Many times when a fish wholly commits to a strike, they get hooked fairly deep. In this case Lyn happened to not be able to easily reach the hook, so he cut the leader. And yes, I too would net it and boat it if I saw how many sea-cats were stewing around in the area. The fish was released, and it is legal to remove finned fish from the water, but I tend not to, unless I'm fishin in questionable sea-cat hunting grounds.