'Probably an inefficient feeding mechanism.'
I didn't look too long. I removed my hook from the fish's nose where my nymph hooked it. I project the action of 'hooking' the fish onto my spun fly- a dirty and loveworn Hare's Ear- because I don't want to be mean to fish, or to myself. When I pulled the hook out, backwards, blood oozed from the spot. This will heal in no time, I told myself.
The fish was slimy in my wet palms, and slipped a little as it moved. I looked at its good side. Pretty fish. The ooze from its nose was on my hands. My hands covered in dilute fish blood, I let it go.
He didn't swim away very quickly. He sank behind a rock and idled with fins akimbo. The current wasn't very strong and he stayed at the tip of my left boot. I wonder whether he later died.
I'm a catch and release fisherman because I'm afraid of killing fish.