The crew had to apologise to families after 8.5-hour battle caused them to miss Christmas lunch.
The tuna wasn’t officially weighed but was shared out among Great Barrier locals and friends for eating.
A possible world record tuna weighing up to 250kg was hooked off Great Barrier Island by a United States man on just his third-ever fishing trip.
In a marathon 8.5-hour battle, the boat crew had to apologise to their families for missing Christmas lunch after angler Joey Manin clung on through cramps while the giant fish towed their boat 15 nautical miles to sea.
Auckland boat skipper Tristan Zlami – who this week shared the tale from late last year as part of a slew of recent stories about tuna catches - said his parents were ultimately rapt for the anglers.
“They didn’t care about Christmas lunch, they were just stoked to see us catch a fish like that – a fish of a lifetime,” he said.
San Francisco resident Joey Manin hauled in a huge tuna near Great Barrier Island on just his third-ever fishing trip as he's pictured here with Alysha Harris. Photo / Supplied
Returning to Great Barrier Island on Christmas Day, the team were unable to check the tuna at an official weigh in, but Zlami believes Manin would be a world record holder had they been able to.
“The current record for a Pacific bluefin tuna caught on a 24kg line is 197.5kg, and we estimate that fish at 250kg, so it would have smashed the world record for sure,” he said.
Further highlighting how special the catch was, commercial Japanese fishermen recently made world headlines when they caught a 275kg tuna that sold at auction for US$1.3 million ($2.3m).
Joey Manin digs deep during his 8.5-hour battle. Photo / Supplied
Zlami said his boat’s Christmas trip had been a few years in the making.
Zlami’s brother lives in San Francisco, and he last returned home in 2023 when Auckland was experiencing major storms and they were unable to get out in the boat at all.
This year, his brother brought two buddies along, and the guys had again been unable to get out for serious game-fishing because of choppy weather conditions.
But then as the family and friends holidayed on Great Barrier Island, the forecast turned favourable for Christmas Day – but only up until about midday.
Zlami apologised to his parents and said they’d only be out for half a day and would try and bring a yellowfin tuna back for lunch.
Zlami brothers Clemens and Tristan with the tuna. Photo / Supplied
Dropping their lures in the water at 6.50am, the giant tuna struck almost straight away.
Pulling hard it towed the boat 15 nautical miles to sea as Zlami fired the motor to do what’s called “chasing” the fish.
Beginner angler Manin almost had to tap out halfway through.
“His legs were giving up, his arm was cramping and we were feeding him electrolytes and whatnot,” Zlami said.
“He also had a massive blister on his hand, and I thought we were going to have to swap him out after about four hours, but he found a second wind and hats off to him.”
Then six hours in, Manin started to believe the fight was almost over.
The guys were able to see the tuna for the first time as it surfaced while they pulled the last bits of line in by hand.
But with another rush, it shot back out 300m in seconds while the guys came as close as ever to losing it, Zlami said.
Eventually, another 2.5 hours on as the weather deteriorated, the three guys were able to rope the tuna and – with the help of a swell – heave it on board.
Motoring back to Great Barrier at around 6pm, Zlami said it “would have been nearly impossible” to get the tuna weighed on Christmas Day in such a small place that doesn’t even have electricity.
And even though the fish could’ve netted more than US$1m in the right market, people are not allowed to sell seafood in New Zealand without commercial licences.
Joey Manin has forever commemorated the catch by tattoing it on his leg yesterday. Photo / Supplied
So Zlami set about making the best use possible of the incredible catch.
“The most important thing for me when we’re taking a fish of that calibre is respecting it and getting it in top eating condition,” he said.
“We cut it up and got it chilled as soon as we could and then shared it among lots of Great Barrier locals and family and friends.”
Even if they could have got the fish weighed “it would have meant another few hours lying it around in the sun and spoiling the meat further”, he said.
“Honestly, like as nice as it would be to have a world record, I don’t really care about that.”
“It’s more about going out and catching fish with your mates and getting a good feed out of it.”
And as a bonus Zlami has now earned years’ of credit with his brother for impressing Manin.
