The 20 year-old won the most coveted of the weekend’s major prizes — a $10,000 Stacer 399 boat and trailer package with Yamaha motor.
Now the only trouble Mr Mills has is finding the time.
‘‘I love fishing, when I can go out,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a bit of a task with only the punt, but now I just have to hook the new boat up and go.’’
Mr Mills collected his boat as soon as he found out he had won, but had to wait an entire working week before he could test it out properly.
He confesses to have spent ‘‘all weekend’’ on the Edward River this past weekend — and who would blame him.
While Mr Mills joked he was not coming home from the Hay Fishing Classic without a boat, he said he was still quite surprised to learn he had won the package.
‘‘When they rang me (to tell me I had won) I thought they were joking.
‘‘When they assured me it was true, I went to get it straight away.’’
It was a case of first time lucky for Mr Mills, who was encouraged to enter the Hay Fishing Classic for the first time by his girlfriend’s father, Simon Stubbings.
As for the actual fishing, high rivers made it tough going for all of the event’s 320 registered anglers.
Mr Mills managed to reel in only one fish during the weekend — a 63cm Murray cod.
His personal best is an 86cm cod, caught in Deni.
