That's kinda what I figured. Doesn't see to me the guy is holding him at much of an angle, so I wondered if I was missing something.
Not faulting the guy, but any fish that big is gonna feel it when they lose the buoyancy of the water. I've got a feeling this brute was netted pretty quickly, like, really quickly, and back on his way in pretty good shape fairly quickly. 2 feet of water, 6x tippet, size 18 fly.