Hello; I did not read the article so will comment only on catching the same fish more than once. I have done this also.
Sometimes I catch a fish that still has some else's hook in it. If it is a barbed hook it is sometimes best to not try to pull it free. What I try to do is cut as much of the hook away as I can reach with some nippers.
The tale I have been told is that the hook will be slowly degraded by immersion in the water or by the body of the fish. I have no actual knowledge of this being true. May be just another one of the stories passed around to make us feel better about breaking off a line with a hooked fish. Also may be true. What I can say is these fish usually were feeding and looked ok. No doubt they were bothered by the hook, but were getting along.
This was one of the reasons I stopped with live bait as artificial lures are seldom taken deep at all. I also bend the barb down on my hooks which makes them easy to remove and does much less damage.
It took me too long to semi-master a fly rod and to learn to tie my own flies to be willing to give up fishing. I am willing to try to reduce my impact. I also buy a fishing permit which helps fund my states wildlife programs.
We people are the top predators any where we are. Our technology has allowed us to spread pretty much everywhere and that technology also has allowed us to overpopulate. While I do not have the numbers it is my guess that sport fishing impact is tiny when compared to the impact of commercial fishing. Don't get me wrong I am for sustainable sport fishing.
