I don't have any personal issue with using live bait, especially in the context mentioned above.
If that's how someone is able to catch the fish of a lifetime, awesome! Big fish are still big fish and I honestly don't believe live bait fishing for them is as easy as guys make it out to be. I recall fishchris stating that he would rather fish a Hudd instead of a crawler/dad, not for the personal satisfaction of it, but the fact that he has 100% control over what the artificial is doing. A Hudd doesn't see a big fish and scurry away. A crawfish has a mind (albeit a tiny one) of its own that is geared toward survival. If it makes a decision to scurry under a big rock in 20 FOW, you have no clue what it's doing down there in order to correct it.
I'm an artificial guy, for sure, but I have fished bait in the past. I didnt start catching really big fish (in my area) until I picked up artificials.