Salmon catches, what now?

Once a salmon catches your bait, there are many ways to get it up from the river. Usually fishermen first tire out the fish (how to do this is another story) and then either hook it, net it or lift it by hand. I have also used all of the above mentioned methods.
But I have witnessed two different variants of another type of method to get the salmon up from the water. Both of these styles are rather dynamic.

The first one happened when I was just a kid and my kid brother was obviously even younger...something like 9 I think. We were fishing in Utsjoki river and just about to leave the river empty handed. My brother failed in his attempt to cast the lure and I heard him cursing when the lure hit the water only about 3-4 meters from him splashing the water. But salmon anyhow caught the lure and he shouted "fish!". He realized at once that this wasn't a grayling that he had so far only caught in his short fishing career. Immediately he grabbed the line and threw the spinning rod on the stony bank and started pulling the line in. In a half a dozen pulls the salmon was on the bank as well and then it got loose. Quickly he jumped on it and hit its' head with a stone. I went to see the fish (nice small salmon, "tintti") and then I saw the lure. The hook had straightened and that's why the fish got loose at the bank...luckily not yet in the water. I asked him why he pulled the fish in the way he did and the answer was "I was afraid the line might break". You can't beat that logic :)

The other variant of pulling the salmon to the bank was demonstrated by a friend of mine who hadn't actually fished much before. When a salmon caught his lure he shouted "there's a fish...what should I do?" I told him very knowingly (I was still just a kid) that he should tire it out. Well he didn't know what it meant so he just turned around and ran away from the bank to the bushes holding the spinning rod on his shoulder shouting something like "huuuuu...!". Well the salmon followed nicely. Luckily the line and the hooks held.

Maybe it is actually this simple and we sport fishing enthusiasts just don't realize it and we play around with the fish for nothing? :)