Hi Guys
I am starting a new thread in this section because the Whagarei Heads thread in "Saltwater Fishing" is becoming a fishing log which would be better here.  Anyway -
Out to no 7 buoy this afternoon.  Fished for just over an hour with tide half ebb with mullet bait.  Two pannies - 35 partially spent male, and 33 very ripe female.

The weather hasn't been too good.  I went out to No 7 buoy on Friday and fished the last of the flood and the first hour and a half of the ebb. No snapper, but some excitement with a 1.2-1.5m Bronze Whaler.  I was fishing two heavy tackle rods - heavily swivelled 8oz sinkers and a 20m heavy trace 6/0 circle mutsu and mullet.  One went off and stripped off 20m not particularly fast, but against heavy drag.  Then, just as the other rod went off the first went slack.  I fought the second rod for about 15 mins, and I thought I had a big snapper.  Powerful rushes with big nods and lotsa weight on the line in between.  Eventually brought the sinker aboard.  By that time the fish was done -still nodding but mainly a big weight.  Handed the last 20m almost straight up.  The shark was absolutely beautiful!  It glowed. It looked as if it had been sprayed delicate bronzy pink with a metalic flake in it.  I would have loved to have seen what it would taste like, but there was no way I was bringing it into the dinghy, so I kept shortening up on the trace to get as much of it as I could back before I cut it.  As the shark was rolled onto its back by the pull of the trace I was surprised how small the teeth were.  The gape was about what I expected (say 200-250mm) but the teeth seemed much smaller than the cleaned jaws of that size I have seen - perhaps the gums hide them until they try to bite.  White pointers jaws seem to swivel to expose the teeth.   Both the hooks were in the top jaw, and I could see the trace from the first rod was trailing. I was thinking about making a grab for that when the shark moved its head and the second trace went across the teeth and that was that.  Neat  The trace from the first rod had been cut clean a metre from the  sinker, but I got almost all of the second one back.
The only other excitement was when a guy in a tinny "Rampage"  alongside hooked into a big ray which went around both my sets of gear.  I had a rod in each hand with the line zapping off at a great rate, and no chance of doing anything except holding the rod tips up and hoping he would stop it before I was spooled.  He was eventually broken off, and my lines went slack, but they were both intact, baita and all (unfortunately).

I was in the right place at the wrong time.  Bugger.  So you fished the last half of the ebb and the first hour and a half of the flood?  Have you found positioning at no 7 critical?  I have been fishing about 70m inshore of the buoy and about 100 m seaward of it.  Should I have been further into the channel?

Thanks for the info on positioning.  I'm busy as tonite, hope you did well.  If I am a good boy and work hard I will maybe get out for a few hours late tomorrow.

we've been having a hard time of it. getting a few but mostly small as. a couple of trevs of reasonable size and four?!?!? octipus. we fished 7 for ages the other day for crap results then near dark moved over between the two red bouys and out into the bay a bit adn started getting nice pannies. bit bloody windy at the moment.

My partner got skunked last night in the inner channel despite fishing til almost dusk.  She still had a nice time. We need some raw fish for the New Year so I went out early this am to no 7 for the last two hours of the ebb.  Heavy Gear, mullet, then over to the Mair Bank side for a drift up harbour for the first hour of the flood.  Not even a bite.  A guy in a Zego was fishing a nuclear chicken on the drift up the main channel, and I saw him take one reasonable fish, and I passed a guy on the Mair Bank side who claimed to have a binful to 4kg on squid.  Bummer aye!

Been out at the hen and chicks last couple of days,bugger all snapper to be found but been having a ball with the kingi's.Lost a lot of gear to better fish but have managed to catch a couple around 11kg time to get some heavier gear.