KEY POINTS:
Leesa Quann reckons she's used to mixing it with the boys.
As the only girl in her family she had two younger brothers to contend with while growing up in Blenheim.
A self-confessed fishing nut, she was also the only female deckhand on her dad's boat, which used to run charters out of Whangarei.
And while caring for her three girls, aged 13, 11 and 5, she regularly turned out on the wing for the Bream Bay United Soccer Club in a local men's competition.
But it was when she had to convince a boardroom of big-name sponsors to back her fledgling fishing competition at Bream Bay, Ruakaka, that she admitted to "nearly crapping myself". Mrs Quann said the meat packs she was selling at a local pub while fundraising for a new team strip didn't quite cut it.
"So I thought 'stuff this' and came up with an idea to hold a one-off fishing competition to help raise money.
"At the same time I heard that the Furuno fishing competition, which used to run off Kawau Island, had come to an end. So my marketing plan kicked in and I got in touch with the sponsors of that competition."
Somehow the fulltime mum, known locally as "the fishing chick", with no experience of managing an event of the magnitude she was proposing, secured a meeting with the sponsors who, she said, had turned down approaches from at least six fishing clubs.
"One of the guys in there actually liked the fact that I was cocky after I said I could do a better job than the last," said Mrs Quann.
"They're loving it and they keep giving me prizes for the competition so I'm taking that as a positive."
Since it started three years ago, the Beach and Boat competition, which has more than $280,000 in prizes, including $100,000 for anyone who catches a specially-tagged snapper, has gone on to become one of the country's biggest annual fishing competitions.
Up to 2000 people are expected when the competition starts at the end of February with boaties, kayakers and beach anglers from throughout New Zealand and around the world.
"People are coming from flipping everywhere, we are getting heaps from Australia, there's a guy flying in from Wales and one from Canada. We've got 140 campsites and 50ha of space at the [Whangarei] racecourse for people to make as much noise as they like," said Mrs Quann.
After the event "just broke even" in its first year, it is now turning over a profit and local community groups are also benefiting - about $32,000 was donated to people in the area last year.
Hook $280,000
Lion Red Carters Beach and Boat Competition
Where: Whangarei Racecourse, Bream Bay
When: February 29 to March 1
