system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
I'm in total agreement with your first paragraph, but torn on the second one.

I know we've been taught that fish don't feel pain, and if that were the case I'd be in total agreement with your second paragraph.  But! I'm pretty sure that's one of those things that's since been disproven.  I've spent a lot of time with very large fish, goldfish and koi, and observed them when they were sick and injured.  Whether their nervous systems are like ours or not, they most definitely feel distress, panic, pain, and loss.

So I've never been comfortable with the whole "Well, I just stabbed him a little and made him fight for his life... but then I let him go, so no harm, no foul" thing.  Not as a kid, not as an adult.  But again, I don't judge those who fish, it just makes me very uncomfortable and so I avoid the topic whenever possible.
gpt
Even if fish feel pain, which they probably do, getting fish hooked and released is objectively better than getting shot and killed.