Both women were drawn as two of the five finalists for the $90,000 Stabicraft prize package.
Mrs Kelly was surprised by the results, not even realising she had won it at first.
"I didn’t think I got it. I thought the other guy did," she said.
Ms James said she was shocked when her mother joined her on stage.
"I thought that was a one-in-a-million shot.
"Then I was getting up to here [the stage], and then I heard Donna Kelly, and I turned around and thought ‘Oh no, here we go’."
It was the third year she and her husband, Allan, had entered the competition.
The family were very happy when Ms James was selected as one of the five finalists, but then Mrs Kelly was drawn as well.
It was "unbelievable", Mr Kelly said.
The couple already had an older Stabicraft 709 model they brought from Blenheim about two years ago.
"But I’ve had the Stabies for the last 28 years."
The couple caught five fish during the competition.
Stabicraft marketing general manager Daniel Upperton said the company had a long-standing relationship with the event.
He believed entries were down by about 500 on past years, with 1500 received this year.
"But we had a pretty horrific day of weather yesterday, so that might have put a few people off."
It was the largest fishing competition in the country which people had travelled internationally for.
"So its a pretty awesome thing to be held in Te Anau."
Coincidentally, he had met the winners of the new boat while fishing on the lake yesterday and stopped for a "yarn".
Event co-ordinator Shevaun Taberner said it had been another successful tournament.
"The whole weekend went really well, apart from the weather, which was pretty miserable yesterday [Saturday]. But it didn’t stop people from entering.
It had the third-largest entry numbers in the event’s 17-year history.
She expected it would inject about $1 million into the township’s economy.
"People coming and staying, paying for accommodation, eating, fuelling their boats."
Most visitors stayed at least one night and travelled home on the Sunday, while "the cribbies" [holiday homeowners] usually stayed until Monday.
"Which is why we don’t do the prizegiving on Monday, so that everyone can have some downtime — including us."
"It’s a massive job to organise."
The committee would be starting work on the 2025 plans tomorrow, she said.
- By Toni McDonald
