A tuna caught off Ripiro Beach, Dargaville by a man with his hands and a knife.

Beach buggy enthusiast Aaron Cossill dragged a giant tuna to shore with nothing more than his bare hands and a hunting knife.

He and his son were driving along Ripiro Beach at Dargaville in Northland on Saturday when they saw what looked like a dolphin flapping in the breakers.

"It's tail was thrashing from side to side as it was being hit by a couple of big waves," he says. "I ran over and saw it was a huge tuna."



Aaron Cossill with the 80kg tuna, caught on Ripiro Beach near Dargaville.

Cossill tried to hold on to the monster by the tail but to no avail.

The keen pig hunter went to retrieve his hunting gear from his beach buggy and returned to find the tide had washed the tuna from the shallows out into waist deep water.

Cossill waded into the sea and grabbed the fish.

"It was kicking the hell out of me," he says. "Just as well I took the time to put my hunting gear on properly because when the gills opened, I grabbed a handful, pulled the knife out and stabbed it."

He managed to drag the tuna up onto the beach.

"I reckon it was sheer adrenaline that kicked in because I would never have been able to get it there otherwise," he says.

He rang a friend to come and help.

"I was a bit sore the next day because you wouldn't believe how powerful it was. I'm a keen hunter and I've handled a few boars over the years but nothing compared to this."

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Cossill said the tuna was easier to handle than a pig, but still no easy catch.

" If it hit you in the head with its tail it would bloody near knock you out."

Cossill does a bit of longline fishing but has never caught anything so large.

And he wasted no time getting stuck in to the fruits of his labour.

"The meat was like tender beef and it was in good nick, nice and fat," he says.

Cossill says he's heard stories of a large tuna that washed up dead at nearby Pouto many years ago.

But his tale is one for the books - and he's got the photo to prove it.

"It's one of those things that's not likely to happen again," he says.