The Bay of Islands father and son duo, Warren and Blake Hay, took out the snapper trifecta at the Extreme Boats Tournament fished out of Whitianga over the last weekend in November.
It was Blake who was first past the post, winning the measure-based comp with an 80.5cm snapper caught straylining aboard Game On, comfortably ahead of Warren’s 75cm entry.
Andrew McDade aboard AMC took out the kingfish section with a 112cm entry while the kahawai and trevally overall prizes went to Tania Radonich (60.5cm) and Jenn Thonton (51.5cm) respectively.
The tournament is capped at 102 boats and the 350 anglers came from as far afield as Portugal and Australia, as well as the South Island. With over $140,000 in prizes thanks to the generous support of trusted suppliers and friends, there was plenty to go around, with an emphasis on quality spot prizes to give everyone a chance at taking something home.
Many Extreme Boats staff were involved with not only running the contest, but also assisting at the ramp launching and loading boats, along with the team from Raymarine providing steaming hot coffee in the morning and barbecued sausages and refreshments in the afternoon.
This year the two winners of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter lottery boats were drawn on stage and an original piece of artwork by Zoe from Unjustified Risk was auctioned off with all proceeds also going to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.
Report by Grant Dixon.
