UK Bluefin Tuna Fishing
Fishing for Bluefin Tuna in a World Class fishery off the Cornish- Devon coast
Over the past 8 years we have been licenced to Catch, Tag and release almost 750 UK Bluefin Tuna, fish up to 850lb. These have been caught in the local waters all within 30 miles, and most of them halfway between Mevagissey and Falmouth or Mevagissey and Plymouth. The season here in Mevagissey varies slightly year on year but late July to mid November seams to be the best, Then the fishing starts to drop off with December being the last of it.
Our Bluefin Tuna fishing is mainly lure fishing but we do some live baiting and some popping. The rules set out by the UK’s government We troll using up to 4 rods with our very successful home made lures/ spreader bars. We use 2 rods when live baiting and we do have a couple of set ups for popping (casting lures).
We are currently waiting on decisions to be made by DEFRA and the MMO on how this years fishery will work and how we will have be able to apply for the licence.
2026
As the same as 2025 we are taking bookings for the season as if we have a licence on the understanding that targeting bluefin tuna can only be done with the permit. If for any reason we don’t get a licence we can still offer this trip as a BIG GAME Trip targeting the smaller smaller tuna (Albacore) with trolled lures, then Thresher Sharks may be even a Mako using live baits. Any Bluefin caught as by-catch will be treated in accordance with the UKs rules set out by the MMO.
2025
After making a few changes to The Free Spirit she preformed well again, she’s a little more comfortable now. We had a great start to the season with fish coming in mid July. fish were coming to the boat think and fast. it was busy out at sea with the introduction of lots of new permits. Often being raced to shoals to get hooked up. This was frustrating during the summer holidays when it seamed that every man and his dog had a permit. We did a fair bit of live baiting during the season with some great results, some monster fish slowing the catch rate down a bit as the fights are sometimes three times as long if not longer. Fish later in the season seamed a bit more illusive or just further away. we certainly travelled for them some days putting in over 120 miles around trips. With some days getting calls from 25-30 miles away saying the fish where there, in came the rods and off we went. I’m not afraid to put the miles in to get you that fish, even if it is halfway through the day. The weather did cause lost days with more in 2025 than I have ever lost, that being said we still managed to get almost all of the 160 fish to the boat.
2024
We had no Geoff to skipper this year due to Illness. We miss him and wish him a speedy recovery and need him back asap.
With a new rule set by the MMO and because I was successful in securing the a commercial licence, I wasn’t able to apply to use Aquila as a charter boat for Bluefin Tuna. This was due to the MMO/Defra being rail roaded into the decision by other stakeholders. After I have worked so hard to help get a commercial Fishery for the UK. it was a slap in the face. However as some of you know to get around this, Some how having two boats gave me the ability to do both recreational and commercial. Something that has been done on Aquila for 50 years now. With lots of days committed to the recreational fishery I purchased another boat the Free Spirit an Aqua Bell 33 Mediterranean. A very similar boat to Aquila with a few main differences.
1. She has a Flybridge giving a better view. 2. larger cabin space with more seating. 3. Bigger faster engine giving us a top speed of 21 knots. On the downside, we had the lack of an auto pilot which did frustrate me as the skipper. Also she is a wet boat with water coming in the back deck.(like an American sports boat going full astern while playing a Marlin).
I had to jump back and forth from Aquila on all my regular trips, to the Free Spirit for the tuna trips. Then back to the Aquila for my Commercial Tuna Trips. This reduced my ability to go all out on the tuna after 6 years of 100% commitment to the tuna tagging.
With all that in mind we did still have another great year over 220 Bluefin to the boat. An amazing achievement for such a chaotic year.
2023 Season
We had another very successful season having over 115 bluefin to the boat. There were lots of smaller fish in again and this year we were able to catch them. In the past seasons they have been impossible for us to catch using the spreader bars. We did still see our usual larger fish but a larger range of sizes came to us. the smaller fish came in at around the 80lb mark and the larger fish around the 500lb.
Our Charter season was shorter than past years as I also managed to secure one of the UKs Pilot Commercial Licences to enable me to catch and retain for sale 3.9 tons of Bluefin.
Chart 2022
We managed to get back on the Chart 2022 program with both boats the Cutty Shark and the Aquila.
While it was good to be able to get more customers out we found the Cutty Shark didn’t raise the fish in the same way Aquila does.
This seamed to be down to the running gear on the boat. After many unsuccessful trips the decision was made to remove the boat from the water and fix the gearboxes to reduce the noise and vibrations. Unfortunately we struggled to get the parts and had to end the bookings for the Cutty Shark.
We carried on the season on Aquila and started to catch on the first day back aboard, successfully tagging 4 Bluefin on the first day out. Plagued with bad weather in October and November we finished the season with 53 Bluefin. Giving us a total of 250 in the few years we’ve been fishing for them.
The pattern these fish have been taking changed in 2022 as a spell of hot weather created an algae bloom in the mid Channel. Resulting in the fish being a long way offshore.
Chart 2021
Chart 2021 was the Uk’s first licensed charter boat program to catch tag and release for science.
Aquila was 1 of the 15 charter boats around the Uk that was selected and licensed to allow us to legally catch Tag and release Bluefin. This was a great privilege and we extended this to you as anglers by offering you chance to charter us.
In May we were granted the license and put the dates out under CEFAS CHART programme. These dates were from 16th August to 14th November. We soon filled all these days giving us the greatest opportunity to target them every day of the season. The season was incredible with so many large shoals of bluefin around, allowing us to catch 121 bluefin breaking our previous boat record of 25 in a season. The biggest we tagged and measured calculated a weight of 587lbs.
We’re hoping the season will be a little longer this year by starting August 1st and finishing when the fish leave in late December.
I have invested over £45,000 in new Tuna equipment to maximise your chances of catching you a fish of a life time here in the UK.
Tuna Fishing Trip Tariffs From
Please Call me before booking as the link does charge a booking fee making the cost higher.
Prices start at £225pp and £850 full charter.
A maximum of 4 anglers due to the nature of the fishing.
Extra hours can be arranged on the day at @£100 per hour
On the boat I can also supply a Marys Pasty for lunch with hot drinks, cans of pop or bottled water.
Please remember that if you are lucky enough to catch one of these beautiful giants it is not be possible to boat the fish. all fish will be measured at the side of the boat giving you chance to get your photo taken with it. We will then recover the fish by towing it alongside the boat until its ready and strong enough to swim off.
How Did We Get Here?
In 2016 I lost 8 out of 8 BlueFin before getting them to the boat. After changing my fishing gear and methods I finally landing my first Cornish BlueFin back in 2017, and 2018 I joined Thunnus UK in the first ever UK Tuna Tagging Program as the Tagging Vessel. The Thunnus Uk program while successful was limited to a very small area, so something had to change. something to give a wider base of incoming research about these fish. This was not possible as the Uk didn’t have quota and was therefore illegal to target the fish.
I started a private Facebook group called Skippers for BlueFin so skippers could work with DEFRA and other groups around such as Steve Murphy’s BluefintunaUk and the angling trust to lobby government to get us a UK quota, we could then fish for these fish legally. We started off with just 9 skippers but soon built up to 90+. This was done by Steve Murphy with the help from John MacMaster contacting skippers and getting them aboard.
Steve and his small team at Blufintunauk put in hundreds of hours preparing us and going to meetings with the government bodies. In these meetings they pushed for us to join the international tuna body ICCAT who manage the world Bluefin stocks. In 2020 the UK did became independent members of ICCAT and was issued 48 tonnes of the 32,000 tonnes of quota. This means for the first time in years the Uk can now catch BlueFin Tuna. Also in these meetings it was agreed that a UK CHART program could go ahead. This Chart Program means that 15 boats will lead the way in collecting data for DEFRA while working with CEFAS and our anglers.
More Information
Atlantic BlueFin tuna (Latin: Thunnus thynnus) were once a common sight in UK waters, ranging throughout the Celtic and North Sea. However, they largely disappeared from British waters in the 1990s and only in recent years have they returned. In the last five years, Atlantic bluefin tuna are frequently reported during the late summer, autumn and winter when they move into coastal areas of the UK to feed on energy rich fish, such as sprats and herring.
Whilst their return to our coastal waters is incredibly exciting, we know very little about these magnificent animals; where in the ocean they travel from to the UK, where they go when they leave, and just how many have been seen in recent years. To learn more about bluefin tuna in our coastal waters, the “UK CHART” project of research will help to provide a baseline understanding of the ecology and distribution of these fish around the UK.
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