Starting my 10 year old with his first pole.

[Paul Benner]

Hey all,

I'm starting my 10 year old with his first pole.  He loves the sport but doesn't get to go often due to visitation with his "real" father.  I'm seriously considering buying him and open faced combo as a starter and not gimping him with a spincaster.  Does anyone have a strong opinion as to why I shouldn't do this?

Best,

Paul

[bowfish12]

Get him a baitcaster. I had to learn when I was 8 how to throw one and didn't get to go fishing till I did. Just make sure you get the brakes set a little tighter so he doesn't back lash every cast.

[21farms]

paul,

"open face" usually refers to spinning reels...is this what you're talking about?

i bought matching daiwa spincast outfits for my two kids when they were very young. the good thing about them is how easy they are to learn on and use. the bad, of course, is the line twist, tangles, etc.

i tried teaching my daughter how to baitcast 2 years ago when she was 10 but she doesn't like it very much. i also realized that she isn't likely to fish like me (power plugging) and would more likely be splitshotting or soaking bait. so, this year, i got her a spinning outfit and she picked it up really fast...she even caught two crappies within the first half and hour and really likes it.

i'd say a spinning outfit is a good idea here and start with one in the 1500 to 2000 size.

[Paul Benner]

Yeah, Spinning setups are what I'm talking about.  Sorry, I grew up calling them open faced and never broke myself of it.

Thanks for the advice.  Hopefully he likes the pole.  He gets some say in it, but I also want to make sure that I get him something that won't be an issue for him.

Best,

Paul

[roadwarrior]

Get him a Zebco 33 combo so you guys can focus on catching fish,

not messing with equipment. Catch a bunch of fish and maybe work

with different gear in a year or two. This one is $30:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0029842119398a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Product_liberal&QueryText=zebco+33+combo&sort=all&Go.y=4&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&Go.x=9&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

8-)

[JellyMan]

When I was probably 6, I saw the bass pros using baitcasters and figured I should be doing the same so My dad got me one from walmart and I just continued to fish by myself with it and 20 years later, im a baitcaster pro.

Get him in on it now. All the other reels are easy to get first time.

Also get him a 6'0 m.

And teach him to keep that reel out of the sand and dirt!!! Make him treat it like it's his favorite toy.

Good luck brother.

[dmac14]

I would say use a spinning reel, its not a child's reel like a zebco and not a difficult reel like a baitcaster. He's ten and this would be the best option to start him with, easy to learn while still has great performance. JMO

[SDoolittle]

Get him a Zebco 33 combo so you guys can focus on catching fish,

not messing with equipment. Catch a bunch of fish and maybe work

with different gear in a year or two.

X2

The important thing right now is for him to have fun. That way he'll want to go again.

[Paul Benner]

Thank you all for your responses.  I had previously taken him fishing and he really enjoys it, but for the first time I was buying him his own gear.  He's previously used my Spin Casting setups that are older and fished them well.

I took and bought him a Shakespear 4'6" UL combo with a few small spinners and let him go nuts on the panfish from the paddleboat on the pond at work,  Had a good time in the hour we were out on the lake.  Tomorrow, I take him out bassin for the first time in his life.

Best,

Paul

[bass wrangler569]

Get him a Zebco 33 combo so you guys can focus on catching fish,

not messing with equipment. Catch a bunch of fish and maybe work

with different gear in a year or two.

X2

The important thing right now is for him to have fun. That way he'll want to go again.

X3 most six year olds don't have the attention span to learn to use baitcasters or even spinning reals properly.

[Paul Benner]

Get him a Zebco 33 combo so you guys can focus on catching fish,

not messing with equipment. Catch a bunch of fish and maybe work

with different gear in a year or two.

X2

The important thing right now is for him to have fun. That way he'll want to go again.

X3 most six year olds don't have the attention span to learn to use baitcasters or even spinning reals properly.

My son is 10, not 6.  He is not a total newbie when it comes to fishing, he is proficient with a spincaster (He has previously used mine) but has never owned his own fishing pole.  If he was one of those things, I think the Zebco 33 would have been my choice hands down and I wouldn't have had to ask this question.  I should have been more specific in my first post.

Thank you all, he's having a blast with the longer casting distance on a short pole.  He also very much enjoyed fishing by feel with an ultralight.  This forum is great and has been good to me.

Best,

Paul

[5151]

As a father my self of a 7yr and 9yr old the catching is the most important aspect of fishing for them, whatever he uses makes sure he can use it well( simpler is better). I got caught up in going the BC direction and ended up going back to the Zebco ( but we did get the gold series ;D) and now it is just pure fishing. My 7yr old caught a 4.5 lber last night on his first cast with a popper and put the rod down and just taunted his sister and me the rest of the evening that we could not catch a bigger one.

[islandbass]

These are all great recommendations, but I think a factor that you ought to weigh in with those recs are how serious he will be about fishing.  If it's casual, spincasting. If he is already gung-ho, then spinning.  Why? Because for the latter he already has the drive to quickly learn to use a spinning reel.

Kids learn ultraquickly. If you do a search here, you will see that there are some of our kids here wielded both spinning and casting rigs since they were 6.

Rod size is something to also consider. Anything within 4.5' to 6'. To give you an idea, my daughter who is 9 had a couple 5.5' rods and just started this season using a 6'6" spinning rod.