fish, and either remove the hook or at least bring it on board to claim a caught fish. This is doable, but I would suggest that fish mortality would go up. This is kind of contrary to our C&R dogma we now follow.
Three, we could continue to allow people to consider it a "caught fish" if they touch the leader. This does prevent going back to option one, and for TV and guided anglers, it is better then Option two.
Of course I would love to hear if you have another option to present, or another view on the subject.
I do agree, I don't ever remember seeing Larry use the "I touched the leader" argument, but if he did, it would not bother me. I think that this all falls into our modern sensibilities. Let me try to explain.
I have issue with stainless steel hooks. No matter how good you are as a fisherman, sooner or later a fish will break off. SS hooks will remain for a very very long time, perhaps until death. I discourage SS Hooks. This is NOT the NORM today for salt, but this is my personal sensibility. PS, a lot of other hooks are almost as bad about not rusting out on fish, and I have issue with them as well.
I do encourage circle hooks for bait fishing, but again, I want them to rust. Now, this is NOT the NORM today, but this is my personal sensibility. I realize that circle hooks are not for everything.
For you, I see that touching the leader is NOT one of your personal sensibilities. OK, fair enough. Times change, and just as C&R is the Norm today, perhaps, if you sell your point well, one day we will no longer consider touching the leader sufficient. I just hope that we can teach everyone to be as good as Mr. Dahlberg is at controlling and releasing those fish.