Those are beauties. Not trying to rain on your parade but this is not the first photos I've seen recently with people with their fingers stuck firmly into the gills of a fish.
Last post was a guy on the bow with his fingers holding a nice brown up by the gills. I said nothing on that thread but I hope we all can learn a little from each other. It might not hurt them but generally it will increase the mortality of released fish. They looked like good eaters!!