I was in the Gorge over the weekend and hooked into a brown on a dry fly. In the process of landing it the fish jumped into a very shallow part of the river on some rocks.

When it was in my net, I saw that the fish had been foul hooked and (separate from the foul hook which was only in its back) sustained a substantial injury to its face/nose/head from the rocks. I removed the (barbless) hook and thought about what to do.

Since the area is catch & release (not like I have a creel or anything anyway) I wasn't sure what the right thing to do was -- so I made sure it could at least swim away and released it back into the river.

As soon as I did that I questioned my judgement and actually have been feeling really bad about the whole thing since.

So here's the question: If you land a significantly injured fish (and you're either in a c&r area or practice c&r on principle) -- do you release and leave its fate in hands of mother nature -- or are you merciful and kill it and perhaps enjoy a tasty trout dinner?

And I guess the second part of that is -- if you're in a c&r area and you decide to keep the injured fish and you're caught with it in your possession -- is there any way to explain away the situation to a ranger?