Take A Kid Fishing

Expect The Unexpected And Don't Forget The Camera

“Take a kid fishing.” Boy I bet I’ve heard that phrase a million times or more and while the concept is pure, the practice is a chore and it can be one that actually does the opposite of its intended purpose.

Today’s “Fishing in the moment” is made up of multiple phases in which we will take a look at not only the development of an angler, but the development of a well rounded person, who respects the outdoors, himself or herself and nature in general.

In taking a kid a fishing, you need to be prepared for whatever occurs or wherever you end up. With young children, your idea of fishing is not theirs. While you want to be chunkin and wineden, they want to be chasing ducks and throwing rocks. You must be fully prepared for this, if you persist too heavily in the fishing part of the day on the Water, you can actually turn a youngster away from the activity that is BORING, remember we are competing against video games and Ninja Turtles.

Teaching a child to fish is a tremendous gift. That child may never be able to hit a home run or slam dunk a basketball, but he or she can catch a fish, that is a source of personal pride and self esteem. 

Crawdad Hunting And Throwing Rocks

Its never too soon to introduce a child to the outdoors, but if you expect them to be able to handle one of your days of fishing, not only will you be disappointed, but so will the child.

Children ages 2- through 4 can handle walking trips to local ponds. Looking at bugs, birds and plants and learning how things relate to each other is the first step at understanding eco systems and food chains. This is also a wonderful way for you to help your child develop language and his or her own deductive skills.

As for the fishing, work fast son, you have about a five minute window of attention before other things capture a child’s interest. A toy fishing rod with a bobber is a great way to expand that attention span and promote patience. In the Summer, bluegill are very easy to catch on most small ponds, and catching always causes interest.

Crawdad hunts, discovering new bugs, throwing some rocks and a little bit of fishing. Remember they are with you and you are the most important person in their lives. Take a kid fishing? Sure, but lets remember what’s important, and oh yeah, don’t take the boat out unless you just want to go for ride

No Overhand Casting-For Everyone's Sake 

One of the things that has astounded me the most about being the father of a two young boys is how quick they are to learn things. By the time a child reaches the age of 5-7 the motor skills are there to attempt casting, although I recommend that child first learn to hold the rod in one hand, while pulling line with the other and “flipping” a meal worm and bobber off the bank. It would make Dee Thomas proud and you won’t have to worry about overhand casts hooking innocent bystanders.

Baitin up might be more than your child’s  fine motor skills are ready for, but hey, we gotta be good for something.

Introduce your 5 to 7 year old to a pair of polarized sun glasses and watch his or her world come alive. My boys and I have sat and watched bluegill and bass defend their nests during the spawn for hours.

Your child’s attention span will be longer, and they really want to catch fish! A trip to the local You-Catch-Em lake can relight the fire if you have had some tough trips.

Finally, when your child learns that there are books and magazines about fishing, they are going to want to read as much as they can. We all want our kids to read don’t we?

Watch Out, They're Consumers Now! 

In learning about the outdoors and fishing, it really depends how you were introduced. Oh sure, an old dog can learn to fish, but the appreciation we have is a deep rooted gift that we are given by our parents or other significant adult. Children ages 8-12 are ready.

A child at this age can handle baiting, casting and most importantly waiting! At this point, our trips become two rod fishing trips. One for you and one for your child.  Make sure he or she has their own tackle box.

Watch out, children ages 8-12 are totally affected by marketing and will want to use your best $45.00 swim baits. An excellent way to stress good behavior and good grades in school is offer some nicer equipment when certain goals are attained.

Boat trips are definitely in now. Your child will grow to enjoy the time spent with you on the water and you will really make their day if they can drive the boat at slow speeds of course.

I really want to stress the idea of good behavior for fishing. If junior knows that a fishing trip this weekend rests on his behavior at school, home or anywhere, trust me, he will be a good citizen.

Ready For A Bigger Challenge

Bass are much more difficult to catch than Bluegill.  They are more discriminating when it comes to deciding to bite.  But one thing that will increase the likelihood of a bass biting is the use of live bait.  Our favorite live bait is night crawler worms.  For one thing, fishing a night crawler worm is a lot like fishing a plastic worm.  Your child can use bass equipment, just like dad and fishing a live worm is very much like fishing an artificial one.  In fact, the night crawler will work best when it is fish slow, even dead sticked.  The young angler gets use to keeping his or her line tight, watching the line for even the slightest tick or movement, getting acquainted with traditional bass tackle and even the feel of battling a bass as it tail walks across the surface.  It is a great transition to artificial lure fishing because fishing the night crawlers slow is the way we should be fishing our plastic baits anyway.

As a young angler begins to tie his or her own knots, tinker with lures, change skirts on jigs and spinner baits the parent side of you will begin to notice that their hand writing begins to improve.  We take what we do so much for granted that we don’t remember or even know how much finger strength and coordination it takes for a young to write.  Yep, fishing plays a role in that too.

I used to think that I enjoyed fishing so much because I enjoyed the thrill of hooking, fighting and landing a prized trophy and while that is always exciting.  I am learning now, that fishing is really just an excuse I use to spend time with the boys.  When you’re in a boat away from shore, it really forces the conversation.  There’s no TV in the boat.  Having only one chance to be a good parent, and desperately wanting to be one, it is reassuring to me to know that when my children look back at the most important lessons of their life it will someday dawn on them that they learned those things in the boat at the lake.  Take A Kid Fishing