A fisherman is waiting to hear if he has reeled in a new world record after catching a whopping tuna fish in New Zealand.

The Pacific bluefin weighed in at more than 335kg - and if approved by the International Game Fish Association it is the largest of its kind ever snapped up on a rod and reel.

But what makes the catch even more of a feat is that Nathan Adams caught it from a six-metre tin boat.

'It was pretty cool because when I first started fishing my dream was to catch a bluefin tuna exactly like that,' said Mr Adams.

He said the fish was 'pretty hard' to reel in because the line 'was right on the point of the line breaking'.

The 42-year-old angler and member of Muriwai Sports Fishing Club caught the monster fish near Houhora, off the east coast of the country's North Island.

He is hoping his wife Lisa will allow him to hang up a cast that is being made of his jaw-dropping catch which was towed back to shore and shipped off to a chiller.

But she may take some convincing, having already said that 'it will be like mounting a sofa' onto a wall in their lounge.

The Pacific bluefin was not the only prize-winning catch of the 2012 New Zealand Sport Fishing Council National competition.

Just days later, Mr Adam's friend Alan Langdon reeled in a 358kg black marlin near Ahipara on the west coast.

Mark Nobilo, president of Muriwai Sports Fishing Club, said: 'It's pretty awesome, pretty special, especially for our little club.'

Last year, a giant bluefin tuna fetched a record $396,000 (251,000) in auction at the world's largest wholesale fish market in Tokyo, Japan.