World Record Fly Caught Steelhead?

Here is a shot of a dude, Peter Harrison from Port Townsend, with a steelhead out of the Hoh caught Feb. 20, 2009, that was 29.5 lbs, and is supposedly a new world record for that tippet strength ( 8kg).

He is taking a lot of flak for taking the fish, even though a “world record” instead of simply kissing it and letting it go. The catch and release people are into a full honed fury over the deal.
You catch this beautiful big fish and you want to be happy, but there are always those catchy choices to make eh?