While this is a pretty common fish in real life, it can be pretty hard to come-by in this game! We’re taking a look at the best methods on how to catch a Tuna in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If you’re someone who wants to check off every part of your Critterpedia, then you’re going to need to know how to catch this large fish.

How to Catch a Tuna

First, we’ll take a look at the Tuna’s Critterpedia information because it’s vital to know when you can actually catch this thing. It only shows up in certain times of the year, so don’t go fishing for it unless you fall into the precise months it is available.

  • Northern Hemisphere: January - April Southern Hemisphere: May - November Active Hours: All Day Shadow: Extra Large Location: Pier Price: 7,000 Bells

The shadow is a bit larger than your typical Sea Bass shadow, but it can be hard to differentiate the two. I would just cast out if it’s large, so you don’t miss out on one. Tuna can only be found off of a pier, which can be found near the airport or at the other dock area on your island. One can also be located near the airplane when you arrive at a mystery island.

There’s a couple of methods I employ to catch rare fish, so you can choose which to take advantage of:

Mystery Island Method

Fish spawn quite a bit faster on a mystery island, so scaring the ones you don’t want away will generate more fish. You can run back and forth on the river and ocean to scare the fish. Once you’ve scared a bunch of them, run back to the pier and look for a fish spawn. If it isn’t a large shadow, scare it away and repeat the process. You will want to do this until you come across the Tuna. Here’s ways to scare fish:

  • Sprint (hold B-button) and run along the river to scare them Pole vault across the river near the fish Cast towards a fish, get them to bite, and reel it in without catching the fish. This scares away the fish you got to bite and other nearby fish!

There’s also a mystery island that only spawns large fish, so if you come across this one it is wise to try and catch some of these rarer fish like the Tuna, Blue Marlin, and Sturgeon.

Fish Bait/Hard Resets

If you don’t want to spend Nook Miles then you can always farm up Fish bait. This can be gotten by running around your beaches and looking for dark holes that spout out water. Use your shovel on one of these locations to obtain a Manila clam. Gather a bunch of these up and head to the crafting table. You can use them to create Fish bait. Once you’ve got the bait, head over to the pier and scatter it in the water. You will get a guaranteed fish spawn, however, it’s not always going to be the fish you want. So, if the shadow isn’t the right size, just throw in more bait. Repeat until you get the one you want!

If you don’t want to continue to farm Fish bait, then you can use the reset method to make things easier. What you need to do is gather up 10 Fish bait, and then go to the pier. Wait for your game to auto-save, look at the top right of the screen for the spinning dot icon. Once that happens, start throwing bait into the water and look for the shadow that is the size of a Tuna. Cast at any that match the size! If you don’t catch one, hit the Home button on your controller and fully close Animal Crossing. You have about three minutes between auto-saves, so just make sure to reset before the next save (if you see the auto-save indicator, DO NOT close the game or your save might be corrupted)! This will put you back to where you saved previously and you will have all of your bait. Repeat this method until you catch the Tuna!