World-beating tuna destined for fisherman's wall

The northern pacific bluefin tuna caught off the coast of Greymouth on Saturday by Tauranga angler Kevin Baker with rod and reel.

What would you do with a 350kg fish?

Tauranga angler Kevin Baker can tell you - and it doesn't involve filleting or scoffing the whopper tuna he scooped at the weekend.

Mr Baker almost certainly broke a world record on Saturday when he caught a 352kg northern pacific bluefin tuna off the coast of Greymouth while on a charter.

"The next-biggest tuna I've caught was 33kg, so this smashes everything I've caught before," he told 3News.

"It took half an hour to wind the fish from hook-up to boat, and before that there were a few days at sea and a few false starts before [we] hooked the big one at around 3 this morning. We had another angler who had his fish on for three hours and the line broke ... and then we immediately hooked up this one."

While official confirmation is still pending, Mr Baker's tuna is thought to be the heaviest to be caught on rod and reel. It took him just 40 minutes to land the monstrous fish, using 60kg of gear.

He finally got the tuna up onto Enchanter Fishing Charter's Cova Rosa about 3am. It will now be weighed, measured and Mr Baker's gear will be checked before a JP can sign and verify the catch.

It is estimated a tuna of that size would be worth up to $70,000 on the Japanese market. However Mr Baker has another plan - to hang his trophy proudly on the wall.

Cova Rosa skipper Lance Goodhew said the catch was "amazing" and "world class".

According to the International Game Fish Association's records, the largest bluefin tuna caught was 678.58kg, landed in October 1979 in Nova Scotia, Canada, by Ken Fraser.

The world record for the biggest fish caught with a rod and reel, until this weekend, was about 25kg less than Mr Baker's tuna.

Kevin's tuna

* Northern pacific bluefin tuna.
* Weighed 352kg.
* Took 40 minutes to catch off Greymouth coast.
* Landed at 3am.