2005 Lion Red Furuno

It is business as usual for New Zealand’s most successful fishing contest, the Lion Red Furuno Fishing Tournament.

The 2005 tournament will follow the long-established three day format and it will run from Thursday 24^th February through to Saturday 26^th, at Pah Farm, Kawau Island.

Next year’s event will receive a significant boost through the introduction of another corporate entity, Pah Farm Maritime Lodge Ltd, which is finalising negotiations to lease Pah Farm Fishing Lodge and promote the Lion Red Furuno Fishing Tournament with the established personnel, systems and sponsors in place.

Lion Red Furuno contestants will benefit from an immediate upgrade to the wharf, and progressive improvements to the Pah Farm buildings, infrastructure and landscape. The  central section of the existing wooden marina will be replaced with 3m wide concrete marina modules before February to ensure the primary walkway and marina head have ample capacity to service the tournament’s needs.      

The Lion Red Furuno’s major sponsors have returned to unanimously support the 2005 event. Gordon Gibbons, national sponsorship manager, Lion Nathan, says he is delighted with recent developments because they will facilitate further improvements at Pah Farm and elevate the tournament to a higher level. He has also committed to having the Waikato and Speights beer brands at the contest to supplement the ever popular Lion Red brew.

The 2005 prize pool has already exceeded the $100,000 mark and the organisers expect the final tally to rival the $155,000 worth of prizes taken home from the last event. The largest single prize, a turn-key cabin boat package consisting of a Haines Hunter SF535, Yamaha 115 outboard, DMW Premier trailer, Lowrance electronics, Penn fishing tackle and safety equipment remains a lucky draw prize open to all contestants.  

Tickets for the 2005 Lion Red Furuno will go on sale October 1^st and camp site bookings can also be made from this time. Tickets will be available until December 21^st at the special early-bird rate of $95 each, and at $110 each after Christmas. The early-bird tickets will be available on-line at the Lion Red Furuno’s dedicated website.

The website will be progressively updated as the many thousand of contest details are finalised, including the location of additional ticket outlets, the prize list and prices for food, bait and ice available on the island.

The Lion Red Furuno is normally held in March, but with an early Easter, the IMTEC boat show, Houhora one-base and Tauranga one-base already set down for that month, the tournament’s timing has been temporarily brought forward.

So fill in your diary with these important fishing days - Thursday 24^th, Friday 25^th and Saturday 26^th February - and monitor the Lion Red Furuno’s website for further Lion Red Furuno updates.