After months of casting lines, tossing bait and practically bribing the fish to bite, one angler bested the rest and earned top honors at the First Annual Nordhavn Mad Fish Hunt. It was a nearly impossible chore sifting through the field of impressive entries that came in from all over the world, but young Aleksander Nowaczek  was deemed the clear favorite by our esteemed panel of judges for landing a 41-inch, 57-pound Halibut off Alaska. What swayed the judges in Aleksander’s favor was that the fish was both larger and heavier than its captor. No other entrant could make that claim. Plus, Alek submitted the most entries and thus earned bonus points for enthusiasm.

For his win, Aleksander receives a highly coveted Mad Fish Hunt t-shirt and the Mad Fish Hunt Trophy Fish trophy. The engraved award is sure to sit upon the book shelf of his parents’ Nordhavn 75 Yachtfisher in all its shiny glass glory, drawing impressed glances from those who come on board. “We’re really proud to have Aleksander as the ‘face’ of the first Mad Fish Hunt,” noted head judge Dave Harlow. “It’s pretty impressive when you look at what he accomplished just within what he’s entered here. Really, nobody stood a chance against him!”

We’d be remiss without pointing out a couple other stand-outs, whose spirit – if not their catches – captured the essence of the contest.  An honorable mention goes to Heather Halsey of N55 Echo for having the best captions and going to great lengths to poke fun at the contest. We like a gal who helps us put the “mad” in Mad Fish Hunt. (By the way, some of us are really interested in what type of bait you used to snare that snorkeler.)

Additionally, we’d like to give a hearty pat on the back to Nathan Allen for capturing a sting ray, which in itself must be quite a feat. (We hear the beer swilling species are especially wily.) We enjoyed your caption and photo as well, though admittedly, upon first glance it had appeared you’d caught a black raincoat.

And so the 2010 Mad Fish Hunt draws to a close. Next year’s Fish Hunt will start in May and run through the summer. We’ll catch you next spring with more details.

Thanks to all who participated. You did yourselves – and us – proud!

P.S. if you’d like a really cool Mad Fish t-shirt for yourself, check out the Nordhavn Store.