We found these extraordinarily curious Bluegills on Hustler Lake in the Boundary Waters. They are called Bluegills thanks to the dot of color you can see on the side of both fish. That blue or black spot is actually an extension of the gill cover. They are excellent fish to eat, and these particular fish sure didn’t make themselves too hard to bring in. Lucky for them, all I had was my camera! They are known for nibbling on bait, and you might notice that one of the fish went for my finger shortly after I put the camera in the water. (Apologies for jerking the camera a little at that point… I wasn’t sure if it would hurt! In fact, I don’t think I even felt it at all.)
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How big are these guys? They hardly seem more than a few inches – surely not big enough to eat! They're so CUTE!
The bigger one was probably not longer than 6 inches. And yep, people do eat them, probably more like 8-9 inches. They sure are cute! Especially when they're so curious.