• The New Horizons 3.0 update is here and we're hosting an eShop gift card giveaway! Each participant will also earn up to 60 forum bells. To participate, visit the event thread in the New Horizons board here. Good luck!

Has anyone caught a Tuna or Blue Marlin?

I seemed to get Blue Marlins and Tuna more often from Random Spawns at the pier than using fish bait. There was one time where I got three Blue Marlins in one day.
 
Ah I'm sorry to hear that the short pier actually creates a disadvantage like that! I think I have a rather long pier, but even so, I can state that I caught my marlin and tuna both closer to the shores. They were swimming next to the pier, but were close enough to shore that I could cast my line out while standing on the beach
Yeah, there's actually a misconception about where pier fish spawn. You don't need to be on top of the pier for these fish to spawn (meaning they don't spawn only on "squares" that are "touching" the pier).

Pier fish will appear on the shore around the pier. Think of something like "pier area", and they spawn within the limits of said area, which is basically "everywhere on the screen where you can still see your pier".
 
My buddy struggled mightily finding/catching a tuna. For me, it was the Char.
 
I've only found 1 tuna while I was on a mystery island iirc. Though, I've managed to find a fair few blue marlins on my own island.
 
Update: I CAUGHT A TUNA!

Ahhhhhhhh yeeeessss!!!!!!! I took 30 bait to a mystery island and one of them was a tuna! Oh my gosh I'm so pleased. But also still miffed about RNG and that I still have the blue marlin to catch now.....
 
i’ve caught them both without ever having to use bait - like others have said, it really all just comes down to luck and rng. good luck!
 
I have yet to find a blue marlin, but I caught my first tuna today while visiting my best friend's town. I was running around exploring, found myself at the pier, saw a large shadow and was able to catch it. I've crafted bait before, but I haven't actually used it to try to catch anything.
 
I've gotten the Blue Marlin about 10-15 times and the Tuna about 3 times since launch. I'm sorry for your bad luck :(
 
I haven't caught the marlin yet but I caught some rarer fish by accident (char, golden trout, barreleye, tuna) by trying to go for others lol. It took me collectively 5 hours to get the stringfish before it disappeared and I used well over 200 bait for it. That was incredibly unlucky for me. It's just luck
 
As others have said, I would reccomend looking on the pier area on mystery islands as I seem to get luckier there!
 
Do you use bait, catch the fish, and then use more bait? Or do you repeatedly use bait until you see the shadow you think you want?

I remember catching everything because I wanted to get the nook miles for 100 fish in a row in the process, but I never got any big shadows. When I kept throwing bait I eventually got the Tuna / Marlin in around 10-20 bait.

This probably isn't a real thing though - just my experience with it.
 
I got both with 52 bait last month. Stringfish is what really tortured me; I caught it with less than two hours left in march! I swear... I caught three golden trout when I was trying to hunt down that thing.. right now, like others, I am struggling with finding the barreleye, and also.. the other goldfish variants? I haven't found any yet.
 
Most of the time it's not worth "chasing" specific fish because most of them are available for a few months and you'll often find some rare fish while looking for others. I missed the stringfish in March, but I don't really care because I know I'll have to wait until winter to finish my fish and bug collections anyway.
 
I feel your pain, I stood at the end of the dock with all my bait that was painfully crafted and I didn’t manage to get one😕 however when I was randomly fishing I caught two oarfish. I feel like RNG has just been doing me dirty... all I want is to catch a couple rare fish types and it seems to be impossible 😂
 
i've caught a tuna near my pier, i thought it was going to be a sea bass, but i haven't caught it again since
 
I've caught a few tunas, and at least one blue marlin.

I did not catch a coelecanth until yesterday, though. Do you know why? Because it rains so rarely in my game that was really my first chance.
 
Back
Top