Little Kids & the Boat??

[Krashtackle]

Hi

I have just joined Ausfish and this is a great site for info :)

I have read a load of posts and got the gist that loads of you have kids ;D
I was wondering if anyone has any tips for introducing 3 year olds to boating? So far we have been on a 45 minute cruise around with him and he loved it!! Good sign right??

But stopping to fish for more than 20 minutes is another story, how do you occupy them when they get sick of fishing?? How do you give them the best chance to love fishing as much as we do, so we don't need a babysitter everytime we want to go fishing?

Anyone got any tips?

Thanks

[ozscott]

Mate - you will be lucky to get your own hook baited or own lure running...I fish with my three and they all like me doing their hooks and knots....and they love winding in!!! Good luck.


Cheers

[juju]

With My neice (who started comming out at about 3).. first ...Food make sure he has food/drink......second toys (just in case).......when it comes to fishing plenty of burley and a small hook on his line/rod...that way hes catching something....keeps the intrest level up....i also got her involved with driving, checking the sounder and all that......fish id book...she would look in the book to see what fish she/we had caught......winter whiting fishing is good for little kids plenty of action...keeps them interested.....put a small fish in a bucket...they will watch it swim...if you in the river take a break for a play on the sand ...have a picnic.....dont stay out too long..esp if its hot.....by doing this i now have a almost 6 year old who will have a sleepover and get up and go out to mud at 4.30am...
she also helps wash the boat down when i get home....get teh bucket broom,hoses the trailer down...tilts the motor up and down..starts stops it for flushing......im training her well for some guy down the track...

[datamile]

Rule 1 for kids. Your life jacket is on from the moment we get out of the car, until we get back in.

[Chamelion]

Rule 1 for kids. Your life jacket is on from the moment we get out of the car, until we get back in.

Goes without saying.. My kids aren't allowed into the boat for any reason whilst it's on the water unless their life jackets are on and buckled.. Common sense for anyone with half a brain. It's a shame there are plenty of people without any grey matter!

I take my 4yo son and 8yo daughter... Food, food, drink, food, drink and more food. Add a couple of toys and spend plenty of time moving between spots.

Matt.

[datamile]

and the watch the sun/wind burn.. they can get burnt really quick on a boat.

[SCOTTYGC]

food is good sweet stuff or chips

water , but give em some soft drink as a treat

crabbing is good , lots of moving

trolling lures , agian allways moving scenery changes for them

give them jobs t do when a fish is caught , get the net or open the esky

pumping yabies when we need bait is good dont get too many at a time so you can go back

i put hot dogs in a thermos and pre butter and sauce the rolls
the kids luv em


plus all the basics
sunscreen
hats
no moving around while on the plane
sunscreen
water
life jackets

[Greg P]

Some good stuff. My advice is to make sure they go somewhere that they can catch fish. It doesnt matter what they are or if they are keepers.

[juju]

food is good sweet stuff or chips

water , but give em some soft drink as a treat

crabbing is good , lots of moving

trolling lures , agian allways moving scenery changes for them

give them jobs t do when a fish is caught , get the net or open the esky

pumping yabies when we need bait is good dont get too many at a time so you can go back

i put hot dogs in a thermos and pre butter and sauce the rolls
the kids luv em


plus all the basics
sunscreen
hats
no moving around while on the plane
sunscreen
water
life jackets

Hot dogs.....bugger the kids....might try that for winter nites at mud for myself....at the moment i take soup...

[Poodroo]

The first time I ever took my kids out on the boat for a fish I managed to put both of them onto a reasonable fish. They thoroughly enjoy just being out there these days, especially my daughter.

Poodroo

[matt fraser]

I agree with all of the above. My kids are now nearly 3 and 4 &1/2, so they are getting easier, but also we now have more realistic expectations. Some of our earlier trips with the kids were quite testing, to say the least. One parent was pretty much devoted to the kids to allow the other to fish.

Most of our trips with the kids involve pulling up on a bank/sandflat/beach so they can get out and swim, play, build sandcastles etc. I try and pick a spot where my wife and I can fish at the same time the kids swim and play.

Its amazing how you can fish three blokes out of a 14 foot tinnie without too many hassles, but if you take out your wife and two kids (and eskies, toys, an umbrella, towels & more food) all of a sudden a 14 foot tinnie is very cramped! Thats why I'm getting a bigger boat (with a bimini).

We are off on a family holiday soon, with the boat in tow, this time I'm taking a ski tube and portable DVD player to try and keep the kids entertained. Hopefully it will mean more family time on the water, and some quality fishing time as well!

Cheers,

Matt

[pontificator]

agree with all of the above, and can especially relate to Matt and Juju re our almost 4 year old.

If you want to fish you need crew who are happy to focus on the kid, ideally distracted by whatever is necessary :-) if you can go for more than an hour or two I want to hear how you did it :-)

Agree with portable DVD and plenty of food and toys. but most of all they want to be doing what you are doing, and love simple jobs. go the soft plastics if bait fishing as cast and retrieve is the answer, they love winding in. Take rod holders for bank fishing, even if in a boat, or use the rod holders on the boat if pulled up to the bank.

Sitting on your knee while fanging along to the next spot seems to be highly regarded.

For kids under well, dunno what age, but ours is nearly 4, catching a fish, of any size, can be far less interesting than playing with lures in a bucket half full, trebles removed of course :-) but only for 5- 10 minutes, then onto the next activity. Mind you, a lot of very useful lures can be snuck under the radar on this basis ;-)

[TonyM]

Some great advice here. I made a lot of mistakes with my oldest and boats - fortunately I learnt what works better before too long. They grow up fast, so great to see you're spending quality time with them.

Another worth remembering is to make sure they have decent polaroids - without them the glare would give me a headache, same goes for kids.

I've learnt to try and keep the trips fairly short so they don't get sunburnt/too tired/or bored, they'll let you know when they're ready for longer trips ;)

If they're not into fishing, don't push, make sure your time with them is fun, and make a sandcastle, or explore an island with them, I've taken mine out for boat trips and deliberately left the rods at home (not easy I have to say!) - Make it fun and they'll always be back for more!

[goldfish]

all of the above is great advise & prety spot on. the crabbing is a very good tip, even if you just take a few pots drop then somewhere fish for 30min then check them then fish 30min then check ect , let the kids explore/seee (in a safe way) anything that has been caught even the jellyfish. something you find mondain the kids will find fasanating.

[Apollo]

I go fishing with my 3yr old in a canoe and add the 2 yr old and wife in the 14' boat. I agree with the above comments, but will add that we have a bimini on the boat and a few bean bags. When the kids get tired, they curl up for a sleep under the shade and we get to have a fish. Other than that we are assisting them to fish. I made a few mistakes as well and now just target smaller fish in lots of numbers for the kids. 2 yr old uses a handline. but will moved to a rod and reel if Santa is good to her next christmas. Our biggest fishing sucess has been in the canoe with my 3yr old daughter where she has now caught whiting, bream (all mostly on plastics) and the best being a 59cm flathead on the troll. Put a lanyard on their reel or you may be donating it to Neptune and expect their gear to be dunked. Also buy a short and very light rod to make things easier. Other than that - plenty of sun protection, water, food, sense of humour - short trips - jife jackets.

Watching them catch a fish is pure gold.

[FNQCairns]

A while ago i took my 3.5year old nearshore for the first time, millpond day, still there is some movement, she started to get seasick, the side of the boat is in her face compared to us so all movement is magnified, loved the running around on the water with mum and kid hooting and hollering in the wind and hitting boat wakes. She put up with being at anchor until we noticed her winding down as sickness came on.
Up until this experiment and from the age of 2 she has done protected water creek/river trips to quiet sandy spots for pickniks with some stopping to fish along the way.

So with ours the design seems to be keep her busy by being busy like in travel, stop for short periods but don't forget that she might not be sick of being stopped/fishing but starting to get the first feelings of seasickness. I get seasick so i know it only takes the very earlyest symptoms to become malcontent/disinterested/need extra stimulation.

cheers fnq

[finga]

i put hot dogs in a thermos and pre butter and sauce the rolls
the kids luv em



life jackets
Look out TOL.
The next coffee you get when your with me is going to have the slight taint of savs with a tinge of redness.
Great idea :thumbsup:
Even better then the cold sausage sambos ;D
Thanks for that

[Heath]

Juju has nailed it. Thats exactly what I did when my young bloke first started comming out with us at around 3.5yo. They love having a fish in a bucket, to the point where we had to limit him as he was wanting to keep taking our liveys!!!LOL

[hornets]

Taking my 2 boys 5& 7 fishing , go straight to bait ground for yakkas then try for squid,. Once in the boat i have a little net & they play with them while the other one has the bait jig in the water catch more . in between this i manage to get a yakka on a float out the back . Last time i kept some bonito for bait & they caught 7 portjackson 2 shovel nose & a nice gummy shark . The best thing they thought was later showing the photos before releasing them . That trip was 5 hrs, That was unheard of , even the wife couldnt believe it . Always at the end take them to the beach to top the day off .

[Krashtackle]

Thankyou all for the feedback...some fantastic ideas!!

We wanted a boat to fish in. We had a 13ft Fibreglass, just big enough for us 2, we have just sold it and waiting for our 5.3Mtr half cab tinny, all with the little fella in mind!! I said I didn't care what it had, as long as it had dual batteries and a cig lighter plug to charge the mini DVD player :) LOL.

We have a live bait tank on it also, so he should get some fun out of that. We just got him his new life jacket with the head float and we have always been adamant that he has to have his jacket on as soon as he gets out of the car....and he makes sure he has it on too, which is great.

He loves the outdoors, so we are hoping to get at least 3-4 hour trips out of him with some yabbie pumping and sandcastle stops, maybe a nap if we are lucky and all else fails there is a playground at South Curigee :) I'll be sure to get him a little net too.

Thanks again