I'll try to find a better picture later
A Nelson businessman has reeled in a massive 268kg tuna on the West Coast and he is waiting to hear if it is a world record.
For Michael Hayes and his fishing mates, landing the big one was hardly a relaxing day out.
"It was hours of hard yakka," Hayes says, "I knew it was a good fish, but didn't realise until we tried to get it on the boat and five of us couldn't even hardly move it."
It took two hours to reel in the massive tuna but Hayes says he got off lightly.
"Another guy onboard landed another one which took him six hours."
Of the four pulled up, Hayes tuna weighed in as the biggest catch at over a quarter of a tonne or just under 600 pounds.
Landed entirely with rod and reel, he says it may very well be a world record breaker.
"It's a blue fin tuna, but it has to be dna tested to find out exactly what sort it is. It's either a northern blue fin or a pacific, but we believe it is a pacific and if that is the case, it'll be a world record," Hayes says.
The fish's dna is now being tested to figure out exactly which species it is, but in the meantime, Hayes is sending it to a taxidermist to have the memory of this whopper last forever.
"It's getting freighted up to Tauranga and there's going to be a mould and cast made out of it which is going to my game fishing club," he says.
And if you are dying to know the secret to landing the big one, Hayes says it is just being at the right place at the right time.
It will be three weeks before he finds out if he holds the record title.
For Michael Hayes and his fishing mates, landing the big one was hardly a relaxing day out.
"It was hours of hard yakka," Hayes says, "I knew it was a good fish, but didn't realise until we tried to get it on the boat and five of us couldn't even hardly move it."
It took two hours to reel in the massive tuna but Hayes says he got off lightly.
"Another guy onboard landed another one which took him six hours."
Of the four pulled up, Hayes tuna weighed in as the biggest catch at over a quarter of a tonne or just under 600 pounds.
Landed entirely with rod and reel, he says it may very well be a world record breaker.
"It's a blue fin tuna, but it has to be dna tested to find out exactly what sort it is. It's either a northern blue fin or a pacific, but we believe it is a pacific and if that is the case, it'll be a world record," Hayes says.
The fish's dna is now being tested to figure out exactly which species it is, but in the meantime, Hayes is sending it to a taxidermist to have the memory of this whopper last forever.
"It's getting freighted up to Tauranga and there's going to be a mould and cast made out of it which is going to my game fishing club," he says.
And if you are dying to know the secret to landing the big one, Hayes says it is just being at the right place at the right time.
It will be three weeks before he finds out if he holds the record title.
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