Kids and Lures

[Manly Studson]

My sons want to begin bass fishing. They’re a little tired of catching bluegill. But they’ll lose a lure or two every trip with errant casts. Got any suggestions? Let them use the cheap stuff? Only fish open water? I’m excited for them. Just trying to keep costs down. Feel free to recommend kid friendly lures.

[Koz]

Wal Mart has $1.00 spinnerbaits that catch bass. I know, I keep some in my selection of baits. Beetle Spins are inexpensive as well.

[jbrew73]

Walmart $1 spinnerbaits are good for kids and cheap soft plastics are another good option.   Plain old 1/4oz jig heads with fat Albert or Kalin’s grubs work great too.

 

we love to buy expensive lures but old school simple/cheap lures work just as well and don’t break the bank if the get lost.

[tkunk]

Texas rigged senkos are great, even in open water. They tend not to get snagged on docks, trees, boats, people, or anything else.

[Way north bass guy]

From my experience, when my now 9 year old started at about 3, he used to cast a hookless rapala xrap off the back of the boat while we trolled for trout in the spring. Once he was ready to cast for bass, I started him with single hooked lures. A simple  jighead with a grub or 7” Berkley powerworm will cast a long way, can be swam back to the boat or if they get bored, can be dropped/drifted behind the boat and catch a ton of fish. Single hooks are also much safer when little ones are learning to cast around others. A Texas rigged senko type bait is also a great lure, as they can work it fast along the surface if they want or like my son often does, cast it out, sit down with a book, and let it stroll behind the boat while I cast a shoreline,( he often will outfish me this way until I smarten up and switch baits). Once they graduate to treble hooked lures, a crainkbait or jerkbaits can be productive, as well as give them something to watch as it moves along. It’s all about keeping them busy and having fun. And if your fishing around cover, they love a good topwater like a buzzbait or frog, especially when they can watch it come over the surface. 

[Junger]

In-line spinners, fat albert grubs on a jighead, or underspin, finesse spinnerbait/chatterbaits...basically, I think anything with a straight and simple retrieve works well for kids. 

[ohboyitsrobby]

Any Whopper plopper type lure. My 5 year old loves em. It's big it's loud and catches fish. Everything a younger angler wants. Spinnerbaits are good ones too.

[Smalls]

11 minutes ago, ohboyitsrobby said:

Any Whopper plopper type lure. My 5 year old loves em. It's big it's loud and catches fish. Everything a younger angler wants. Spinnerbaits are good ones too.

My 8 yo daughter will fish a whopper plopped from ice out to full ice, and sunrise to sunset. Don’t even matter if she catches anything. Luckily, it’s an effective lure

[Bluebasser86]

My 5 year old gets a pretty steady helping of wacky rigs, ned rigs, and grubs. All of them catch lots of fish, none are difficult to fish, don't even need to know what a bite feels like to catch fish with them, and when he loses some of them it's not a big loss. Plus they're all single hooks so they're less likely to hook something or someone else. 

[Angry John]

A hula grub on a jig head. 5" stick worm, or 4," keitech works well depending on the bite and their requirements for activity.  The owner weighted hooks in the keitech keeps the hangups and snags to a minimum 

[NYWayfarer]

Grub on a jighead is a great starter lure that doesn't cost a lot.

 

Not a fan of treble hooks and young kids otherwise I would suggest a cheap in-line spinner.

[lo n slo]

road runner 

[Crestliner2008]

I started all my kids off tossing a 3" curly tailed grub on a plain 1/8 oz. ball head jig. They loved the color selections most of which will catch bass. And an inexpensive presentation as far as loss goes. They will catch fish.

[snake95]

3 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

Grub on a jighead is a great starter lure that doesn't cost a lot.

 

44 minutes ago, Crestliner2008 said:

I started all my kids off tossing a 3" curly tailed grub on a plain 1/8 oz. ball head jig. They loved the color selections most of which will catch bass. And an inexpensive presentation as far as loss goes.

I couldn't agree more with the above, and I fish a lot with kids.

 

In fact just last weekend my 7 yo daughter - who has recently decided to take up fishing with the boys - caught her first crappie and bass with this very rig.

 

Toss, crank, wind; it works on the fall, it works fished slowly on the bottom (deliberately or not).  

 

Catches bass, catches panfish.  

 

I use Zman mushroom heads with 3" Yum grubs in white, green pumpkin, or whatever else you come across.

Ball heads are just fine, of course. 

 

Sometimes I get them to put a TRD on.

 

All of the above available anywhere there is a Walmart.

 

(And I will also often fish the grubs if I'm getting skunked).

[Mobasser]

8 hours ago, lo n slo said:

road runner 

Yes. A Road Runner or Beetle spin are both great lures for a youngster to fish. They catch almost everything

[Harold Scoggins]

I started my son on Mann's Jelly Worms, Rapala Skitter Pops, and Scum Frogs. When he turned 10, he graduated to Lucky Craft. He's married now and has been asking to borrow some of my Megabass lures, but he always walks away empty handed. I've got 4, 3700 boxes set aside that are packed with MB lures for his 25th birthday coming up.

[Dom Hendricks]

23 hours ago, ohboyitsrobby said:

Any Whopper plopper type lure. My 5 year old loves em. It's big it's loud and catches fish. Everything a younger angler wants. Spinnerbaits are good ones too.

I have two decent sized scars on the back of my head from a 5 year old and a jitterbug. First and only time I have had to go to the ER to get a lure removed.  

[Hower08]

1 hour ago, Harold Scoggins said:

I started my son on Mann's Jelly Worms, Rapala Skitter Pops, and Scum Frogs. When he turned 10, he graduated to Lucky Craft. He's married now and has been asking to borrow some of my Megabass lures, but he always walks away empty handed. I've got 4, 3700 boxes set aside that are packed with MB lures for his 25th birthday coming up.

Hey I've got a birthday coming up too. You know just in case he decides he doesn't want them

[Harold Scoggins]

54 minutes ago, Hower08 said:

Hey I've got a birthday coming up too. You know just in case he decides he doesn't want them

Sure thing, but I don't think he'll turn them down.

[BIGfryFish]

@ Manly Studson - You could pick a decent 5pc spoon assortment for about $5 at Walmart.  If worried, you can easily swap the trebles for single hooks.   They also have various "cheap*" brands of popular designs.

 

Some good lures for kids: Phoebe*, CLEO*, In-line Spinners*.

 

There should be plenty of cheaper models of these to try.   Once they get the hang of these, they could move on the the name $$ brands.  :)

[Manly Studson]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions.  The tips about using grubs and jig heads while avoiding treble hooks are good ideas.  I appreciate it.

[Drew03cmc]

My son, now 12, started at 7 with a 2" Power Grub on a 1/16 head thrown on an UL. Now, he can competently fish whatever he wants on his baitcast combos. He caught 2 the other night on a chatterbait. His first love is the Whopper Plopper though. 

[kayl.]

I usually set my kids up with a wacky rigged senko on a 1/0 circle hook. Simple to fish, hard to hook yourself with, and doesn't generally snag up.

[primetime]

Inline spinners like Rooster Tails, Mepps Aglia etc. are always a good choice since lots of colors, sizes, and just cast and reel and are perfect for spinning gear. Most knock off brands are good as well, I grabbed a bunch of cheap rooster tail knock off's at a flea market a few years back for .50 each and they work plenty good. They are just not as durable, but a card of 12 for $6 is a good deal and BPS has a .99 model that is actually good.

 

You can get assortments of plastics at most places, I feel like Worm hooks, split shots, soft baits are not too difficult for any age...As someone mentioned, grub on a jig head kind of sets itself, but they can learn to fish a weightless plastic once they can cast it.....You can actually use an open hook on alot of soft baits where we always think to Texas rig, I guess that is why the wacky rig is a can't miss option.....

 

Spinners and worms....Then maybe a $1 smaller Buzz bait from Walmart, I loved throwing buzz baits as a kid. The smaller ones get more attention imo.