Battle of the pike

[danielc]

So I caught this pike on Memorial weekend it gave me a really good fight. My question is I hooked it in the mouth on the very end but when I picked it up I noticed the gill was hanging out the gill plate and bleeding badly. Did this happen when the fish was fighting to get away hitting into a stick or something or what could it be. Was it my net that did it? I don't keep many fish so feeling bad about it I placed it back in the water and watched it swim away knowing it would probably die.
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