Fished off Flax Point near Rangitoto Island.  Fairly slow bait & berley session, but the reason for this report is I think a spotted a small thresher shark dealing to a just undersized gill-hooked snapper I had released.  The tail came out of the water and it was long, curving downward, thin and tapered to quite a sharp point.  Has anyone else seen threshers in close?

Kept a 32 and 48cm snapper and a 28cm trevally for sashimi (it was yum!).  Otherwise heaps of small snapper released, many of them from 28 to 30cms.

Hi, the transition has been quite good, I think the experience from kayak fishing sets you up well for small boat fishing. I am a fan of pontoon boats, especially around the 12' size - way more stable and seaworthy than the standard parkercraft/fyran tinny. If I had enough $$, i'd be looking at the Stabi 389 or Frewza F14, but a good RHIB is hard to beat for the $$.

Keep it simple, tiller steer, make sure the trailer is good. 2 stroke outboards are pretty easy to look after. I started with a 2009 25hp Yamaha which was good, but the new boat has a 2003 25hp Mercury which is way easier to start and better on fuel than the yammy, maybe not quite as fast but still cruises easily at 35-40km/h with 2 adults on board.

The only things I miss from kayak fishing; is the sounder reading super clear at paddling speeds, meaning you can "stop & drop" on little bits of sign (I've caught some of my best fish this way, especially in spring), the other thing is the ability to launch anywhere, as long as there is somewhere to park. I only have a 2WD Honda accord, so I am restricted to decent boat ramps. Next car will hopefully be a compact 4WD, and will give me more freedom to launch at places like Hatfields, Martins bay etc.

PM me if you want to come out for a fish some time.

 I've been back tracking on this thread and doing my homework, as interested in getting a small boat myself .

Shot out this arvo on the north side of the peninsula, punched out into a short sharp chop to about the 15m zone, and put the drogue out. I was using a 60g pink shimano kabura, my mate was on the 60g orange slider. Both were effective, a few small ones released but we got 9 or 10 nice pannies up to about 46cm.

At the top of the tide we headed in close to try for a squid, drifting along a reefy area in 3-6m with fingers of rock sticking out. No joy on the squid so my mate suggested I have a cast with his softbait set. First cast, I aimed out to deep water and caught and released a barely legal snap. Next cast, I aimed into the shallows and got a hit on the drop. The fish arced out toward deeper water really fast, we were both calling it for a kahawai, then the nodding started.

After an epic scrap on light gear in shallow water, I ended up with a fat 64CM kelpy snapper. I decided to keep it and get it smoked.

My biggest for the year I think, usually my daughter gets the big ones but she was at school 

Here is a pic of it laid out on a 70L icey-tek.