Anyone after a bucket of 90 Mile Beach tuatua has had to travel north of the Bluff for some time, but the snapper obviously know where they are according to Kaitaia man Thierry Quedec.
He and his son Liam Shephard-Quedec had a good evening's fishing off the beach on a recent Friday night, around the Ngataki access, Liam pulling in two very good snapper, both with stomachs full of the shellfish.
The bigger of the pair was 75cm and 16.8 pounds (7.5kg) cleaned, taken on squid on a falling tide.
Thierry said Liam, who was born in Kaitaia 20 years ago, had been fishing since he was capable of holding a rod. He had taken his son to the Unahi wharf as a child, but he had graduated to much bigger fish long ago. And he was as passionate as his father.
"If we're not working we fish," Thierry said.