What's a QUALITY beginner combo for a sub 10 year old?

[BassProAddict]

I'm getting a nephew into fishing.What's a good starting setup for him? Anybody here say Steez I'm gonna go bananas haha!

Seriously though, is it a spinning combo or a spincast? Line type...rod length and action...brands...etc

Spill it guys!

TIA

[Cecil]

I would start with a spincast reel. If you go to Gander they have youth rods. The nice thing about these rods are they have a shorter length but stiffer action. Most shorter rods will have a light action, but you can get one of their rods and it will be like 4'-5' and will be a nice medium action. I would then graduate him to a spinning down the road.

[Deitz Dittrich]

age 10... I would go ahead and start them on a spinning rod.. under that I would suggest spincast.

as for what kind?.. It really doesnt matter, I would go for a 5'6" or 6' Medium action rod, and 8 lb test.

[TMF89]

It depends on how much he wants to fish. If he really wants to be like his uncle and he's really interesting in fishing, then go with the spinning combo. If he's never fished before, and doesn't have the patience to learn the spinning, go with a spin-cast. I personally would start him off spinning, and maybe downgrade to a spincast if he's having trouble with it.

As far as the make goes, what are you fishing for? This is in the bass forum so the species is obvious, but will there be any crappie/panfishing going on as well?

Is it going to be mostly bobber fishing with a leech, or are you guys going to be casting spinnerbaits all day?

The more action, the more I would lean towards a spinning reel, FYI.

Otherwise I'd say go with a 5'6 to 6' medium rod. I wouldn't go any shorter because then I feel that they lack the backbone to fight a bigger fish, especially if you choose a lower grade reel which drag's not the best.

I'd reccomend Gander Mountain Guide Series as well, you could get him a nice IM7 Classic for $40, and a Pro Select reel for $35-40.

Otherwise a Competitor for $20 and a Advantage for $30 would be a cheaper option.

Hope that helps!

On the spincast stuff, I'd reccomend the same for a rod, and as far as the reel goes I know a lot of people like the Diawa GMs, and we don't see a whole lot of them coming back.

[RK]

Hiya -

For kids just starting out, a couple thoughts:

1.) This doesn't sound like your intention at all given the post title, but for anyone else who's reading this and going through the same thing, the A-#1 rule for kids is DO NOT buy them cheap junk. Nothing will frustrate them faster. Doesn't have to be a Steez, but get a real rod and reel. When I worked at Camp Fish we had a lot of adult/child groups, I was always amazed at how often parents had top of the line gear, and their kids had $10 crud. It really used to annoy me - especially when the parent would get upset with their kid for being tired and frustrated an hour into the day. What I usually did was have the two switch rods and reels. Most of them were shocked to discover that trying to fish with a reel that was hard to turn and had no cranking power, with a heavy solid glass rod with a sharp-edged plastic handle and all the power and sensitivity of a hot dog with guides wasn't much fun to fish with after all... It was an eye-opener for the parents, and most of the time the next thing they did was take a trip to Reeds to get the kid some decent gear... I had more than one adult apologize to their kid on the spot.

Bottom line: If you wouldn't fish with it, don't expect them to.

2.) As far as what type - for kids from 5 to 10 or so, I'm REALLY a a fan of closed-face spinning reels, or 'underspin' reels as they're sometimes called. Not push-button spin-casting, but under the rod, close faced spinning reels. To cast them you pick up the line with your finger like you would a spinning reel, but also pull up a lever that opens the bail and holds the line like the button on a spincasting reel does. What's great about these is they make the transition to a regular spinning reel very easy. Nearly all the mechanics are the same. With a spin-casting reel, when you switch them to spinning everything's upside-down all of a sudden, and they have to learn a whole new set of motor skills just to cast. I started my girls on underspins when they were 4 and 5, and switched them to spinning when they were 7. It took them both about 2 minutes to get the hang of it.

My girls both had Diawa XD underspins and they were great. My son will get one of them next summer when he's 4. Very reliable and durable. Pfluger also makes a similar reel.

As for rods, a 5'6" to 6' medium-light fast action rod is usually a good starter. Light enough for panfish, but enough oomph to handle slightly bigger stuff like 1/4 oz spinnerbaits or jig and twister tails...

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[polarsusd81]

Great bit of info as usual RK. It is easy to forget about how great underspin reels are for little ones. I used one when I was really little, but before that I was using a cane pole in the bayous down south. I was brought up fishing all the time and the first time I used a true spinning reel I got it messed up and had line everywhere. Then my dad showed me how to use it and I was set. But by the time I was 10, I had already bought my first casting combo.

When you take him out BPA, let him take a look at one of your baitcasting combos and see if he likes it. If he picks things up quickly he could be throwing it pretty soon. I brought my mom out a couple weeks ago and taught her how to throw one and I was hard pressed to get it back from her. She had been using spincast combos for years cause she was affraid of the spinning reels and didn't dare try a casting reel. For my mom, I put all 6 weights out on the citica, and put the spool tension somewhat tight. I told her to start out with nice sidearm lobs just to get the feel for stopping the bait. She was making short casts within 5 attempts, then I backed two of the weights down and she was casting a bit farther. Then she asked to try the curado and crankin stick and she was casting about 3/4 of my cast length. Take your time with him though as his attention span wont be quite what I had with my mom. But a good beginner move is holding the rod tip high and letting a jig fall into the water, stopping it with your thumb. The jig will keep going, but there can be a little line looping if he doesn't get it. It will help to understand the stopping the bait as it hits the water.

You teach him that and you have a fishin buddy for life. By the way, try it with braid first because you don't have to worry as much about weak spots in the line from backlashes.

If it works for him, cabelas has a sweet casting combo for kids from Quantum for 60 bucks. It looked to be a pretty full featured reel, just downsized for kids hands. Would be a great stick for spinnerbaits, jig/grub combos as RK mentioned, and maybe even some light topwater action. They also have a spinning combo set up for 50 bucks I think if the casting doesn't work out well for him. Certainly worth a look though.

[fishdale]

Spinning is the way to go my kid is 9 and has been using spinning reels for 3 or 4 years. I got my kids the Gander Mountain Guide Series Pro Select reels and they work great the rapala sx4 are also nice and in the same price range. I would go with somtheing in the 30 - 40$ range and you should be OK.

Also make sure to set the auto reverse on and have them never turn it off. It is hard to mess up a reel with the auto reverse on but once it is turned of they reel back wards and it is a mess.

Rods I would go with 5' 6" as it is easier to cast also harder to break.

[bonefish]

I'm wiht RK and Polar, the underspin is the way to go. My oldest (6 years old) has been fishing with one for 2 years and can cast that much better than anything else. I've got an ultralight setup for panfish, then a larger setup with ~8-10lb test that he uses to cast for bass or bober fish for walleyes/smallies. Both are Diawa goldcast reels. One thing that I've found is that with kids in the boat, there is a place for the old ugly stick! Excitement of fish can make for some unexprected banging and bending that would probably damage most rods.

[SledNeck]

Kids that age can use the same rods as an adult. My kid has been casting an adult size spinning since he was 4 years old. He started using a casting (curado/6'6") set up last year when he was 9. Those little or ultra light rods IMO arent very good for bass, pike, and walleye cause he'll get manhandled by the bigger fish.

[mrklean]

I would start out with a lighter set-up. Make sure he likes fishing first start him out with smaller fish to get the hang of it, it would be fun but do you really want a person who has never fished try for the big boys. Experience first.

[lookincalifornia]

i think my little girl will get a pflueger trigger spin on a pink fishergirl rod for her 5th birthday. i have a couple of micro triggerspins on two of my ice rods. they work nicely in open water as well.

[BassProAddict]

Oh my gosh! I never thought my thread would even get any responses!!! You are all awesome guys.

You know your youth fishing too.The only problem I have now is choices...choices...choices!!! Good problem to have though:)

Some questions though:

1.Aren't spin casters prone to "internal backlashes"?

2.For spinning reels, 750 sized ones would be good right?

3.Senkos the way to go for an aspiring basser?

Again, thanks guys.Y'all are awesome!

[ocf1]

Senkos and worms!

[lookincalifornia]

one thing i do for my little girl is single hook only lures. the last thing i need is for her to get hurt. gonna get her some 4" pink senkos. that should do the trick.

if your kid needs to be doing something constantly, perhaps 1/8 oz spinnerbaits. they can be killer smallie lures. they are simple to fish, and tough to get snagged.

[slipperybob]

If one is to compare about $30 price for a reel.

Spincasters are the easiest to use. They do get internal line dig in, but that would be the same for any reel that's get's the drag locked down and line pulled hard. The drag's on spincasters aren't the best.

Spinning reel can put a lot of twists in line and does a poor job at the line lay on the spool. After a while like after every dozen or two casts, there needs a long cast and cinch to untwist the line.

Baitcasters are probably very low performance and a big sacrifice on distance. If tossing a 1/2 oz lure, then it does decent. Unless it's a near perfect cast, there's gonna often be a need to pull line and cinch it down onto the spool.

Nothing would frustrate more than spending more time fixing a poor performing reel than the simple time for enjoyment of fishing.

A spinning reel gets more reliable and better performing once you step up into the $50-$100 price range. Bait casting reel get's you there at about $75-$125.

[PerchJerker]

My kid turned 5 in June and has been fishing with me "on his own" all spring and summer. He started out with an underspin reel on an ultralight and got the hang of it pretty quickly. After that we moved him up to open face spinning reels and spinnerbaits because they only have 1 hook. Lately he's been throwing rattle baits and crankbaits on spinning reels and doing great with them.

Couple thoughts ....

I agree with avoiding the cheap junk. The underspin reel I had for him was a cheap shakespeare that worked okay at first (but never all that well), and it died earlier this summer. Now he uses spinning reels only and he likes them and is pretty good with them.

You need a rod that's matched to the baits being used, or the kid won't be able to cast them. I bought an ultralight for my kid that he really likes, and I gave him a medium setup that was collecting dust in the garage, and I let him use a ML that I still use except for when he's using it. That way he can choose what he wants to use and can try all of his baits, and most importantly can cast them all very well.

I know you want to get your nephew his own rod/reel and I think that's a great idea, but speaking for my kid (again, only 5) he also gets a big kick out of getting to use one of my rods/reels. So maybe consider that when you're deciding what to buy for him.

You need to make sure there's action and that the kid is catching fish. I haven't had my kid fishing worms or senkos yet because I don't think he'd be very good at detecting bites and hooking fish. We haven't trolled much because he gets bored with it quickly. He uses a lot of jig spinners - small safety-pin style baits. They're great because they catch a lot of fish, and because they're easy to customize with different blades, jig heads and plastic bodies ---- so the kid gets to decide what colors etc. to use, and then really likes it when he catches fish on his bait. He uses 1/4 and 3/8 ounce spinnerbaits and scum frogs. And he uses rattle baits and crank baits, although I kept those away from him until I was confident he could cast well and be safe with them. Rattle baits are great, there's lots of colors, they're cheap, they cast a mile and are easy to retrieve, and they catch tons of fish ---- the smaller sizes even catch panfish.

Get a casting plug or a bigger crankbait and take the hooks off and encourage the kid to practice casting. Give him some targets to cast at, doesn't need to be anything elaborate, just something for practice and to make it more fun.

Some of the reels my kid uses have the self-centering bail the the line pickup trigger for your index finger. He likes those because they're a little easier to use but it doesn't make that much difference to him.

If he's like a lot of other kids, be prepared to keep and clean some fish or risk a big disappointment.

I hope some of this helps. Good luck and have fun.