My First Experience Bigeye Tuna Fishing at The Northeast Canyons

The Northeast Canyons are located roughly 100 miles south of Cape Cod, and during the summer they contain a multitude of different species of fish.

It's not unusual to find blue and white marlin, wahoo, yellowfin tuna and of course the hard fighting bigeye tuna.

Bigeye tuna can grow up to 8 feet in length and weigh as much as 400 pounds. The eyes of bigeye tuna are well developed and with a large spherical lens allowing their vision to function well in low light conditions.

So when I got the call from My Fishing Cape Cod member Kurt Saraceno that they were planning a trip for bigeyes and that they needed an extra deckhand, I jumped at the opportunity. 

I met the guys in Osterville at 4AM on July 15th. Our goal was to make the 100+ mile run to the canyon shown below.

If all went well we would arrive at the canyon in under 4 hours, fish for the morning and early afternoon, and then make the ride back home before dark.

It would be a long haul but it was doable, especially with favorable sea conditions and 900 horsepower!

We arrived at the canyons around 7:30am and quickly got to work putting out an 8 rod trolling spread. 

The spread consisted of a mix of daisy chains, spreader bars and big swimming plugs. I have included some photos of the lures we were using below.

Sea conditions were a little lumpy but the spread was skipping nicely across the surface of the water as we trolled along. 

I had just settled in and was starting to get comfortable when all hell broke loose at around 8:30am. 

Suddenly and without any warning whatsoever one of the spreader bars got crushed in amazing fashion, and whitewater went flying high into the air.

An instant later another rod went off under the strain of a big fish, and seconds after that two more tunas jumped on the line.

Drags were sizzling as we scrambled to clear lines and fight the fish.

All eight rods were now hooked up. It was apparent that we had crossed paths with a very aggressive pack of tunas! 

We dropped a couple of the fish during the ensuing pandemonium, but little did we realize what was about to happen next, soon after Ted cleared one of the spreaders on the short outrigger...

As the spreader bar skipped along the surface, just a mere yard or two from the port side of the boat, a 100+ pound bigeye tuna came hurdling out of the water and slammed the bar. 

 It was a beautiful fish!

We didn't weight the bigeye but the guys figured she was around 125 pounds.

Bigeyes are definitely one of the hardest fighting fish in the sea. Just like bluefin tuna they do not give up and will literally fight to the death.

We trolled around for a few more hours but the bigeyes never showed themselves again. However, what would we have done with any more tuna anyways? We harvested plenty of meat from just this one fish.

My wife Lauren made some absolutely delicious ahi tuna nachos with firecracker slaw which I highly recommend!

In conclusion I have to thank MFCC member Kurt Saraceno, his dad Ted and good friend Curtis for inviting me along on this canyons trip. It was definitely another offshore adventure to remember!

Tight lines