Fishing: End of line for Furuno's bloke-fest fishing contest

The annual bloke-fest that is the Furuno fishing tournament will have its last day in its present format today - and may be finished altogether.

The Pah Farm site on Kawau Island that has hosted the competition for the past nine years was sold last Tuesday by Mike and Marisse Hodson of sponsors Electronic Navigation and new owner and property developer Kim Spencer has already had an "astronomical" offer for the property.

Spencer will decide today whether to sell. His decision will be announced to the 3000-odd anglers at the tournament during the prizegiving.

But he made it clear the event would not proceed as it has in the past.

"It can't continue as it was, with some guy thinking it's okay to get his gear off in the lodge just because he's had too much to drink."

Spencer wants to develop better-quality accommodation and upgrade the lodge to attract a family clientele.

He has plans to subdivide 19 sections off the main block and already has buyers for some - provided he doesn't sell lock, stock and barrel. But he is also negotiating to buy land from another major Kawau landowner, Peter Spencer (no relation), the son of toilet paper magnate John Spencer.

Lion Red is the other major sponsor, and its Furuno marketing man, Gordon Gibbons, concedes that a family-oriented event would not be the place to push alcohol.

The brewery was pleased with the long association it had had with the World Snapper Cup contest, he said.

The biggest snapper yesterday was an 11.85kg fish caught by Aucklander Paul Lovell near Great Barrier Island.

The anglers enjoyed perfect conditions, allowing many to get well off-shore, and after day two of the three-day event around five tonnes of fish had been registered in the contest and taken to Auckland for sale.

The proceeds will go to the Friends of Auckland Maritime.