Do you love big bluegill?

Gill's on GLK 9.25 in. 5-17-10

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Comment by Nathanael Deloach on February 9, 2011 at 8:53pm: I have never experienced a "crunch" when eating fish with this parasite and I have eaten a lot of infected fish :-) To be honest you get use to them. It all depends on your comfort level. There is no questioning which fish have the parasite bad as they will be absolutly coverd with them. I do have a tolerance of eating them to a certain point, but really most get thrown back. The interesting part about infested waters is that you can fish one section of the lake that will be infected and then move to another spot and have perfect looking fish........they all fight the same though. :-)

Comment by Bill "Musky" Modica on February 9, 2011 at 5:17pm: Johnathan, you'd be surprised how many folks simply disregard the presence of this parasite. Last year, I ice-fished a lake in Northwestern Wi. that had some dandy gills....all of them were infested with the trematode parasite. The locals didn't seem to mind them at all. I've eaten them before, and depending on the advancement of the cyst development, they can be a little crunchy. I prefer bodies of water that do not contain this parasite........Bummer about the consumption advisories on the mercury, is there industry, or coal burning plants in your area?

Comment by JBplusThuy on February 9, 2011 at 4:55pm: Yechh. Wondering if I should be glad the main problem here in California (esp. in the northern half) seems to be that many (perhaps most) of the lakes have fish advisories because of mercury. Many lakes within easy driving distance of my house have good fishing but also have advisories setting the safe amount of fish to eat at zero :-(

Comment by Bill "Musky" Modica on February 9, 2011 at 3:14pm: The parasite is known as the trematode....it has three stages of life that begins with birds of the fish eating variety (Herons, Cormorants, etc..) The parasite is then excremented by said birds, and becomes a free swimming organism that searches out a new host (the Bluegill)...it then enters thru the skin, and forms a cyst (black spot), and repeats the cycle when consumed by another fish eating bird. They are not harmful to humans after the cooking process.......Personally they disgust me, and I have seen some pretty bad infestations of the Trematode parasite in some waters.

Comment by Nathanael Deloach on February 9, 2011 at 1:16pm: Yes, this lake is one of my favorites, I can't always fish it though because of the wind but it sure does produce a great average gill size (8.5"-9"). A parasite is an Animal that lives off another animal, Ticks and leeches (the "blood sucking" kind of leeches:-) tend to be the most commonly known. This inparticular Parasite lives in the meat and skin of the fish. This "black" worm is very common in our Mn lakes. We also have a "white" worm that is common and lives the same way but is a little bigger. I don't know much more on these hitch hikers other then the DNR insisting they are safe to eat when the meat is cooked well. I have taken their advise and enjoy the little exrtra protien :-)

Comment by JBplusThuy on February 9, 2011 at 12:20pm: What is that parasite? I've never seen/heard of it.

Comment by JBplusThuy on February 9, 2011 at 12:11pm: Beautiful fish and beautiful lake! The only lake around here I can think of that looks like that is Loch Lomond (not the one in Scotland, it's near Santa Cruz :)

Comment by Nathanael Deloach on February 7, 2011 at 8:40pm: No, in this lake I throw back anything over 9" and Yes the lakes I fish does have the parasite you have heard about. Some are worse then others. This one is in really good shape, the parasites are just in the fins and there isn't to many of them (this one wouldn't have any in the meat). But I will occasionally catch one that is covered with them. If you can see them in the scales on the body then they will be all over in the meat. Eating them is all about your comfort level in knowing you are eating parasites :-) They are completely safe to be eaten when the meat is cooked well. (Yes I do eat infected fish :-)

Comment by BlueGillerKiller on February 7, 2011 at 4:31pm: Did you fillet this fish? I was told if you can see little black speckles in the fins and tail the meat will be filled with that parasite? I was just wondering ive never caught any to test the theory but this is the first time ive seen a fish where i could see the specs.

Comment by Nathanael Deloach on February 7, 2011 at 2:13pm: Thanks! I finally got around to posting my 2010 catches......I think it's because I have cabin fever. Winter can get too long up in the North country :-)