Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    
    	I took 4 kids out fishing a couple of weeks ago (age 3-4). It
    	was their first time. I supplied a couple of old poles, the
    	bait (worms I dug up in the yard), bobbers and some sinkers. I
    	had to rig all the poles up for them because they were too young.
    
    	We went to a farm pond where I *knew* there was lots of bluegills
    	and smallmouth bass. At this age, these kids would quickly lose
    	interest if you aren't pulling them in regularly. I think it would
    	be best to go somewhere where you know you'll catch something.
    	Size/species makes no difference to kids this young.
    
    	Use a bobber or some kind of float so the kids can see they've got
    	a strike. If you've scouted the location properly you are sure to
    	have a good time...
    
    	-Gregg

    
    what I've done with my 6 year old.
    
    1. practice casting in the yard with his own zepco outfit and a washer
    tied on the end of the line. We make a game out of hitting a target.
    This makes it much easier once we are "really" fishing.
    
    2. Find a place on my own first where I know there is lots of action,
    usually it's only bluegills or yellow perch, but hey a fish is a fish.
    
    3. I take my son to this hot spot and rig him up with a small double
    bladed spinner with a live worm on the end.
    
    4. When he was 4 and had less patience, I would cast for him and reel
    in until I felt a nibble, and gently set the hook , I would hand the
    rod to him and tell him to reel in. after about 5 seconds of him
    reeling in I would scream, "hey , you got one, reel it in fast !"
    
    5. He'd pull in the prize and we'd admire it for a few minutes before
    letting him go back "to get bigger"
    
    6. As my son got older, and got more patience (ha !) He now casts on
    his own. I still rig him with a spinner and worm because that lends
    itself  to casting and reeling, which is more fun for a kid than
    casting and waiting, and the fish are more apt to hook themselves
    rather than requiring him to set the hook.
    
    7. The other thing is I let him do other stuff while we're fishing. If
    he wants to throw rocks, or climb trees, etc I let him go for it. At this
    point I want him to have fun while fishing, even if he isn't always
    what we would call fishing. As he gets older I'm sure the attention
    span will increase and he can babble on to me about why The color
    lure I'm using is all wrong for the water color, etc..... :)
    
     Bob
       

My kids are 4, 6, and 8.  For the past three years we've been going to a small
RV camp for our vacations. This place had three little lakes that have good bass
and LOTS of blue gills.  I like the bass, the kids get the gills.  Its the kind
of place where you can put something on the hook (cheese, lunch meat, bread, 
a twig) and you're bound to catch some kind of small (2 to 5 inches) of pan 
fish.

That's how I got them started, ... "Just put this in the water, and when you 
see the bobber go under, give it a pull!". They loved it, and learned the basics
of fishing (like, "be careful of hooks", "gee, fish really are slimy", and "no,
we can't keep the little ones, they need to go back and grow some more").

This spring I gave the two older kids 4 'real poles' (5' with a Zebco 101 reel, 
about $13 each, don't bother with the 'kiddie-poles', they break and tangle to 
easily). Both of them have learned to cast (in the backyard using a bobber as a
lure) and are now pretty good at remembering more fishing rules, like "keep 
the proper distance from each other", "watch out for trees". 

So far, Greg (the 6 yr old) has me beat - he caught a 14", 2lb LM with a yellow
lead-head.  Everytime I come back from fishing he asks me if I caught anything 
that big, I hang my head and say no, and he jumps for joy because he's still 
the fishing champ.

Last year my duaghter Mallory (8 yr old) wou;dn't even look at a worm. This 
spring I was digging up some worms in the garden and she wanted to help. Now she
handles them just fine, and has even start asking about putting them on the hook
herself.

This year I'll take the older two on short boat trips so they can experience 
that part of fishing too. But they won't have to get up too early. This way I 
can fish early, come back before lunch, go for a swim, take them out 
mid-afternoon (won't catch much, but they'll like the boat ride), drop them off 
and then head out again for some real fishing.

I don't think there's any trick to teaching young kids to fish. I just let them
do things I think they're ready for, make sure they have fun, and let them stop
when they lose interest (which rangers from 15 to 60 minutes).

I forgot to mention the education aspect ....

I got a hold of a fish chart ... you know, nice big poster with colored drawings
of various game fish with their names underneath. (Comes from a publishing 
company in Oregon.)

I made a deal with my oldest (Mallory is 8) ... "When you catch a fish, you have
to know its name, otherwise, no matter how big it is, it has to go back into the 
water". My wife tells me that Mallory has spent hours studying the chart. She's 
now playing games with me by asking questions like "Can you name all the 
difference between a LM bass and a SM bass?" ("No No Dad! You forgot to mention
the difference in the shape of the dorsel fin.")

    
    My kids are 3 and 4 years old. My son who is 4 has been going fishing
    with daddy since he was three weeks old. The first time he really 
    fished with his own pole, I did the "fishing with a two year old"
    thing, bobber, worm hook and wait for the blue gills. The first one
    he caught he said " hey Dad can we put a hook in him and try and catch
    a big bass!" Now at 4 years old he is putting rubber worms on his
    own hooks- correctly! Casting to where he knows the fish are, and
    usually catches more than me! Lucky little sh*t!
    
    As for my daughter (3)- she is a little tougher to handle. But with a
    few more times out I think she will be ok!
    
    My son asks to go fishing everyday, I just look at my wife and say,
    what kind of Dad would I be if I didn't spend that quaility time that
    only fishing can provide with my one and only son? Works every time.
    
    Well I will be throwing crank baits off of rocks at Quabbin tommorow,
    gee life is tough.
    
    Take a kid fishing!
    
    Wildman
           

    I started my son using worms and a bober and fishing in panfish
    ponds. The key is constant action.  Make sure you use small hooks
    of the sunfish will strip the hooks clean. Bring a 5 gallon bucket to
    put a few fish in to keep there interest and then toss them back to
    grow up. My 6 year loves pond fishing and we got a great surprise a
    month ago when a 3 pound carp sucked in his worm, you should see
    the pictures he was exstatic. He is now learning to fish on the
    boat and this spring he is cod jigging with a 5 foot pole I made
    him with a 3/0 senator on it. He naided a double header (both
    keepers) a couple of weeks ago. In the next week or two I'll
    get him tied into some blues.
    
    Bruce

	Tought my oldest son at 3? or 4? he's now 23 "ouch"
	using same methods described earlier.

	At 6 he caught his first Striper on a charter in the Merrimack R side
	of the Parker River.  I held the rod while he reeled it in ;^) 
	Small fish 5# caught on an umbrella rig (yuck) but he was excited.
	I wasn't...That was the only fish caught for the day and the deal
	with the charter was no fish you get a free trip.  Oh well :^(
	Both he and I will never forget that day. It was worth every penny :^)

	His next caught Striper was last year which was the first full year
	of owning my own boat "FishTeaser"  Nice fish 32"  He caught another
	a few weeks ago so he's catchin up.  He does freshwater fishing up in 
	New Hampshire.

	I currently have two daughters from re-marrying who are now 10 & 13
	I also taught them in the same way as pervious notes when they
	were 4 & 7.  Also took them aboard charter some years ago off
	Nantucket where they caught Blues on spinning rods.  They are
	great fisher-persons as is my wife.

	Fishing is Family fun for all ages.
	Start them all young on the easy catchable fish and you go from there ;^)

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    Lot's of good ideas presented herein for starting the kiddies out, but 
    if I may let me add one that wasn't mentioned: Dad, leave your rod at home. 
    
    You'll find that things will go a lot smoother if you can really devote
    the day to the little ones, and not try to sneak in a cast. Inevitably
    the second you get your line out, one of the wee folks will need your
    immediate attention (a corollary to Murphy's Law). After a few trips
    and the kids have become self-sufficient enough to handle casting, etc,
    then you can take your rod with you.
    
    I've managed to get a pair of young'uns to the point that they're now
    pretty darn good with a fly rod and down right deadly with spinning
    tackle. At 13 and 15 years of age they're hammering the bass on our
    local ponds whenever they can jump on their bikes and get away
    (leaving me alternately proud - and jealous! ;^)
    
    Start 'em off right and they'll fish with you for life!
    
    /dave

    
     Dave brings up an excellent point. It kills at times, but I
     also leave my poles home. Thinking back, I no longer say:
     "hang on", "one more cast", "just let me bring it in", "watch
     this guys" My kids didn't want to go fishing to watch me fish.
     Another neat thing the kids loved, was lunch in the boat. I've
     found with my 6 and 3 year old fishing from about 11 to 2  with
     lunch thrown in works out fine. Oh and another thing, I'm
     not the BOSS in the boat. 
                                               Mike 
                                           

Several years ago I ruined any chance of having my daughter grow up to be my
fishing buddy.............. Why?   I brought my rod with me.



                  DON'T BRING ANY GEAR FOR YOURSELF!

                           ONLY PATIENCE!

---

Joe Whittemore - From where the Westfield
                      Meets the Westfield
                         By the Westfield
                            In Huntington (MA)               <on deposit!>

                      [email protected]  

    Just five short years ago, I started dating a woman with two boys, one
    was 5, the other 8.  There grandfather has a cottage on a lake about 2
    and a half hours north of Toronto.  We spend our summer weekends there.
    
    Anyway, the first time I was up to the cottage, it was the annual
    Beaver Lake Fishing day.  Beaver Lake is a secluded lake about a 45
    minute hike from the cottage.  The lake is surrounded by rocks and
    trees and full of smallmouth.
    
    We fished with bobbers and worms.  We had a group of four men and six
    kids.  All under the age of 10!   We arrived at 9:00am, by 11:30 we
    were eating a freshly prepared shore lunch.  The rule is:  You can
    bring in beer/pop and bread for the fish, but if you don't catch,
    you don't eat.
    
    The woman I met five years ago is now my wife.  The kids, now 10 and 13
    are avid fishermen.  Now instead of day tripping to Beaver Lake, we
    bring a tent and spend the night.  The rules are the same, now the boys
    are allowed to swear and tell dirty jokes, because they're with the
    "Boys".
    
    Needless to say, the first year or two was spent helping them to fish.
    Tying on hooks, unsnagging hooks, picking up the knocked over worm
    container, taking a "3-inch Keeper" off the hook.  Explaining to a
    crying 7 year old that the bass he caught needs to grow another year.
    
    Now I can turn them loose in a boat or on shore and they fish their
    brains out.  
    
    You cannot describe the patience you need to "not fish" when the kids
    are young, but I can tell you that the rewards over time are well worth
    the effort.  
    
    Next year they're probably wanna drink beer!
    
    Mark
    
    
    

    My 4 year old boy and I try to go every saturday morning for an hour
    of so. We started this last year when he was 3. Its a great way to
    start the weekend. We go to nuttings (sp?) lake in Billerica. A bobber
    and hook is the setup we use with a worm most of the time.
    
    	Last time out I picked up a 1/2 dozen shinners and he did get his
    first Bass this year. As I type this i'm looking at the picture on the
    wall at work with Patrick and his first fish caught last year. I'VE
    NEVER SEEN A SMILE SO BIG :-)
    
    	Most of the time I just bring my camera and no pole for myself.
    
    He loves fishing and golf.. My youngest Sean 2 years old will be
    joining us shortly.
    
    	I figure a few more years and Mom will not see us on saturdays till
    around 5:00 in the afternoon. Fishing in the morning and golf in the
    afternoon..  

    
    My son, who's four now, caught his first bass last year on a bobber and
    a worm. I told him, now son that is what a bass looks like. Boy was he
    ever excited. Everyone he saw he told how he caught a bass just like
    the guys on T.V.

    This year I have taken him out four times in the boat and he's
    enjoyed every minute of it. He's been catching alot of bluegills
    which really keeps his attention span. I have brought my fishing pole with 
    me but I really don't get a chance to fish at all. I'm usually to busy 
    putting the worm on the hook for him or taking the fish off the hook;'). 
    He usually tells me to fish, Daddy now put a bobber and a worm on you line 
    so you can catch some fish too, or, Now lets go after some bass.
    He needs a little work on casting in the boat but he's getting there! As 
    the previous replies stated fish the shallow areas in just about any lake 
    and you'll find the blue gills and your kids will have a ball.

    Gus

    P.S. make sure you have a knife to cut the line in case they swallow
    the hook. A good pair of pliers helps too. Enjoy..

    Seems like we're all singing the same tune.  I have a 4 year old and 
    a 13mos year old.  When the 4 years old was an ifant he had a Bomber
    Long A (minus the trebles) for a rattle.  Had him (more or less) 
    catching sunfish at around 18mos.  Up until this year he got a bigger
    kick out of playing with the fish in the livewell (eventually released)
    and the playing with the worms than the actual fishing.  But this year
    he gets a bigger thrill out of the catching, especially the occasional
    bass (we fish worms and bobbers for sunfish primarily).  I take a cast
    every now and then with an artificial and if I catch a good sized bass,
    he wants nothing to do with the worms.  I bring him scouting with me
    before hunting season too.  Gets a thrill out finding rubs, scrapes,
    droppings.
    
    -donmac

    Oh yeah be sure to check your 4 year olds pockets after fishing with
    live bait.  My wife found a pocketful of dead nightcrawlers last time
    we came back.  It seems his older brother kept getting the "juicy
    worms" and he wanted to save some for himself.
    
    I don't bring my rod cause like others I found myself frustrated cause
    I couldn't fish, besides after an hour the kids drop theirs so I can
    start fishing again.  (hint hint, thats why you don't buy them real
    crappy rods).  
    
    I too let them do what they want when they tire of fishing so they will
    have fun.  The only thing they are not allowed to do is throw rocks.  I
    hate kids who do that near places I am fishing so I don't want my kids
    doing that to someone else, they understand that too.
    
    Brian

	WOW! I didn't think I would get this kind of response. I am definately
	going to take her fishing. It will give us some time together and from what I
	have read here she is going to love it. I think we'll going looking at 
	a rig for her this weekend. She'll love it...


	Thanks Again,
	AK_

    AK_
    	Good luck with your daughter.  She'll love it.
    	Patience is the key and it's ok for her to say "Ikky" worm ;^)
    
    	My 10yr old daughter takes after he mother.  They are both avid
    	fisher"persons".  The 13yr old daughter is interested in a 
    	different kind of fishing now but still will go with us ;^)
    
    	Take them while they are young and they will stay "hooked" :^)
    
    	Enjoy
    	dick aka -< Tuna Tail >-

    re: I think we'll going looking at a rig for her this weekend. She'll
        love it...
    
    Good idea, I'd reccommend a 150hp Ranger, for her of course, tell the
    wife it has lots of dry storage for toys. 8^)
    
    -donmac
    

    Saturday, I took my 3yr old striper fishing.  First we went to the
    Salisbury beach to chase sea gulls (his favorite activity), collect
    shells, etc.  Then we launched my 14' aluminum boat.  It was much more
    chop that I would have liked for him, but he didn't seem to mind.
    We trolled one rod for him.  He lasted about 2 hrs.  We boated 3
    schoolies and lost 4.  The biggest problem we had was that most of the
    fish were too big for him to reel in.  The last one was smaller and
    he was able to bring it in without much help from me.  He LOVED IT!
    
    Now is going around telling everyone how many fish we caught.  The only
    draw back was that he got very upset when he found out I was going
    fishing Sunday without him!
    
    Mark,
      

    	My 2 year old Grandson has recently become my fishing buddy. We've
    only been out fishing about 3 times this season, but he loves it. We
    always Pond fish from shore and I'm careful to pick shallow Coves
    just in case he decides to accidently go for a swim without permission.
    Sunday noontime we went Larggemouth fishing with 4" Plastic worms
    and 4 lb. test Ultralights. He managed to land a 4" baby Bass and he
    really got excited when it was flopping around in the water near shore
    while he was landing it. When I released it I reminded him that it
    was a baby who needed to go back home to his Mommy. Then he said
    'let's go home to my Mommy'. It was obviously time to leave, so
    we packed up our gear and headed home, but we did manage to stop
    at Wendy's for a Chicken Nugget/Fries Kid's meal.
    
    						kids are great!!!
    
    							Bob
    

    
    Come on Bob fess up. YOU ate the kids meal, right?!
    
    My son is 15 months old tommorow! I've taken him fishing once,
    it didn't seem to faze him. I think he was too young at the time.
    @13months old. All he wanted to do was run around and look at things 
    on the shore. i.e. rocks, debris etc...Does like to feed the ducks tho.
    His grandpa wants to take him out this weekend so we'll see how he
    does now that he's a little older.
    
    Walt
                                      

    and the Joy goes on...... Patrick and I spent about 1.5 hours last 
    saturday afternoon fishing at nuttings lake. I did bring my fishing
    pole this time. Final count was Patrick 8 (sunfish) Dad 1 (bass). My
    entire street now knows that Patrick outfished his Dad. :-)
    
    	1 thing I forgot to mention is that we set a rule that when we
    leave our fishing place we always pick up our trash and SOMEBODY elses.
    Well when it was time to leave he asked if we could stay a little bit 
    longer and pick up everybody's trash. I smiled :-) and treated for
    ice cream after

	Well, I have to say that everyone was right. I haven't taken her out
	to actually fish, but we got her rig and I was teaching her to cast. I
	showed her twice how to press the button and cast. The next thing I 
	know she's done 20-30ft casts like she's been doing it for years. Next
	weekend we're going camping and I'm ready for her to start dragging them
	in. Thanks again to everybody for the great ideas.


	AK_

        Whenever you get a chance always bring your kids or even 
    someone elses with you.  I've taught my 4 boys how to fish and now
    I'm working on my 3yr old grandaughter.
    
        I own a house on a lake here in NH and her and grampee sit on the
    end of the dock and fish.  I bought her, her own kiddy rod, which she
    loves.  Using a bobber and worms, she caught all kinds of perch,
    kibbies and a two lb bass.  She calls the kibbies and perch "junkfish".
    
        Like it was mentioned in other notes, if we're on the dock or in
    the boat, grampee leaves his fishing gear at home, and devote all my
    attention to her.

    RE: -1
    
    	I agree with you.
    	Space permitting on the boat I'll ask our kids if they want to
    	bring one of there friends along.  So far none of the friends
    	have ever fished.  You should see the expression on their face 
    	when they hawl in "anything".  It's more fun watching them fish	
        then fish yourself.
    
    	Last time fishing my daughter's girlfriend 9yrs old caught her
    	first fish a 3 1/2' shark (dogfish) and a "tagged" Striper.
    	Both were released but she wanted to take the Shark home and
    	show her friends.  Fortunatley we have pictures for her ;^)f
    
    	The gleam in their eye's is unforgettable 8^)
    	-< Tuna Tail >-