By SCOTT MACLEOD
Night had just fallen when Peter Jackson hooked the biggest southern bluefin tuna that he - or possibly any other angler - has ever caught.
It was 7.30 pm on Sunday, and the lads on the 7m launch Pleco had just settled in for a spot of fishing in gentle swell 70km off the mouth of Kaipara Harbour.
Mr Jackson had no idea what he had caught, but the Huia fisherman's 37kg line ran with relentless torque in relatively short runs.
After a two-hour fight, skipper Mark Edmondson peered over the side and saw a fish big enough to be "a bloody whale."
The hard bit was yet to come - hauling the leviathan on board with the help of fellow angler Mike Langley and some barely adequate gaffs.
Back on shore yesterday, the Manukau Sport Fishing Club members were astonished to find that their catch weighed 198kg - smashing the southern bluefin world record by 60kg.
But the weight and tuna variety are yet to be confirmed by the New Zealand Big Game Fishing Council and, in turn, the International Game Fish Association in Florida.
That could take four months.
Mr Edmondson said the tuna looked huge.
Mr Jackson said: "It was a team effort, brother."
Ros Nelson, of the fishing council, said it sounded "pretty big, all right."
With our Olympic Games medal count looking a tad lean, the Jackson tuna could at last give New Zealand a world record to crow about.
It could be valuable, too - a big tuna recently fetched $187,000 at a Japanese fish market.
So how will the lads pay homage to their monster catch?
Smoke some, they say, and chuck the rest on the barbie.
Giant tuna hooks record
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