My brother and I take a musky cradle and find that it works absolutely wonderful for C&R of 10+ lb pike (we generally don't bother to net anything smaller).  The design is basically two 5' poles with maybe 3' of netting between them.  You guide the fish into the cradle, pull the poles together, then she is trapped.

I don't know how to insert a pic, so here is a link if you are interested to see what one looks like:  

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We have found that the cradle works absolutely awesome for C&R.  We've boated (from canoe) pike up to 45" and been able to release all of them with no damage.  Any of you guys that have seen a 10+ lb pike start flopping in the bottom of your canoe know that this is a bad thing for the fish, and dangerous thing for the fisherman (3 trebles being ripped violently around your legs and feet!).  With the cradle, I raise the fish out of the water and rest the handles perpendicular   to the canoe's axis on the canoe's gunwales.  The fish can flop all it wants and it receives no damage.  It's also easy to unhook for fish with the cradle sitting right in front of you.... almost like a table.

A fringle benefit is that it would double and a pretty descent stretcher if you ever needed it!  It's also pretty good for carrying 10 paddles across a portage.

In all of my trips since 1991, I have never seen another group that used a cradle.  This is probably because they are pretty useless/unnecessary for bass/walleye/trout, and only really useful for larger pike.

- Dave