Pouting

Damn things are notoriously hard to return alive to the water or is it just me? :shock: It can't be just me as i've been in the presence of other anglers who have tried to return them only to see them go belly up 40% of the time :shock:

Even catching them from wrecks, before they even reached the surface, their damn swim bladder or summat was coming out their mouth!

What's the problem with them, are they just greedy and tend to swallow hooks deeper, therefore taking longer to unhook? are they just made of 'soft stuff'?

Dunno..

They just have stuck out for me, other fish have returned fine but not puts, oh no! :evil:

Give them a break they're only small. alot of fish are very sensitive to being pulled up from depth. if you are returning them from a pier try dropping so they hit the water head first and don't belly flop or get a drop net

another idea is, if you are fishing a mark where you know you are gonna catch them, where possible slow down your speed of retrieve when reeling in, therefore they are not gonna blow swim bladders etc so easily as the depth change will be slower.
where possible i use this theory for wrasse and pollack on the boat and dont catch that many pout on the shore normally to try it!!
but they are commonly known not to take that much anyway.