Accidentally Dropped One Of My White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Simon, in theory you are right, but having been a keen angler in my childhood, I don't think people were as careful as they are today yet the majority of fish seemed to survive unscathed, provided they were handled and returned to the water quickly. Most of the fish deaths that I remember were caused by the use of barbed hooks which, when swallowed deeply by the fish, were difficult to remove. These days, of course, barbless hooks are the only ones allowed. I also remember often catching fish that had had large lumps bitten out of them by pike, but had healed and survived. Fish are generally pretty robust creatures, the stories of dropped fish recovering seem to confirm this.