You dangle the bait and hope for a nibble, you turn that nibble into a bite, you hook that fish and reel it in before he notices he's even hooked. Once he's reeled in, you net him; measure, compare and decide whether or not to keep him. If he's kept he might be placed in a tank with other hooked fish, a good angler has a big tank and keeps her fish happy and useful. What you might get those fish do for you is the test of honesty in the code of angling. In angling, no angler can say they've always been honest, caught and released when the fish was not up to standard. It's much too difficult and the guidelines are too stringent in certain categories. The bottom line, in the anglers code, every once in a while after a few unsuccessful tries, just before the angler might do something crazy; like take a break or worse... Retire! Its okay to bait, nibble, bite, reel and tank a fish that doesn't deserve to be hooked. The important thing is to abide by the guidelines to the best of the anglers ability, to respect the code and avoid bending the rules. Those poor hooked fish don't know any better, sometimes they deserve to be badly hooked, kept and taught a lesson or two, but it's hard to say which actually do and which don't. Being as it may, there is no governing body for the code of angling, there is only honour, honesty and pride.
I always saw myself as an angler... I was so wrong, I'm so hooked...
Hopefully my awareness of the situation will result in a less demeaning tank life. Perhaps if I get out and go back to angling, I'll respect the code better and won't end up hooked again.
