"The three important things are time, quality and tension - you've got to get everything right. Paul beat me on time mainly," he said.
Mr Bouskill won the pairs Silver Spade competition with Gordon Hansen, of Bayview.
The Silver Staples competition for under-21s enrolled in Agricultural-based education, was won by Smedley cadets Josh Burden and Mark Baxter.
Mr Van Beers' son, Jason, competed for the first time and won the best first-year competitor award for the Golden Pliers, and working with his dad came third in the pairs Silver Spade.
Paul Van Beers said he practised on short fences on his farm to prepare for competitions: "This year I have been full-time contract fencing with my son, so that has been keeping me shipshape."
Jason, 20, said: "Dad taught me everything I know."
For much of the past 10 years, Mr Van Beers has farmed rather than fenced.
On three occasions he has won the coveted Golden Pliers three years in a row and in the past six years he has triumphed five times.
"It's a nice trophy to have," he said of the gold-plated tool.
"Every year I go up there I learn something new. You pick up new ideas, you take them home and put them into practice.
"If I make a little mistake up there I have a whole year to sort it out - you analyse everything."
He said it was a rigorous competition.
"On Tuesday, the day before Field Days opens, they have the heats where there are normally about 30 competitors - mostly North Islanders. They put up half a fence and the top eight go into the finals, which is held on Thursday. The next best six go through to the Bill Schuler on Wednesday."
In the afternoon of the Tuesday they had a doubles competition.
"We managed to get into the finals - that's not a bad effort on Jason's first attempt."
The father-son team charge for fencing by the metre.