Rod and reel for my son

[digitalvoid]

My son is turning 3 in just a couple short months. I'd like to pick him up a rod and reel for his birthday. I'm not sure how I feel about a "Spiderman" rod. He has played with a few of my spinning reels but that might be too much to start with. How would an underspin be for a kid? Or is a Zebco 33 the best starting reel? Tight lines!

[Derek1]

I would just grab one of the toddler setups. They have all kinds of super hero ones. Take him to bass pro/ cabellas to pick it out. The whole experience will be fun. 

[ironbjorn]

A 2 soon to be 3 year old should really just get a "Spiderman" rod. 

[FishTank]

One of the Shakespeare kids set ups will work fine. 

 

I can recall my daughter catching a truck ton of fish on a Barbie rod and dad caught zero. It was hilarious to everyone around us. 

[Yeezy Fishing]

Not sure where you live, so not sure if it’s available, but I started my daughters on an ice fishing rod/reels. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Spiderman is decent but Big Bird has that price point on lock.  Once he gets proficient with Big Bird then investing in the Sponge Bob outfit wouldn't be as much of a risk.

[newapti5]

I think a rubber/plastic setup is great for him. Make sure they don't have sharp angles and are soft enough.

[JediAmoeba]

Nah, get him a steez on a Loomis NRX...

 

Seriously, get him whatever superhero rod he wants. He will love it

[islandbass]

21 hours ago, digitalvoid said:

My son is turning 3 in just a couple short months. I'd like to pick him up a rod and reel for his birthday. I'm not sure how I feel about a "Spiderman" rod. He has played with a few of my spinning reels but that might be too much to start with. How would an underspin be for a kid? Or is a Zebco 33 the best starting reel? Tight lines!

You will be pleasantly surprised with those superhero kiddie poles. I thought just like you did. I was wrong. They really work and that was nearly 20 years ago. Matter of fact, I still have my daughter’s Barbie princess pole and she’s now 23. No, she doesn’t still use it, lol but I’m keeping it for memory’s sake. She nailed bass, blue gill, pumpkin seed, and trout with hers. 

 

The other plus is because they’re cheap, you won’t be so upset if they drop it in the lake to never be seen again. My son lost 4 of his in the drink. Better the Spider-Man pole than your $80 dollar ultra light rod and spinning reel. 
 

Update:

I forgot to add you might want to heavily consider going with live bait (worms) on the bottom or with a float. 
1) it increases their odds of catching many fish species

2) using “bass” lures at this age, might be a bit too much for them. Maybe and this is a big maybe, in-line spinners with the chuck and wind in mind, but I’d honestly reserve that for later. 

Edited March 12, 2023 by islandbass
Updated

[garroyo130]

Just make sure its not one of those rods where the line is inside the rod. Idk why they started doing that but many of them are like that. 

[scaleface]

Spiderman is the greatest there was, is and always will be. My dad started me out with a cane-pole and I broke it on a big bass.

[Catt]

At 3 you have no idea if he will even like fishing. He showed interest in your spinning reels because he saw you playing with them. 

 

Start him out with a Snoopy or Spiderman combo until you learn what his interest are.

 

[Deleted account]

NRX with a JDM BFS reel, duh!...

[Captain Phil]

We took our son fishing with us when he was still a baby.  He's in his fifties now.  We brought along a portable wooden playpen for him as we walked the canal banks on the Tamiami Trail.   If you fish, your child will most likely want to be like Dad.  Toddlers are a little young for fishing reels.  Bass Pro has some inexpensive outfits that you may like as well.   Our grandson would land his fish by running away from the bank dragging the fish behind.  When your child is about eight, he will be able to cast and fish alongside you.  We started our son out with a casting outfit.  He couldn't cast, so we tied on a heavy weight and big worm that he would let drop to the bottom as the boat moved along.  He hung an eight pound bass doing that which was bigger than my PB at the time.  I eventually bested his bass.     He was king of the boat for a long time and let me know it.  ?

[casts_by_fly]

Our friends daughter (7 I think) likes to fish so every year for her birthday and usually once in the summer I take her fishing. The first time out I didn’t plan ahead and we just used my ultralight combo which is a 7’6” ultralight with a stradic on it…. I had my dad dig out my old zebco 33 the next time they visited.

 

This past year we bought her her own rod for her birthday and it was great.  The line is cheap, but once you cast it out and give it a little stretch the whole thing will cast a lot better than your think. It’s durable as anything and for $10 it doesn’t matter if he likes it forever. It’s the zebco dock demon. 
 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XW3FWFF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[roadwarrior]

G.Loomis GLX MBR842C/ Calcutta Conquest 100/ #12 Seaguar Tatsu

 

Your wife will be so impressed that you bought this for your friends daughter to fish.

Then you will be responsible for looking after the gear the other 364 days of the year.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Bankc]

Most 3 year olds won't really like sitting still long enough to fish.  So I'd just go with that Spiderman rod, since he'll probably lose or break it before he's old enough to show an interest in fishing.  
 

If he wants to go, take him one day.  But don't expect anything.  Don't push him into fishing.  He'll never enjoy it if you do.  And don't try to teach him any more than he wants to learn.  He's probably more interested in spending time with you than anything else.  

[chall59]

Some of these replies made me chuckle lol.

I will say that I would start him off on a left handed reel regardless of his dominant hand. I am right handed but I must have picked up a left handed reel for my first fishing experiences and I am glad I did. 

[Deleted account]

27 minutes ago, chall59 said:

I will say that I would start him off on a left handed reel regardless of his dominant hand. 

 

I'm calling social services...

[Skunkmaster-k]

Shakespeare dock runner or a zebco dock demon are about the right size for a little feller. They’re tough too. 

[digitalvoid]

1 hour ago, chall59 said:

Some of these replies made me chuckle lol.

I will say that I would start him off on a left handed reel regardless of his dominant hand. I am right handed but I must have picked up a left handed reel for my first fishing experiences and I am glad I did. 

I'm not sure that really matters. I'm right handed, so should I use the reel with my right hand or left???

[PressuredFishing]

1 hour ago, digitalvoid said:

I'm not sure that really matters. I'm right handed, so should I use the reel with my right hand or left???

Either way growing up southpaw though my father only had right handed conventional reels, as I started with spinning so I used right handed naturally, the biggest advantage I have found is not having to switch hands at all compared to my father and friends I see that have to switch hands every cast, expecially when pitching I can make 10 casts for every 6 of my friends casts. 

 

Also the biggest CON I have found is sense I hold the rod with my left hand and reel with my right,  I struggled tremendously to use enough energy to jack a ewg into a fishes mouth, expecially as a teen, and fishing no jack jig hooks or frogs was even tougher, which is why I always perfer lighter wire hooks and lighter line systems compared to the macho man hook swinging mentality. When I first started I have had fish quite literally rip the rod into my hands and swim it into the shore but luckily got snagged on some flooded shrubs, dropping the rod on the Hooksett, or just not swing hard enough. I don't have these issues now, except occasionally on a heavy wire jig or frog.

 

To put it bluntly, I am so glad I reel with my dominant hand but it is a double edged sword.

[digitalvoid]

1 minute ago, PressuredFishing said:

Either way growing up southpaw though my father only had right handed conventional reels, as I started with spinning so I used right handed naturally, the biggest advantage I have found is not having to switch hands at all compared to my father and friends I see that have to switch hands every cast, expecially when pitching I can make 10 casts for every 6 of my friends casts. 

 

Also the biggest CON I have found is sense I hold the rod with my left hand and reel with my right,  I struggled tremendously to use enough energy to jack a ewg into a fishes mouth, expecially as a teen, and fishing no jack jig hooks or frogs was even tougher, which is why I always perfer lighter wire hooks and lighter line systems compared to the macho man hook swinging mentality. When I first started I have had fish quite literally rip the rod into my hands and swim it into the shore but luckily got snagged on some flooded shrubs, dropping the rod on the Hooksett, or just not swing hard enough. I don't have these issues now, except occasionally on a heavy wire jig or frog.

 

To put it bluntly, I am so glad I reel with my dominant hand but it is a double edged sword.

I can't cast with my left arm to save my life. I find it much easier to cast and control the bait with my right arm/hand since I'm right handed. I also wouldn't have the strength to set the hook with my left, I never understood why people would switch to the other hand. 

[PressuredFishing]

3 minutes ago, digitalvoid said:

never understood why people would switch to the other hand. 

Yeah i do hear you on that one, from what I understand it comes historically from SW conventional fishing, they would need to use their dominant hand to wrench heavy  fish in. And the conventional reel design of RH reel for RH people carried over to low profile bass reels, in comparison many people with spinning many people perfer lh reel for RH people and visa versa.

[Pat Brown]

At that age I'd just hand him the rod when you set the hook on a little one and let him fight it in and let it go.