difficult topic to reply to mate. i understand the view of respecting them when there spawning. the only problem is that most pikers want to get a big fish to beat there previous personal best. when there spawning theyre at there heaviest so if there was a closed season whether everyone adhered to it or not, would be another issue altogether. ive yet to see for myself any big fish that have been caught and released turning up dead threw either stress or a persons ignorance. i fish many small lakes and i believe i would have seen such evidence if this was the case. im not ruling it out though.