How Old when your Child started Bass Fishing?

[RLinNH]

I have taken my 4 yr. old son fishing twice. First time we trolled around for Trout and we did very well. Second time, we went out to our back yard and fished for some Brookies with the rod he got for his B-Day. We caught some of the pretties Brookies I have seen in a long time. But, I do not know how he would fair as far as Bass Fishing goes. I want him to see the size and fight of the fish, but I have a feeling that he would get bored very quickly with being on the boat and watching daddy cast. I could give him his rod, just don't know how'd he do as far as the casting goes. I'll figure something out, but for the meantime, a little poll as to how old your child was when he started pitching his own lures out into the water and how you went about it.

[worm]

I just started taking my son and he is 6. Your summation of questioning how he would do on a boat is legitimate. My son got bored very easily when working a T-rig so I put him on a spinner and he had a ball. He was able to cast and retrieve just like dad.

One word of caution though. When you first take him out on the boat make sure he can cast away from you. I and my son learned the hard way. He caught his personal best...275lbs. of DAD....and he foul hooked me to boot. Right in the back through my shirt. Ouch..... ;D

Worm

[alhuff]

my oldest boy was 7 when he started, i tied on a "T" rigged weightless lizard, he likes lizaeds, he missed every fish that hit it but it was a learning experience for him...  

my youngest boy is 5 and i'll tie on a small topwater or bettle spin or small crankbait, the mini ones, and he will play around with it, not really catching anything but hes learning...

the biggest thing i would suggest is tie something on that is easy to use and will allow him/her to catch something, call it bass fishing but if he/she catches a bluegil its better than nothing.

casting, youngins have a hard time with casting over and over, let him/her have their own patch of the bank or boat and let them cast their hearts out...

one last thing, let them learn on their own, you can help here and there but standing over their shoulder will get them and yourself frustrated and they will not want to come back with ya, i've been there and its not fun.

just let them have fun.......if they have fun they will come back with you again and again....

hope this helps,

Alfred

[basser89]

<-------------Look here! One of the BEST days of my life!    My little girl is 5. Young kids can get bored pretty quick and thats ok! As long as they are having fun, they'll keep wanting to go out! And eventually, they'll want to stay out longer and longer. If you're going to be on the boat, let them take other toys and such they can play with if they get bored fishing! And if they want to go home, take them home! I don't want to force anything on my kid, IMO, it'll just push them away from it. My parents did this with me and it seemed to work.

[RLinNH]

basser, that's how I have been going about it with my son. When we went trolling, I brought him a lunch, and LOTS of snacks. When he got bored, he drove the boat and played with my soft plastics. Thing is, he is always asking to go fishing now. That's a good thing and I think he may be ready to go out for a few Bass.

[Raul]

Lil Raul is 3, took him a couple of months ago to a pond in a dairy farm that belongs to one of my uncles. The place is very nice with lots of trees planted around the pond with plenty of shade, lots of bass and 'gills. Pretty cooperative fish because nobody fishes there except for me and even that is ocassional. I casted and hooked the fish, he reeled them in ( can 't ask a 3 year old to cast like a champ ) but he actually enjoyed it very much, the one who didn 't enjoy it was his mommy, when she saw him with cow patty on the shoes she almost fainted, but hey, he wanted to go and see the cows, can 't refuse him that pleasure, he had never seen a cow in the flesh before.

[Bean Counter]

I have taken both of my kids bass fishing between 6 and 8. I found that age was not as important as how you plan & carryout the trip.

The most important thing is to take them where they can catch fish early. If they go a couple of hours without catching anything, they will get bored and lose interest. I made that mistake with my son and he will still not go fishing with me after ten years.

You should also not expect them to have the patience to fish most plastics. As has already been mentioned give them a spinnerbait or crankbait to keep them doing something.

I took my daughter to a private pond where I always catch fish and gave her a small spinnerbait on a closed face spinning reel and she had a ball. She still asks to go fishing with me everytime I go.

Another important thing is to not expect to do much fishing yourself. Make the trip about them having a great time and mostly just help them.

[cgs2004]

My Dad started me when I was 3.  At age 4 we moved and lived on a lake.  My mom wasn't much into fish so she wouldn't let me fish during the day because my Dad was gone at work and wouldn't be able to help get fish off the hook.  So by age 5 at taught myself how to manage fish and in return could fish whenever the heck I wanted!

[Ikaika]

I have pictures of me with my first bluegill when I was about three.  My little brother was one at the time, and he's there too sitting with my mom.

My dad got me a casting plug to put on my red and white Mickey Mouse rod and spincasting reel(which I still have) and would let me go out in the yard and practice casting at flowerpots when I finished my schoolwork.  Mom hated it because she had flowers in the pots I casted at, but thats how I got good at casting

[Rattlinrogue]

I took my two oldest children(now 23 and 20) bass fishing at ages 10 and 7(they'd been bream fishing since they could walk).My daughter who was 7 took to it right away.She caught 3 decent yearling bass on a T-rigged plastic worm of all things(a grape shad Culprit).I just told her what to do and how to tell when a bass had taken the bait(tap,tap,tap).She listened very well.I think I caught one or two.My son caught a bream on a Beetle spin.

[clipper]

My son gained a love of fishing watching Bill Dance and Orlando Wilson on TV.  When he was 6 or 7 we started bank fishing and soon thereafter I bought an old boat that left us stranded on the lake more than once.  He already knew a lot about fishing from the TV shows he watched.  We started bass fishing when he was about 8 and he would stay as long as we got an occasional bump on a plastic worm.  When he was 10 he quit little league because it cut into his fishing time.  I decided then I would spend as much time fishing, hunting, and scouting with him as I would have spent watching him play ball and came close to doing it.  He's now 24, on his honeymoon to Bermuda and guess what, he's taking his bride fishing!  I see so many guys bass fishing by themselves or with another adult and wonder if they have a son or daughter at home playing video games.  Fishing is a great way to spend time with a kid and that's what they need, time with their parents.  It has to be fun, like the above posts have pointed out.

[h1x71]

he was 3,

threw a roostertail out on his little quantum reel he got at christmas

and caught a brim ALL BY HIMSELF brought it in and everything

"rooster tail only had 1 barb"

god i loved it

have roostrtail now on display

don

[CJ]

My 7 year old ,Tristan,started at age 4.He has backed off of fishing for now,you know how kids are.

My 5 year old ,Gavin,started at age 3.He still loves to go.He caught his first bass on an artificial lure at age 4.It was a smalmouth he caught by dragging a tube.He has since became more of a power fisherman.He likes crankbaits and spinners.

[Ben]

Not sure how young, about the time he was big enough to hold a 12' glass pole,  then to cast.  Got him his first bait caster when he was about 7.  Caught his first big bass (8+) a few months after after that.   Caught his first 10+ when 10 (private ponds).  

Same with my granddaughter, but she was 8 when I got her first Curado.  She's a seasoned vetran now at age 10 hand has three Curado's.  Her biggiest so far has been 5.8 but she's hasn't done much private pond fishing because she gets scared in a jon boat, but loves the big boats.  Not sure I would start one off on plastics, that's a tough bait for a beginner.  My granddaughter prefers spinners, buzzbait jigging spoons and popping corks with a stinger on it.   I have just now let her start  throwing  trebble hooks when it's just she and I and she has never used a platic bait bait.

As mentioned plan on short trips for starters, private ponds or some place where there are plenty of pan fish.  Don't matter about the size of the fish.  When real young, they are just as happy catching a two finger fish as a two pounder, but as soon as there's a few minutes delay in a bite, they're done and ready to go. As they get older, they get more patient, provided you don't turn them off by making them stay for hours when they were bored in 20 minutes.

[bigbill]

I notice that kids have a very short attention span(mine did) they want action, they want to catch fish and they really don't care what fish they catch too.  To get them really hooked into fishing i would bring a rattle bobber and some night crawlers.  This teaches them rod tip control and there going to call in and catch panfish by the bushel full too.  I never had too much time for me to fish buts its all about getting them started anyway so i would focus on them.  It doesn't take them too long to get the hang of it too.  Bring some PJ's(peanutbutter/jelly sandwhiches) for lunch/drinks and a camera your going to need it too. We always stopped for breakfast too it seemed to always make each fishing trip a great one too.  They never will forget there very first fishing experiences.

If most of us think back it was panfishing for many years, like most of my life as a kid at least we caught something thats what counted.  Then we went river fishing after trout and then it was lake fishing after bass as we got older.  Go slow don't rush them into bass fishing because they may get bored from the slow action at times that can shun them away from fishing so pan fishing will get them hooked into fishing.

[LarryN]

I started taking my daughters fishing when they were 7 & 5.  The youngest one likes it.  She is now 10.  She is learning bass fishing (we also catch pickerel) and using lures.  We fish the local lakes in a canoe - with stabilizers on it.  We also do some shore fishing at a local stream and river.  I let her reel in any fish that I hook up with.  It nice to have a fishing buddy.   I hope she stays with it.

[RLinNH]

Speaking of Rooster tails H1, my son just caught 2 Brookies, Damned nice Brookies at that, on a red Rooster Tail in the back yard this week. Yeah, he was psyched, but after they got to the net, he was like, "So what now?" No attention span What so ever, but, He is always asking to go fishing. That's a good thing!!!

[mjhutch1116]

Last summer my boy was 3 yrs old and going to turn 4 in about 2 weeks or so. I had bought him a new rod and reel combo that spring and he would take that out on the boat with me and mom I put a small piece of nightcrawler on it and he just stood up beside me on the casting deck one day and started casting with no previous coaching from me. He would just throw and reel that worm piece and have a ball doing it. He also managed to catch a 1 lb. 7oz. largemouth all by himself I was not even aware that he had a fish until it jumped beside the boat and he was just standing there with his rod bent fighting the fish. We also take toys and food out on the boat as well and that gives him something to do when he is tired of casting.

Matt

May your line never break on a big fish

[ScootZilla]

Ive been fishing when i was a kid like 8.But now i go all the time so i would sya i just started to get everything going.

Scoot

[TLC]

Took my son when he was three, his first fish was a three pound largemouth on a texas rigged worm.