I highly doubt that fish lived after its release. Those guys were not supporting it in the proper places and it was fought too long to survive.
Not so sure about that. That was a tough catch and they handled it pretty well. Could you tell how excited they were yet they did not try to horse it up the hole. I have released a few big walleye in the cold on ice and they always swim right away. No hesitation. Ithink the fished survived, if not it was at the end of its life or near it anyways… IMHO