It can be done, but it's not the easiest thing to achieve!
Things that come to mind:
- Long soft baiting rod for long casts, 8 - 10 feet. In reality, this is quite a specialist bit of kit and it may be hard to track down anything longer than 8 feet in NZ. It will need to cast 1oz.
- Braid 100% I'd go as light as possible for long casts. 15lb or less. You'll need to learn to tie a good braid to leader knot.
- Reel. Nothing too heavy as you may be doing a lot of casts! Maybe size 4000 in the Japanese brands.
- Soft baits. Definitely have some Gulp to hand. The scent may seal the deal for you. That said, sometimes the fish are more in to action, so a few ZMan paddle tails might be useful.
- Technique. You'll be bouncing the soft bait over sand. A straight retrieve is not best for snapper because the soft bait will ride up in the water away from the sea bed and fish. A very slow retrieve dragging the lure over the sand works sometimes though.
- If you can SAFELY wade, that will add to the amount of water you can cover. That said, I've caught snapper on soft baits in less than 1 metre of water, so anything is possible!
- Fish gullies and any other features that you come across just like the bait fishos. I would suggest a wild surf beach that's getting smashed by big waves is not the place to try this when starting out.
You've set yourself a big challenge, but it sounds fun. Good luck!