I equate this to hunting.....most guys have no problem blowing out bambi's brains while trotting through a field, but get so mad over someone taking a photo of a fish. At least you have given the fish a chance. The big difference is that Bambi is already dead, whereas the fish will probably swim away. Why don't you just take a leg shot on Bambi, take it to the "car dealership" for the annual "contest", get your "hero shot" for the local paper..... then bandage it up and release it back to the wild. Oh wait, the perspective is different, right ?
A musky, for being as you say, a "majestic beast".....it is quite the puss. Tell me again, how does it differ from a bluegill ? Your kid eye hooks a gill and you rip the hook out and toss it back into he water. Does the size of a musky make it more precious. If you want to be a fish hugger, you might want to focus on fish as a whole and join a PETA group.
People take eggs from a chicken, which is a product of a chicken that can actually product another chicken, and throw it in a boiling water....yet everyone is OK with it. We take a picture of a COMMON fish and we are beneath you.
For C&R fishing, it is the obligation of the sportsman to do his best to avoid hurting the fish, but I know of no law that states if a fish is accidently hurt I am in violation. The law does not say I can't accidently hook into a fish (even if out of season), it just says I can not be in possession of it out of season.
I use my gaff on walleye, drum (yes, we eat them), pike and catfish....even lake trout. Usually if I trying to get dinner in the boat. With a growing family to feed I relay heavily on fish as a consumable product for us. I eat a musky now and again.....it taste just like pike. If I were to choose to let my family starve I would be a bad father, but if I choose to follow the law and harvest ONLY what I am allowed by law, I am a bastard.