Everett Angler Wins Last Northwest Fishing Derby Series Boat
THE FOLLOWING IS A PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NORTHWEST MARINE TRADE ASSOCIATION
Traice Lundberg was at home watching the Seahawks game when he received a series of phone calls that would change his life. It started with a call from a fishing friend, which was shortly cut off by a call from another fishing friend, many other missed calls, and then Karsten McIntosh of the Northwest Marine Trade Association and Northwest Fishing Derby Series. They were all calling about the same thing after his name was drawn from a raffle of over 9,000 Northwest Fishing Derby Series participants at the end of the Everett Coho Derby on Sept. 26.
“Hello,” said Lundberg, aghast at what was going on. “Is this what I think it is?”
“It sure is! You won the boat,” said McIntosh.
After a long yell and a few screams, Lundberg quickly jumped into his car and drove to Bayside Marine at the Port of Everett to see his new boat. After arriving, it was love at first sight, starting with a kiss, then a hug, and followed with a series of baffled looks, screams, cheers, and chants as it all sunk in.
“I just can’t believe this is real life! I have been looking at boats for a long time and this is going to be perfect for me and my family,” Lundberg said.
The boat, a Kingfisher 2025 Escape hardtop with Yamaha outboard motors, Shoxs seats and Raymarine electronics on a EZ-Loader trailer, completely outfitted with a WhoDat rod tower, Burnewiin accessories, Scotty downriggers, and a Dual Electronics stereo will certainly satisfy any angler’s dreams.
“We couldn’t be happier for Traice and are ecstatic to see the boat go to such an avid angler and frequent participant of the derbies,” said McIntosh, who coordinated the series for NMTA. “I look forward to seeing the boat on the water all the time.”
Lundberg plans to continue to fish the derbies as often as possible. He intends to use the boat all over Puget Sound, at Sekiu on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in Canada, and in eastern Washington on Lake Roosevelt.
“I’m so happy I may sleep in it,” he said.
This year’s Grand Prize Boat was the 18th boat NMTA has given away since starting the fishing tournament series in 2004. Due to event restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Grand Prize Boat giveaway was the culmination of both the 2020 and 2021 Northwest Fishing Derby Series events, with over 9,000 total anglers participating.
Looking ahead, NMTA announced in 2020 that due to a myriad of different factors 2021 would be its last year coordinating the Derby Series and Grand Prize Boat, however the derbies will continue to take place.
“For 18 years, we have helped promote the events by packaging them together as a Derby Series, advertising, and putting a Grand Prize Boat package together to help fulfill our mission of promoting boating and fishing in the Pacific Northwest,” said McIntosh. “While we will not be coordinating the Series in 2022, we encourage anglers to continue to compete in all of their favorite fishing events as these events are all produced by individual entities, not NMTA.”
McIntosh also encourages anglers to continue to support all the loyal sponsors of the Derby Series.
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