After weeks of strong winds, the tuna boats can finally get out after those mighty bluefins and it was the Leah-C who had two bumper days on the water, landing no less than 25 fish. The fishing was on fire and skipper, ‘Tuna Mick’ Callaghan, reports seeing more fish than he had seen in years. On Monday, they broke their previous record by catching 12 fish and on Tuesday they went one better with 13 – unlucky for some they say!
Also fishing on Monday were the crew of Killybegs Fishing Trips, who reported seeing lots of fish but only managed to bring two 300lbers to the boat. On another day, it could have been five or six.
The fish aren’t confined to Donegal Bay either, as Dave Edwards of West Cork Charters has found plenty of tuna feeding on his trips offshore – so things are shaping up well once we get a settled spell of weather!
Tuna CHART (CatcH And Release Tagging) is a bluefin tuna scientific catch and release fishery. In 2025, a maximum 22 authorised sea angling charter skippers have been authorised to catch, tag and release Atlantic bluefin tuna in Irish waters under the programme.
In 2024, 294 Atlantic bluefin tuna were caught, tagged and released as part of Tuna CHART. Authorised skippers undertook 234 bluefin tuna angling trips. In the most successful week last year, 3 bluefin were caught and tagged per trip.
Go Fishing…
You can find a list of authorised Tuna boats here:
