The bothak - more commonly known as the pouting. Bothak in Cornish means swollen or bumped and refers to the pout's peculiar habit(along with ling) of puffing out a film over the eyes on being taken from the water. The flesh is delicate and is best used as a part of a fish soup or stew though deep frying is an alternative.
They are caught mostly commonly by trawl or beam trawl though the gill netters will pick up only the largest. Every trawlerman has experienced the excitement of hauling aboard a full 'bag' (cod-end) of fish in anticipation of a big boost to the wages only for the big haul to turn out to be a bag of bothaks - which make less money than almost any other white fish at auction!
