Teen angler lands 598-pound bluefin tuna, sets world record in New Zealand
Max McCone spent 5.5 hours on a Pacific bluefin off Westport, then watched a certified scale confirm 598 pounds, 6 ounces and a junior world record.
A 16-year-old from New Zealand turned a five-and-a-half-hour fight off Westport into a 598-pound Pacific bluefin tuna and a new IGFA Junior Men’s 37-kg line class world record. Max McCone’s fish weighed 271.50 kilograms, or 598 pounds, 6 ounces, struck a trolled lure on January 28, 2026, and was officially weighed on a certified scale after the boat returned to port.
The International Game Fish Association approved the record in its June 19, 2026 world-records update. The group recognizes records in all-tackle, line-class and junior categories, and it began offering separate Junior Line Class and Junior Tippet Class world-record categories for anglers 16 and under on April 1, 2025. McCone’s catch landed squarely in that framework: a line-class record built on the kind of patience and tackle discipline that tuna anglers measure in line pounds, not just sheer size.
Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis, are the fish that make those categories matter. In New Zealand Sport Fishing Council records, the prior Men’s 37-kg Pacific bluefin benchmark is 335.40 kilograms, set by Nathan Adams at Houhora on February 17, 2012. The same council lists Kevin Baker’s 352.50-kilogram all-tackle men’s bluefin from Greymouth on September 14, 2013, and Donna Pascoe’s 411.60-kilogram women’s all-tackle fish from the Three Kings on February 19, 2014. McCone’s catch now sits among those heavyweight New Zealand benchmarks, a reminder of how rare Pacific bluefin of this scale remain.
Westport has been building a reputation as a serious big-game port, and the fishery around it has broadened enough to draw attention beyond a single run of tuna. West Coast NZ says the 2025 season brought blue and striped marlin, yellowfin and bluefin tuna, and mahi mahi into South Island waters, while a month-long Buller Bluewater Classic was launched for February and March 2026 to tap into the area’s growing profile. New Zealand fishing-charter operators say Westport and Greymouth can produce some of the biggest bluefin tuna in the world, with seasons that yield fish in the 250- to 350-kilogram range.
McCone’s record was not a quick brag at the dock. It was a long pull on a trolled lure, a careful run back to port, and a certified weigh-in that locked the number in place after 5.5 hours on the fish.
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