Fishing: Blokey icon sobers up

The Furuno fishing contest will not be repeated in the form that has carried it through the past 19 years, with the new owner of the Kawau Island base confirming he wants to take it down-scale and turn it from a blokey event into a family occasion.

Property developer Kim Spencer has already approved three other fishing contests that want to use the Pah Farm site as a venue and said yesterday that he knew he had hold of an icon and that he was not trying to get rid of fishermen.

But changes to the land use, expansion and improvement of the lodge and other accommodation, his desire to take the site upmarket, plus increasing interest and restrictions from Occupational Safety and Health did not fit with the boozy culture that had prevailed over recent years, he said.

Spencer wants to buy land from neighbour Peter Spencer - son of toilet-paper tycoon John but no relation to Kim - and to reach agreement with the other major Kawau landowner, the Department of Conservation, to develop walking and possibly horse-riding tracks linking the lodge at Moore's Bay to Mansion House Bay and other beach areas.

A Canadian with a Kiwi wife has put in a big offer for all of the property and Spencer said he could sell at substantial profit, but that was not his intention when buying.

He does have plans before the Rodney District Council for a subdivision of 19 one-acre properties that will go on the market for between $450,000 and $3.5 million.

Spencer has asked the Warkworth Gamefish Club, which has been based at the lodge, to continue its involvement, and he aims to revitalise the snapper breeding scheme started by former Pah Farm owners Mike and Marisse Hodson, who also own Electronic Navigation, the Furuno's major sponsor.

Mike Hodson has been ill. Son Gareth said yesterday that the firm would wait to see what eventuated from Spencer's plans before deciding on its sponsorship.

The Furuno brand backed nine other fishing contests and they were pleased with the value they had out of the Snapper World Cup contest and wanted to continue, he said.

Lion Red has been the other big backer. They do not see a family event as suitable for promotion but are also waiting on developments.

Bill Hohepa is running a points-score event out of Pah Farm soon, and 6kg and 10kg contests are planned.

"We don't mind people casually dressed but we don't want them in wet, smelly clothes or with no clothes," said Spencer.

The campground that has accommodated the Furuno contest entrants will be built on so there will not be room for the 3000-odd fishers who have attended past events.

"I'm disappointed about having to kill what has been called The Furuno but I couldn't live with myself if something happened to anyone," said Spencer.

"I'm not taking away the drinking and the fun - I just don't want more than 1000 people."