The Hidden World Of The Bluegill 

Thank you for making this channel! This is the first video that appeared in my feed and it just happens to be one of my main interests. Now my kids can enjoy too. Getting Magic School bus vibes as well with the playful production 😊 Keep growing!

Up until the mid 70"s Toronto's annual Royal Winter Fair had tropical fish competitions. One year a renowned South American aquarist was a guest judge and voted a bluegill, that had been entered as a joke, best in show. It's often too easy to forget the beauty of something so common to us. Thanks for the great video!

amazing to see these familiar fish from a new perspective! I have a new respect for their fighting spirit!

I brought a 5 inch blue gill home and put him in a tank. I didn’t have any other pets at the time and I wanted something starter level for kids and an apartment. This fish - “Gill” and I, became pretty good friends. He trusted me and was really smart. He knew schedules, like meals and sleep/ waking. He would watch me come down the hallway in the mornings and you could watch him get physically excited. He knew mornings were feeding and he knew if I had nightcrawlers in the fridge. I put minnows and crayfish in there sometimes too. He would take worms from my fingers. The fish could tell if you had been to certain stores or what you had in which bags. He would eat leftovers or other stuff if I didn’t have worms. I would tear slices of ham or other lunch meat and he would slam them. He was my buddy and I released him into the river when I moved. He went from about 5 inches to over 8 in about two years he was with us. As far as aggression and predictability it was like having a piranha. My kids still bring him up and it’s been almost 10 years.

I've caught a bulegill on a folded piece of dead grass. Bluegill is my second favorite fish to eat, they're great with a good breading and garlic salt.

I used to practice SCUBA in a flooded rock quarry. There were tons of bluegills around a building down there. Those little suckers had no qualms about biting the human invaders. Most of the time it was just annoying and kind of funny, but now and then a bigger bluegill would manage a good chomp. I never saw anyone with actual broken skin, but they would definitely get your attention. Good times. 🙂

I worked at an American summer camp 20 plus years ago, the camp had a huge lake with huge horseflies to go with it! I swatted and killed plenty of those flies and dropped them to a fish that I was told was a blue gill. It took about 3 days for the fish to catch on. After that it would patrol up and down the floating dock waiting for me to drop the tasty corpses in. It had plenty of character and was a great ally that summer. I’m from the U.K so didn’t know the local wildlife but the memory of that blue gill has stuck with me.

For its size, the Bluegill is the strongest fighting fish on the line.

You have, yet again, captured achingly beautiful footage, and edited it superbly into into a compelling whole. These males are so bold in defence of their nests and young, they are committed to producing and protecting the future. I love that you have names for old friends under the water’s surface, and that you don’t distress them for long in your filming. Your lake is perfect for the filming you do there, and your commentary is always insightful and educational. Thanks again Dave.🖤🇨🇦

You may not like it, but the bluegill is what peak fishing with dad looks like

Beautiful my dude. Awesome job. I remember when I was a kid at my grandparents had 2 massive community ponds and you could see the blue gills nesting in the shallows.

This is what nature documentaries should be.

It's May the 19th, 2024 and as a child, I used to fish for bluegills/sunnies. At that time, I never respected these fish and regarded them as trash. Now that I'm older and coincidentally educated in biology with an an associates degree, I have to come respect them more especially knowing that they are vital in the niche that they play for the ecosystem. You video further reinforced this stance and appreciation for these fish. Excellent narration and footage by the way.. 🤝👌

The fish flapping it’s ears at you was the first time I have ever seen that very cool

Many scuba divers call these things "Quarry Sharks". This is mostly due to how they will devour hotdog (weinersl or fish pellets. At the end of a dive, your are required to make a "safety stop" at 15 feet. This is to let excess nitrogen leave your system. During this stop you will often get surrounded by quarry sharks. Looking for food. This is a learned habit as almost every diver brings something to feed the sharks while on the safety stop. There was one gal that brought 2 packs of hotdogs with her. Having that much food, word got around, and at one point, she was surrounded by so many fish that only her fins could be seen sticking out of this massive ball of quarry sharks. It looked kinda like how the movies show piranha attacking. Not to worry though. The quarry sharks show no interest in human flesh. But it is kinda creepy to be surrounded by fish that are in a feeding frenzy, even if it is directed towards the hotdogs and not you.

I had a rough day at work and this video took me back to when I was a school aged kid and used to go fishing to let off steam whenever I was in a mental funk. My buddies always hated catching bluegills but for me when I couldn’t get a bass to bite I knew I could always toss out a small lure on the ultralight and I’d be able to snag a bluegill or other little panfish any day of the year and in any conditions. They’ve kept me from getting ‘skunked’ more times than I could count and even if they’re not the most exciting sport fish in the world, catching something is always better than nothing! They were the reliable friend you could always count on to be there when the going gets tough. Thanks for the video, glad to see these little guys get the recognition and appreciation they deserve!

I discovered this world as a young teen in the marinas of the colorado river in the suny arizona desert. I bought goggles and flippers from walmart, and they may have as well been my rocketship and space suit woth the world i discovered. So amazing. Need to get back into free diving

They are boney but they do have a great taste and texture in my opinion. Better than large mouth bass. Great pets if you have a 120 gallon tank and aren't to focused on keeping live plants apart from floaters like water lettuce or frog bit. They're a lot like oscars in behavior but don't require tropical temperatures, which saves on the electric bill.

I love fishing for these little guys. Love seeing a bobber go under. They make great catfish bait.

My sons grew up fishing in the creek behind our house. They both still fish and enjoy the outdoors. We kept several small Bluegills and small Bass for a time. Even when accidentally injured, they recovered quickly and we never lost one, so it’s always good to toss them back. Like “Slackjaw”, they can recover!

me and my siblings would use butterfly nets to catch the tiny bluegills and sunnies in the shallows at my grandparents’ home. my grandpa especially taught me so much about them, like how they build circular nests out of pebbles and sand and to avoid stepping on the nests during breeding season. they’re incredibly underrated fish, and have such silly personalities. I could watch them chase each other around all day long.

I used to have a pet bluegill. He was so friendly... by himself that is. He would greet me and follow me around the tank. Too bad he got a fungal disease and passed😢

I have an extra soft spot in my heart for injured/disabled animals. There is a tailess squirrel in the neighborhood. Still living the good life. Just like those strong, handsome Bluegill!

I have always loved bluegill thanks for sharing the intricate and fascinating life of these incredible animals.

I grew up bluegill fishing with my grandpa, and a bluegill was my first catch. Always gonna have a soft spot for em. Nice video, fellow bluegill appreciator

its bluegill season and the youtube algorithm never fails. Love your videos! They are amazing when you descale, gut, and defin them. Once you finish that you shallow fry in some oil and theyre like chips!!! delicious to eat with just seasoning salt, pepper, and rice.

Let's hear it for SlackJaw Pete. What a trooper.

I'm from South East Asia, & the most common 'first catch' species here is the climbing perch/Anabas testudineus. I've seen bluegill only in fishing simulators/v'games, so I really enjoyed watching this documentary about it. Thumbs up! 👍🏼😁

Great footage of the blue gills and nice a knewt dropped in, having fished for blue gill most of my life its wonderful to see them in their habitat

Very nice video. I am in fisheries management and they are a very important part of the ecosystem. Not often you see such good footage of their nests. Thank you for mentioning to leave the bluegill nest alone. Kinda goes for all sunfish but its better for the populations to leave them to their buisness.

Pound for pound (or perhaps ounce for ounce) they are great fighters. They are fun to catch when you're young or when you're old.

I worked at a pet store where the feeder goldfish and minnows would accidentally sometimes have baby bluegill or similar mixed in and I took one of them home and it turned out to be a pumpkin seed bluegill and he was so freaking awesome he grew from a little half inch indistinguishable fish to about a foot-long chonk of a beauty, I had him about 3-4 years but he mysteriously died and I was absolutely devastated because he made me so happy he would go ape s*** every time I got home from work or from a walk or whatever he would be so excited literally splashing water out of his tank

My wife and I love fishing Bluegills, the meat is mild yet sweet. They are easy to filet. Cut a shallow slit behind the gill and another just in front of the tail. At a very slight angle slide the blade towards the gill between the meat and the bones. Try not to dislodge any bone, takes a little practice. Flip the meat over so it is up and slide the blade between the meat and skin. There’s your filet. Flip the fish over and repeat. When you get good at it you can clean a lot of fish quickly and cleanly. This technique works on any number of fish.

Fascinating video and very well filmed. As a lifelong freshwater fisherman, I have caught many hundreds of Bluegill while fishing for Bass and Pike. Even though they are a bit of a nuisance they are fun and feisty little guys.

We used to feed the bluegills at my grandma's lake place. They liked Wonder bread. We could catch them with our bare hands! Your video is beautiful and informative!

Love seeing this video get boosted by the algo out of nowhere, you deserve it.

What a terrific video….a look into the busy lives of remarkable little fish. This was a pleasure to watch.

This makes me so happy on a basic level I can't even express it thank you for making this video

I appreciate the nicknames assigned to the bluegill. Shout out tin man

Caught 75 Bluegills yesterday.Could see them in the shallows getting ready to spawn.All were released.

Where I live in CT they were always considered a junk fish. The out breed most species and would be considered evasive except they are one of our only naturally local breeds. Once you get past that, they are fun to catch, plentiful, and as tasty as game fish if your ever in need - imho :)

This vid was so educational! Love it. Can you do more?

It was very hot one day, so I took a dip & sat on a submerged rock. It didn't take much time (They were already there) for the bluegills to discover me. I sat still to watch them, no ear display or anything like that, one got brave enough and tried to take a bite out of my leg. I thought it was isolated behavior and that one would give up when it figured out I wasn't food. Nope! A few more joined in. Lesson: Don't sit still in fresh water. All it took to keep them from biting me was a little movement. But sit yoga still, and I was considered fair game within 60 seconds. Pawtuxet River, Rhode Island. It's the same place where I think our common snapping turtles are ankylosauruses.

Need more diver dave episodes to guide me through the lakes this summer!!

Those are some pretty and good sized blue gill. I love sun fish and think they're just as beautiful as any aquarium fish.

If Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood were a lake….

This was so interesting. Bluegill have always been interesting to me. creek wading for bluegill is still my favorite way to fish. An ultralight, pack of trout magnets and a good creek makes for an awesome day.

A part of our beautiful world that I’ve never seen before. Every creature doing their part. Thank you for sharing!

It’s always great fun to go fishing at a lake where you can catch almost any species of fish- in Minnesota I would catch Northern, Crappie, bass and MONSTER bluegill

please make a video on crappie thats my favorite fresh water fish

Wow what an amazing shot, the bluegill flairs at you, a chain pickerel and then a wild newt appears!

I have a giant green sunfish the size of my hand living with a slightly smaller hybrid (a green sunfish + bluegill ) and a juvenile jack Dempsey cichlid. I have them trained so well, they’re giant water puppies always lining up together for food. Water pigs more like 😅

I once caught a bluegill the size of my Hand- which is huge around where I live. Biggest they get is like 5 inches long

As a casual angler here in central Minnesota - seeing these freshwater fish and learning about them is so fascinating! Thank you for all the info. Videos are insanely relaxing, also.

makes you want to put the fish back in the water seeing how dedicated they are to their own lives and the babies

I caught about 18 little bluegill fry in a net almost 2 years ago. One was an older fry than the others who [the others] were only a couple days old and the bigger one may have been a week or two. Almost two years later, I only have one left. The biggest one lived up to 1 1/2 year and grew to 6 inches. He died last week and it’s definitely different to wake up and looking into my aquarium without the big guy. I got teary-eyed about this and not when my dad and brother died a few years ago (don’t get me wrong I loved my dad and my brother but for whatever reason I didn’t cry about it). I have one more now and he was one of the smaller ones but he is now the big guy’s size. Bluegill really are amazing little fish.

Some of the best footage of bluegill I’ve ever seen, God loves you bro

these videos are awesome! So cool watching these guys from a different perspective than we normally see them. Best fishy content on RU-vid ❤

I fish for everything here in the PNW, but crappie and bluegill is still one of my favorites. No stress about tackle or strategy or any of that, just easy fun on the lake.

The best tasting fish I have ever had was blue gill. It takes a lot to make a meal but man they r good eating when u have someone who can filet them good and fry them right.

I had one in a 20 gallon aquarium and fed it mosquito larvae. It went crazy for them. It grew so much that I put it back in the small creek where I caught it.

Bluegills are good eating, almost as good as largemouth bass. If they get too numerous they will grow up stunted.

I spent my whole 24 years of life thinking that the term "blue gill" came from the black spot. Also as a note for anyone wanting to keep them, the minimum recommended tank size is 100 gallons. I was thinking of getting some but after learning how big they got I realized I couldn't keep them.

This video is relaxing, informative, entertaining, and overall beautiful. Thank you for sharing this video and wonderful information alongside it!

Great photography - very informative - thanks.

I have kept and raised bluegiils, green sunfish, hybrid green-gills, Northern long ears (reclassified now as just "long ears") and orange spotted sunnies in my aquarium and they're wonderful to keep and are beautiful fish that are intelligent enough to interact and recognize you. However, they are hard to take flaked food once older. You must acclimate them in their young stage and experiment with what they like best when older. My best experiences are with flakes when very young and then frozen/fresh blood worms and red worms / small cut up pieces of night crawlers. They also like tiny YOTY baby fish as well. Green sunfish, like creek chubs are NOT a community tank species and have huge appetites. If it fits their mouth, it's chow. They ARE, however, a beautiful and interactive fish once they associate you with food. One per tank unless it's over 60 gallons with good cover. Bluegills are nice, but like all sunfish, need a large tank for territory, or will kill other sunfish without remorse in too small of a tank, and yes, if it fits, they'll eat it. Don't be fooled. Bluegills are savages! Again, one gill per tank unless it's over 60 gallons with good cover. Orange spotted sunfish are a much smaller wild breed and do well in a tank. However, like all wild sunfish breeds, they prefer fresh foods rather than frozen and flaked, and they are more peaceful. I suggest, like before, only 1 orange spot sunny per 30 gallons. Space is needed with these fish despite them being smaller. Regardless, sunfish AREN'T a pet store fish and you had better be well versed in tank water Ph parameters, the Ph of the water they came from, and have a big enough tank. Even though my tank is 29 gallons, that's still not big enough except for one small sunnie of any species. If you're already collecting your fish from the wild, BE SURE that you are legally allowed to take these fish, they're not endangered, you have permission to take them, AND... that you can accurately identify the fish. If you cannot 100% confirm what the fish species is, TURN IT LOOSE! As a NANFA member myself, we must always respect and protect our fish and waters, and we must ALWAYS be SURE of the fish species before keeping it. Lastly. If you want the BEST information on how to begin, start and keep native fish, look up NANFA. North American Native Fishes Association. Absolutely the BEST resources for keeping wild fish.

I caught a bluegill 4 years ago and he is still alive now in a 55 gallon tank with 4 mid size goldfish. He is twice the size from when I caught him.

Thank you for this. I am a biology teacher and fishing coach and we are working on local species. This video was very helpful.

I'm not smart enough to know why this year old video is getting the business all of the sudden but I'm here for it all the way my friend. It did take a sec to get over the kid show like delivery (Which is GREAT but I'm in my 50's) Subbed. I cant wait to see how this channel grows because it will. Bravo. Now I have some backlog to watch😉

Fly fishing for bluegill in lakes and ponds with a light fly rod is one of my favorite kinds of fishing. Those bluegills hit top water flies as aggressive as any largemouth bass will

These are also awesome fish, I had a group of 6 in a 120 gallon that I trained to jump on command. Intelligent, but don't play well with non native tank mates, I've seen bluegills send cichlids renowned for their temper fleeing in terror. And as stated by others in the comments 90 to 120 gallons are the preferred tank sizes for this fish, that does to best in small groups

This is the best video on bluegill! Very interesting, thank you for sharing!

Something about this video just makes me happy

They do make great pets, but theyre pigs, and you better get them used to fish food early, or start a worm farm.

We don’t have sunfish in Asia where I live, so this is like a new discovery to me! Such interesting fish, i kinda wonder if they’re related to cichlids? Just because of their nesting and egg guarding habit plus they seem quite intelligent. Anyways its also kinda sad that they use “garbage” as their nest material

Bluegill would be terrifying if they were 30+ inches. 😀

This goes so unbelievably hard

Wow! Beautiful footage of a beautiful fish!

First fish I caught as a kid. Very good video. 👍

How have I never seen this before I wanna learn more about the ecosystems! I feel like I’ve taken these “ordinary” things for granted. It’s not until you really follow around these animals that you notice how beautiful and actually smart they really are.

Grate footage thanks for the viewing time today 🎉

That's a good looking fish....

The Bluegill is such a beautiful creature. Excellent video. Thank you for sharing!

Beautiful work Dave!

greatest fish on earth. blue marlin number 2. thats a huge statement

Bluegill was my first fish, they taste good but never bothered to eat them because of the bones. I still need to catch a Hand Painted Bluegill to finish my subspecies collection. I have already caught Northern and Coppernose.

Awe cotton eye Joe was so cute.

This showed up in my feed today, nothing like I usually watch but I'm glad it appeared. I live in California and although not native to these parts, bluegill thrive. First fish I caught was a bluegill, like all fish I catch I threw him back. I mostly fish for largemouth bass (also not native but prevalent here) when they're not biting I'll play with the bluegill, they always seem to be hungry. I subscribed to your channel and am looking forward to going through your library, off to watch your video on largemouth now, thanks!

Underrated fish for eating. Battered and deep fried it is my favorite food.

I love this. I'm from Kentucky and live next to Laurel lake and cumber!and river. Bluegill are my favorite fish to eat. I have a small pond behind my house that has one catfish and a pair of bluegills. Been there for years. Got to be the biggest bluegill I've ever seen. But I disagree about keeping g them in tanks. It's very hard to keep them alive.

Great camera work,thanks for posting this....

Excellent video! Thanks!

I used to go fishing with my grandpa and uncles in Mississippi when I was little. All I ever caught were bluegill, and they were always thrown back. Guess I couldn't see the point of fishing after that 😂

Imo this is better than Nat geo with their overly edited docs.

beautiful video, thanks for posting

Wonderful video love the narration and subtle jokes thrown in. Hope you do well and keep growing. In only one video you have earned my sub now I have to go back and watch all your others.

Nice video, thanks.

When I was a kid I had a pet blue gill and I named him Blue Gill. 😊😂

What an informative and relaxing video. Thank you for sharing this footage of my state fish.

Nice video, I was observing this same type of behavior from Red Ear Sunfish last week while fishing. Pretty cool to see