tips for teaching kids how to fish

[kbr]

i would like a few tips or pointers, that you only get with the experince of time, that i can teach my kids so that they have a better time when we fish. Things like what you do when you get spiked by a flathead etc.

[Feral]

First tip
Dont expect to do any quality fishing yourself when you take kids out, at least not until they can bait, caste, and take their own fish off. Expect to spend a lot of time untangling line, pulling kids out of the drink etc etc. That way you dont get frustrated with the kids!

Second tip - your there for the kids to have fun, so if they wont do it your way, or want to just play in the sand, let em. Throw the rule book away.

Third tip - take some food or drink mum wont let em have, so finally when they have got you frustrated, annoyed or fed up, you can slip it to them, and they will give you 10 minutes peace while they deal with the contraband. Also note they WILL tell mum 3 microseconds after you got home, (Dad let us drink coke!) so be prepared to wear it!

Fourth tip - eggbeaters, eggbeaters and eggbeaters. Never try and teach a kid how to fish with a sidecaste or overhead reel. Unless you are into bondage and pain involving fishing line and hooks

Fifth tip - ball sinker large enough at the top of the rig NOT to go through the final guide on the rod, if you use a trace, make it short!

If you get spiked by a flathead bream etc, dont recite the "blue websters" say, "oh dear that hurt", show the resulting hole and blood to the kids, they will be suitably impressed, tell them what a goose you were, and how to hold the fish without getting spiked, and dont let em hold anything remotely possible of spiking them! (If they get spiked, when they tell mum, its gunna make the "dad let us have coke" look pretty mild!)

[lippa]

try 'em on winter whiting first! they will catch plenty , easy to rig up, and keeps them occupied!

cheers

lippa

[sf17fisherman]

as lippa said
keep to thr kiss princapal and target you bread and buuter fish on simple running sinker rig and useing prawns or worm for bait
best tip i can give but is get them resable gear and gear that sutes them and not thar old 7foot rod from the shed
my son has a 4foot uglystick with little 1500 arnos [sp]
mean he is able to hold it all day and control by himself
ps he is only 3yo

[choppa]

looks like feral has been reading "chop & chop jr" adventures to the tee,,,,,kbr i make every sunday now mine and g/son fishn day,,,, and if you want to cast back over a few pages you'll see what feral is talking about,,,,,chop jr spends 50% of time trying to catch a fish,,,20% bragging about the ones he catches,, 10% exploring the spot were fishn,,,and the balance of the time teaching me what i'm doing wrong,,,,,and like sf17fisherman,, all of this knowledge comes from a 3 yr old,,,,

the only thing i instill into my mate is to have a good time,,,,if i went there to catch a feed or to sit back and do a bit of relaxing he wouldnt be there,,,,now that wouldnt make any of my posts anywhere as near as exciting,,, ;D ;D ;D ;D

[aussiefool]

Don't forget a camera that you will let them use aswell so that way they can take a photo, but most of all paitence

[Heath]

Like the other guys said, it has to be fun!

When I first started taking my young bloke out, he was 3.5yo, maybe a little different to what the guys are explaining as we took him offshore.
Yakkas & butter bream kept him entertained. He was able to keep a few in a bucket & play with them ( the ones in the tank were a no no :D ), when he got board of catching & playing with the fish, he then had some toys to play with. His own tackle box is full of cars, dinosours & power rangers. It just stays on the boat.

Basically he has the run of the boat. If he wants to fish he does, wants to play with his yakkas he does, wants to stick his head out the hatch he does, wants to feed the turtles or dolphins out the back of the boat he does.

Kids soon get sick of something real quick when they keep on getting told no.

As far as gear wise, something inexpensive but not total crap either. We started him out on garbage combos, basically gear we had in the cupboard that we wouldn't miss if dropped overboard. That lasted 2 trips before giving him something new & smooth to use, as the old clunky gear just made it hard for him.
His current rig is an Egg beater Shimano 2000fx or a TSS2, on an Silstar 5"6' rod. But his preference is for baitcaster reels, so he has a new one comming for his Birthday next month.

Most of all enjoy the moment & don't forget the video camera!
Mitch Catching Fish (http://www.gcfishing.com/images/Videos/mitchf.wmv)

[aussiefool]

Like the other guys said, it has to be fun!

Most of all enjoy the moment & don't forget the video camera!
Mitch Catching Fish (http://www.gcfishing.com/images/Videos/mitchf.wmv)

Just watched the boy fishing well done to the both of you, Mitch has the lingo down pat, just imagin what type of fisho he will be in a few years time well done again

[bo_sawyer]

watch the lil terrors #;D when i go fishin with my little couzins any time im not looking they grab my line (kept the rods in the rod holders) and yank it as hard as they can (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) Up i jump all excited only to see the grins on their faces #>:( ;)

[nonibbles]

When the kids want to go home, bargain with them don't argue, either way, let them win. While you may not want them to believe that they are the authority figure, you don't want them to refuse to go fishing with you in the future.

[szopen]

Great thread.

I have taken my 3 y old daughter fishing (shore based) a couple of times, this will get more intense this season after winter will end.

In my case as I live on an island on the river (Pearl River) all it takes is a 800m walk to the end and than we can fish.

Hints so far.
1. Explain what is happening.
2. Let them help gathering bait (digging the worms in my case).
3. Give them fish you have caught (except piranhas, these you should not get close to the kids) tell them to guard it as this fish is theirs.
4. Let them use landing net to catch butterflies, or daddy which is way more funny.
5. let them play with either toys or some of your gear.
6. Remember that you went there to enjoy time with them, not to catch a world record.

[wayne_cook]

Good Thread

Started taking my young bloke when he was about 3.
Never let him get crook, :'(first sign come in. Keep them busy, but fun. ;D
Fifteen years later he's teaching me. :)
Oh how the tied turns,just hope he's got as much patience with me as I showed with him.

[2DKnBJ]

The first rule when taking the kids fishing is to remember that you are not there to go fishing.
Secondly it has to be fun for the kids.Whether it be catching small fish or bait gathering as long as they don't get bored they will have a good time.
If all else fails book a trip with Choppa and Chops and see how it's done ;) :D
Cheers Dazza

[Feral]

Choppa, I'll have mine over your way this weekend, I usually go to Turners Camp Beach, dont usually catch much, but it is a good little beach, the kids (5, 8 and 10) can wet a line for a while, swim, play on the grass, make sand castles etc and its easy to keep an eye on em.

Also there a few yabbies there so usually someone shows up with a pump at some stage, so they all become "volunteer" yabbie collectors for the hapless pumper, I am sure they have to weed out a few dead un's before they get home!

Only costs me a few bucks for bait and fuel to keep the kids amused for a few hours, and they sleep well at night!

[Elysium]

First tip
Dont expect to do any quality fishing yourself when you take kids out, at least not until they can bait, caste, and take their own fish off. Expect to spend a lot of time untangling line, pulling kids out of the drink etc etc. # That way you dont get frustrated with the kids!

Second tip - your there for the kids to have fun, so if they wont do it your way, or want to just play in the sand, let em. Throw the rule book away.

Third tip - take some food or drink mum wont let em have, so finally when they have got you frustrated, annoyed or fed up, you can slip it to them, and they will give you 10 minutes peace while they deal with the contraband. Also note they WILL tell mum 3 microseconds after you got home, (Dad let us drink coke!) so be prepared to wear it!

Fourth tip - eggbeaters, eggbeaters and eggbeaters. Never try and teach a kid how to fish with a sidecaste or overhead reel. Unless you are into bondage and pain involving fishing line and hooks

Fifth tip - ball sinker large enough at the top of the rig NOT to go through the final guide on the rod, if you use a trace, make it short!

If you get spiked by a flathead bream etc, dont recite the "blue websters" say, "oh dear that hurt", show the resulting hole and blood to the kids, they will be suitably impressed, tell them what a goose you were, and how to hold the fish without getting spiked, and dont let em hold anything remotely possible of spiking them! (If they get spiked, when they tell mum, its gunna make the "dad let us have coke" look pretty mild!)



That should be in the fishing bible I think, great answers...all spot on!

When I took my daughter bass fishing for the first time, Whenever my wife or I hooked up, we would just let my daughter sit on our lap and bring the fish in...she loved it!

Then on the next trip she had her own rod (and to a kid that is a BIG deal) and I made a point of fishing around weed beds and so on, so she could just bounce a plastic around. But she was still quick to jump on our lap when we hooked up.

Then there was a trip to somerset, we were getting em around 40' down on masks, so I let her try one (no fear of snagging) but the fish just simply wouldnt play for her. She said she didnt want to real ours in anymore..."she wanted her own"

So I went to the kiosk when we got back to camp and got some worms...wasnt long after that until she hooked up on a nice 47cm yellowbelly...Lets just say she was over the moon.

Then a few weeks back we went to Maroon and she was casting herself now. On a good cast she would get about 5mtrs from the boat, let it sink, and start retrieving...She got one brilliant hit, but the fish didnt find the hook...still took a metre or so of line off the reel though.

I can remember clearly when the fish hit...she tightened her grip on the rod and lent back on it....was a classic! Sitting back watching my little girl cast her own lures, and the way she fights the fish made me realise another thing about kids anf fishing...ITS PRICELESS ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Elysium]

Oh and another thing...kids are smarter than we think at times...they do pay attention, and they watch you...even if you dont think are they!

My little girls casting has now developed a short, quick backswing. I hadnt got that far on teaching her that yet. So when I asked her why she is doing it, she replied "you do, and the lure goes further!" ;D

cant argue with that.

[imported_admin]

There is a section on teh site in the Hints & Tips section called Becomiong A Better Fisherman. You can go directly to it here
http://www.ausfish.com.au/babf.html

Hope this helps


It you get spiked by a flathead try rubbing the spiked area on the belly of the flathead abd get a bit of the belly slime on the spiked spot.

Also carry some Tea Tree Oil with you when fishing as it is good for most marine cuts, especially coral/oyster cuts.

[choppa]

hey feral,,,do you drive a blue ford,,,,,,if so that was me you were talking to at MY SECRET SPOT,,,,,who told you about it,,,,,,,,(thats if it was you),,,

went down tonite to set the run up for the morning takeover of chop jr,,,,,,he wated to come but fell asleep after a big day out with nan,,,,,if you read this and are still floating about,, give me a holler and we'll tee up something for tomorrow,,,,i'll show ya the access to the other side of the creek,,,,,,,,,,,,,chop

[Feral]

Na Choppa. was over there yesterday, but I've got a little gold Kia.

It was blowing so hard I thought I might just take the kids to the Bongaree Jetty, the bloke at the Bait shop at Ningi said they had been catching some huge flathead around there which got the kids all excited.

When I got there it seems everyone else had the same idea, it was packed, and the music coming from the shops (or just behind em) was so loud I couldn't think anyway, the floating pontoons were going up and down a couple of feet in the swell, not a good recipe for inexperienced kids fishing!

so I took em up the beach a bit towards the bridge and fished the rockwall on the canal access. At least there you could carry out a conversation over the music, and hunker down out of the wind.

Young fella lined up for his forst cast and gave it a heave, cast clear across the channel with that southerly behind us - he was pleased. I was worried if he gave it a real big heave he would collect the oldies sitting on the other side!

It was absolutely miserable, I reckon it was blowing 30 knots! tackle box filled up with sand in the time it took me to setup the lines, I reckon you wouldn't have kept the line tight with a snapper sinker on it!

Caught nothing, but the kids had a good time. Seemed to be getting a lot of bites (or at least the hooks were coming out clean, but with the wind who knows!)

I will try and remember to PM before we head over next time, usually try to get over there for an hour or two every weekend.

[craigathome]

Lot's of patience and short day's. Too much sun is no fun. Good thing is to use barb-less hook's to, much easier to get out if they do go in.

[Feral]

Took the young fella's out for an evening fishing from the Woody Point Jetty last night. Youngest had a new rod from grandad, and shimano eggbeater to match bought out of his own hard saved pocket money, he was hot to trot!

First time we had fished there, so did not realise the pub was so popular on a saturday night, so had to cart all the gear 1/2k or so just to get to the Jetty. (With 2 young boys, thats double the gear two adults need for the unititiated!)

Note: - dont fish Woody Point saturday nights!

Was quite a few fishing there, but plent of room for us, not much biting, but there was half a dozen or so cast netters for the kids to annoy, and a few blokes with pots in, particulary around the fish cleaning stands (would of never thought of that!), between em they got quite a few sandies and muddies much to the kids delight.

The oldest boy pretty quickly lived up to his nickname - Chardonnay (he has got blonde hair - so he is the "white whine you have with fish!") and spent the evening cruising the jetty. But the youngest kept plugging away even though dad was catching the only fish (undersize dart and flathead, with the odd toad fish for luck). After about 2 hours I figured it was getting close to time to go, the older fella was in serious danger of being added to a crab pot, and the younger was getting pretty despondant.

Then the youngest hooked a bream, boy did his face light up! he was wrapped, a successful fishing trip, new rod and reel caught its first fish, wanted my mobile to ring Grandad at midnight to fill him in! I thought about the emails from Grandad a couple of weeks ago he was getting showing the 1m Barra he was getting at Awonga, and thought why not a little midnight payback eh?. But Grandad was smarter than that his phone was off!

Took me another hour to get the young fella outta there, he was still squeeling "just one more cast dad" as I carried him off the Jetty.

He has already asked 3 times today if we can go back tonight, had to promise a school holiday trip during the week to get him to settle down!