Best Lure For A Kid?

[fishva]

My son is 7, and he's getting tired of fishing with nightcrawlers. He wants to do more with his rod and reel and make more casts, as he sees me do.

I'm slightly hesitant to move him to artificials, as he loves reeling in a lot of fish. So I'm looking to get him started on a simple lure that will attract fish of all types. I also don't want to introduce anything with treble hooks until he has better rod control.

Would you recommend a grub? Or something else?

Currently, he has a BPS ultralight spinning setup.

[Catch and Grease]

Ribbon tail worms maybe? I know you said no trebles but when your comfortable with letting him use one try inline spinners... He'll still catch panfish but also some bass.

[YourBassIsGrass]

Buzzbait, spinnerbait, swim jigs, swim baits, chatterbait. Let's him cast a bunch and reel a lot to feel like he is doing something. At least it will let him change it up a bit. Frogs are a good one, maybe a mouse. With the summer coming into full swing those would be fun for early morning/late evening. Nothing beats a good live minnow though. Might be fun just to switch up the live bait to something new too. Whatever you end up with, hope you have some fun times out there with your son.

[Crankinstein]

Strike king bitsy minnow. You can find them at wal mart. Its a tiny crankbait that catches everything and its really easy to fish. I caught a fish on my very first cast with it. It catches primarily pan fish but bass will bite it too. Great first time lure

[Dwight Hottle]

Inline spinner bait like a blue fox vibrax if he wants to cast & reel. Cut off the treble hook add a split ring & a single hook like a spinner bait trailer hook. It will catch all species.

You could also try a senko wacky rigged.

[Kevin22]

1//16 jig head with a 2" white grub. He'll catch anything that swims and it won't be too hard for him to fish. 

[Missourifishin]

I'd try a roadrunner. Small, only one hook, and it will catch all kinds of panfish and bass.

Whatever you try, I'd keep some live minnows or worms handy in case he's not having any luck and get's bored.

[Crestliner2008]

Try 1/16 oz. Roadrunners (with curly tailed grubs as the trailer) and/or 1/16 oz. ball head jigs with the same curly tails. And of course, don't forget some 4" wacky rigged Senkos. My grandkids love fishing with me!  He'll have a ball.

[fishva]

Wow, thanks guys. Wasn't expecting so many quality responses so quickly. This helps a ton.

[BassinLou]

A fluke. My son is your son's  same age. Kids have great imaginations. I would tell my son to work the fluke however he saw fit, and imagine a big fish was coming after his bait and his  bait was trying to get away. My son had a blast with that concept and caught himself a mess of bass that day. 

[STPC]

Beetle spin.  It will pretty much catch anything swimming, and if he gets hung up you're only out a couple dollars.  The black w/yellow stripe works really well in stained or cloudy water.

[hatrix]

1//16 jig head with a 2" white grub. He'll catch anything that swims and it won't be too hard for him to fish.

Exactly what I was going to recommend. I use to fish these a ton when I was very little. They will catch the littlest to the biggest fish. I have had 5#ers on those little things.

[Inoah88]

Think about what lakes he will fish when he is older because i would find a lire that works yearround at that lake and use that. So when he gets older and wants to fish seriously if he will. He will have a go to lure that he knows how to fish and works year round. But i would start him on a little football jig with a trailer like a rage craw but bite or cut off the nose of the craw before you rig it on a jig for a small jig or texas rigs those are go for bass and little crappie jigs which he can fish like a football jig. You are king of limmoted to what you use with an ultra light so thats all i can think of.

[Bruce424]

Tube bait

[F14A-B]

A 1/8 0z roadrunner in limetruse or white... Like others have said , ultra lite baits will get bit by a multitude of fish!

[craww]

My son is the same age and has used artificials for 3 years now. One thing I've noticed is that he has a much easier time when we're in the boat or kayaks vs the bank due to the algae and miscellaneous debris at the waters edge. He does quite well with simple chunk and wind lures, predominately square bills, broken back rapalas, and this year the jitterbug.

 

Heres a broken back rapala catch from last summer.

[OroBass]

Senko they have built in action and catch fish everywhere.

[clayton86]

My son is 5 and is the same way wants to use lures like daddy. I usually give him a grub or hair jig but still put a bobber on it for him and me to see his strikes and keep it up out of the snags we fish mostly rivers. He kills the smallies this way kind of like the float and fly technique.

[bassnbornboy]

You can catch bluegill, catfish, and bass on a plastic worm. I caught a 2 foot long bull on a 6 inch worm.

[Fish Murderer 71]

split shot with whatever plastic they want to choose.  That way when they catch a bigun or get skunked its on their choice- then they will know our frustrations...

[Comfortably Numb]

You are very limited on hook seting abilities with that rod using any decent sized single hook.

 

I have been messin with my old 5'6" Ugly Stick lately and the Rebel Super teeny Wee R. Catchin everythink in the lake and havin fun.

[ChrisD46]

A lot of good replies ... Here are a few more :

 

* Small Grub + 1/16oz jig head (if weeds then a 1/0 EWG hook Texposed with a 1/16oz bullet weight)

* In line spinner with / without a single hook (my first lure had a white feather tail and white black spots ...I fished it with success day & night !)

* Zoom UTail worm with a 1/0 EWG hook and 1/16th oz. bullet weight (just snake it around the water column)

* 1/16th oz. Road Runner with a small grub

* Small Rebel Grasshopper topwater bait (WM has them - retrieve ...pause...retrieve ...pause) 

[craww]

You are very limited on hook seting abilities with that rod using any decent sized single hook..

Thats a good point and part of my reasoning for treble hook baits starting a kid out. Alot of adults cant fish plastics lol.

Walmart has the rebel kit, with the craw, crickhopper and a teeny popper thats a great start. Those crawfish are a very, very underated bait.

[Mike2841]

When I take my nephew with me I throw a rage lobster on a circle hook for him. This way I don't have to worry about him missing fish or gut hooking them. That way he can just keep casting and reeling without much worry