Home Sea angling reports Bluefin boats back to normal for a while in Donegal Bay

Bluefin boats back to normal for a while in Donegal Bay

By
Markus Muller
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1697

After a longer period of poor weather and poorer fishing, bluefin boats were back to normal for a while in Donegal Bay.

Ewing’s Sea Angling & Boat Charters fishing out of Rosses Point, Co. Sligo reported some nice fish caught and tagged by their clients, while tuna.ie had plenty bluefin tuna to the boat for solo angler Steffen Binz and ‘Deep Blue’ skipper Adrian Molloy. The fish were ranging between 160 lbs. and 400 lbs.

A happy “solo” bluefin angler Steffen Binz aboard ‘Deep Blue’

Wildatlanticwayangling were also back on the water. Leah-C had the Marine Institute on board again with another 12 fish caught and tagged with satellite tags and biological samples taken for further research into these majestic fish. That is 22 bluefin caught and released for the Marine Institute on board Leah-C this season.

Marine Institute staff tagging and measuring onboard Leah-C

Bluefin tuna angling has become very popular and most boats are heavily booked for the remainder of this year’s tuna season. However, it is worth checking for free places if you fancy catching a fish of a lifetime… A list of all certified bluefin tuna boats is available here.

Tuna CHART

Tuna CHART (CatcH and Release Tagging) utilises authorised vessels to catch, tag and release Atlantic Bluefin Tuna for data collection purposes off the Irish coast.  The programme,  developed by Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Marine Institute in partnership with the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department for Environment, Climate and Communications, operated on a pilot basis in 2019 and 2020.