Lures For A 4.5 Year Old.

[TheSmilingSwordsman]

My four year old son absolutely loves fishing tackle. I've given him a few cranks, some flukes, various craws and his own bag of Yum Dingers.

I will of course take some night crawlers to let him bobber fish but he really wants to use some of his lures. We've tried trolling crankbaits with no success. He can cast a good 30-40 feet with his Zebco. I was thinking Dingers and maybe a finesse worm on a shakey head.

Have any of you let your small kids use artificial baits for bass with any success? If so, what did they use?

[OroBass]

Here is my 8 year old fishing t rigged plastics. We started at around 4 on senko style baits. Today he uses spinning gear.

[gripnrip]

This was earlier this year.  

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/134263-princess-pole-success/?hl=%2Bprincess+%2Bpole+%2Bsuccess

[Fish Murderer 71]

IMO i'de stick with the flukes.  kinda hard to do anything wrong with a fluke.  If the bait comes up to fast, add a small splitshot.  Using the fluke juniors work with the crappie, sand bass and even catfish.

[JThoms38]

If he/she is so young and more concerned about the lure than actually catching fish why not bing the little angler to your local shop buy him/her a small tackle box and allow to pick a few lures of their choice? This way they have what they think is cool and still the chance to catch fish the way they chose and on their cool lure they picked. Ik when I was little I liked the lures a lot too and would look through my old mans tackle whenever I got the chance, good luck to you and your young angler

-Jonah

[FishTank]

I gave my daughter some zoom lizards at that age that were pink with purple flakes.  She caught all kinds of fish with them and I didn't think she catch anything.  She thought they were pretty though.  She also tried some Senkos 4in. She caught fish but got bored quick.  I got her a barbie tackle box and let her pick out a few baits later on.  

[ClackerBuzz]

a slip bobber set up with thill bobber stops works well b/c ur not constantly cleaning algae off lures.  you can suspend any lure he chooses at first.  when bordom sets in and ur desperate for a bite use small light lures and just add split shot 10" above to get them down (basically any crappie style lure works well). and of course a small piece of hotdog or chicken will do wonders 

[Bluebasser86]

Beetle spins and Mepp's spinners. They're cheap, they come in a variety of colors, they're easy to just cast out and reel in for kids not patient enough to watch a bobber, and they catch fish

[OntarioFishingGuy]

Beetle spins and Mepp's spinners. They're cheap, they come in a variety of colors, they're easy to just cast out and reel in for kids not patient enough to watch a bobber, and they catch fish

X2

[smalljaw67]

Bluebasser86 has it right!!!!!! Beetle spins are the deal, they catch fish like mad and are easy to use, a fluke needs to be worked with the rod, something I don't think a 5 year old can do on a consistent basis. I like the idea of mepps and rooster tail spinners but I didn't use them with my grandson because of the treble hooks. I also tied small panfish jigs for him to fish under a float, and to this day me and him will grab the ultra light rods and fish for crappie and bluegill with little hair jigs under a float, very fun but use the beetle spin, it is a killer!!

[WIGuide]

A Blakemore Road Runner would be a good option. They can catch anything that swims and will still usually catch something under the toughest conditions. You can't fish them wrong as long as you fish them slow!

[Raul]

In-line spinners and small size spinnerbaits should keep the young feller busy, he'll be happy catching a ton of dinks.

[MCS]

 

^^^ Black with yellow beetle spin....also the strike king bitsy minnows, small spinnerbaits and buzz bait. rebel minnows, bandit cranks we also do grubs on a jig head, t-rigged senkos or trick worms too.

[BIG M]

My daughter hates watching a bobber but loves spinner baits and t-rig worms.   Started her with senko style baits around 5 yrs old.

I've stayed away from treb hooks because I'm scared she will hook me.

[NathanW]

Split shot or C-rig a 4.5 inch curly tail roboworm on a Gamakatsu G-Lock hook. Its a weedless presentation that will stay on the bottom and the fish will hook itself. Has accounted for great snoopy pole action on a somewhat difficult river fishery. We basically just have the kids cast it out, let out a bunch of slack while we continue to drift.

[Lip 'em!]

Give him a wacky rigged senko and tell him to do absolutely nothing. Maybe an occassional wiggle. Can't be fished wrong!

[TheSmilingSwordsman]

Thanks for the help. We'll give some of these a try and report back.

[jtharris3]

This weekend my cousin took his daughter fishing. He had throwing a small pre-rigged Storm swim bait. Just for the heck of it he tipped it with a piece of night crawler. She ended up catching a 31" walleye in the river they were fishing. Pretty cool day for the both of them.

[TheSmilingSwordsman]

He got one!!

My son finally landed one using a Berkley swim bait. The bites were few and far between today. He tried Yum Dingers, a drop shot finesse worm (it's how I caught mine today), a square billed crank, a shakey head and a t-rigged lizard.

The best part, he cast and reeled the thing by himself. I helped him get it in the boat.

Today was a good day.