I've watched Ike swing bass aboard and trap them between his knes until he removed the hook. Never liked that-could eaily injure the bass.-nonetheless effective I guess.

I know a lot of pro anglers that tighten their drag down all the way-no line slippage whatsoever. If a bass gets its head free for one second, she'll almost always spit the hook. I have seen evidence presented by Berkley that if a bass is hooked and you let the line go completly slack, most bass will stop fighting and slowy swim away, usually to some cover. It's not the hookset that makes bass fight, it's the pulling we impart.
I don't nelieve the hook set hurts bass. I have had one bass take a buzzbait and when I got her to the boat she jumped twice and spit the lure. I was stunned of course and sort of went brain dead as I watched her swim away. My lure was fluttering toward the bottom,. The fish came back up and took the bait again. I set the hook, got her alongside the boat and she spit the hook again. Goodbye! Of course I was in a tournament.