Recommendations for getting a kid bass fishing

[MudPuppy77]

I mostly do bass fishing in the summer and my son(10) loves to join me. He has a light open face spinning rod/reel setup. He is not skilled enough yet to use a bait caster so I put 17 lb fluoro on his reel. It just kept jumping off the reel and making a mess of knots and he couldn't cast very far. I realize that 17 lb fluoro is not the best option for his setup but it is what I had on hand so I thought I would give it a try.

I would love to hear any setup ideas that would be good for a kid to bass fish with. Would a lighter braid work well on a spinning reel?

Thanks in advance.

[Craigums]

8lb Monofilament is what you want on his reel.

17lb flouro just isnt going to work on a spinning reel. and braid can be a hastle for a kid to deal with cutting and tying it.

PS: Now that I think about it you may even want to go 6lb mono cause he'll probably want to go panfishing once in a while and the lighter mono might help he detect bites a bit easier. On the plus side the 6-8lb mono is going to be a heck of a lot cheaper than the flouro or braid

[Raider4ever]

If possible, put the bass fishing on hold for a bit when you are with him and just go for Pannies.

Dump the Fluro. It is BM for spinning reels. 6-8 lb mono will work great for most situations he will be in without a baitcaster.

When he's up to bass, have him use smaller, "easier" lures so he can catch more of the ones you personally may not want to catch. Try lipless and lipped cranks, small spinnerbaits, swimjigs, non-finesse plastics, etc.

JMO, Good luck and enjoy!!!

[Juan Grande]

Yep, mono is the way to go. Put it on a spinning reel and all you have to worry about is the occasional line twist.

[Deitz Dittrich]

yikes, 17 floro may be the worst thing to put on it.. as others have said, work on open water fish, and go with 8lb mono.. Or try and teach him a spinning reel and try braid.

on a side note, I take my little nephew out as much as I can, he is now 8, and this is now 3 years.. He has spincast(push button) and 8 lb test and can bring in some good fish..

[Might_B_A_Pike]

I would say the lighter line too and use flu flu's (made by custom jigs and spins), this is how I got my wife addicted to fishing. you can use them with a slip bobber or strait-line cast and reel. keep throwing this near visible weeds and the kid will be very busy catching a ton of fish. throw a little bit bigger of a night crawler on there and he will have many encounters with bass. but it will be good to keep him engaged between bass with bluegills and crappies.

spinner baits are good too but it can be awhile between bites, when they are that age it is all about quantity over quality until they show the patience to chase only big fish.

stay away from cranks for now, to many hooks for a young angler.

[bassfshin24]

I agree with the lighter line and small baits. Small beetle spins are amazing for decent panfish/crappies and get bass too.

[goblueM]

I second the 8 pound mono

As far as lures/techniques, think of stuff that isn't terribly hard or requires a lot of thought/action. Weed/snagless is a good consideration too

Topwater can be fun if you're in the right places, it gets them pretty excited. A jitterbug or a popper would be my choice

Spinnerbaits are good. Senkos... hard to fish them wrong. You could even maybe rig em wacky with a circle hook if he's not that good at a hookset

[KING]

I'll throw out a bit different recommendation.

Take the time to teach him how to use a baitcaster. I have an 11 yr old and taught him how to use one last year. Show him how to adjust tension for different weight baits, and keep the tension on the tight side, and stay with the easier to cast baits. I think this age is the best time to learn becasue they are still in the "want" to learn stage.

Otherwise I'd vote spincast with 10lb mono on it, that kind of develops the feel of a baitcaster and makes it more natural when they change.

[SledNeck]

My kid started bass fishing when he was like 4 or 5 with fireline on a spinning reel.

[FutbolGuru]

+1 on an 8lb mono spinning setup. Aside from it being easier to operate, he'll have himself the most versatile fishing setup out there... bass, carp, walleye, pike, pannies... kids want to catch em all. Also, every kid should learn the slip bobber; surprised they don't teach that in school!

[UofMBASS]

Wow, am I surprised at all the people suggesting MONO! The kid will have a horrible time detecting strikes, especially if he's new, with that stretchy stuff. Go with some 8lb Fireline or PowerPro on the spinning reel. Surely it costs more at face value, but you can leave the superlines (fireline, powerpro, etc) on the reel for MUCH longer than mono. With some 8lb Trilene XL mono, he will have memory on the line within a week of stringing it up.

I recommend fireline, 8lb smoke gray color. Much more sensitive and he will detect those subtle bites, epecially with a Jig/worm or senko.

Good Luck! And ditch the Mono

[rkeller]

I am new to the site but after reading the posts I wanted to offer this up. For all my spinning rods either for myself, girlfriend, or 5 kids I run 15/4 powerpro with a florocarbon leader tied on. I use a uni knot and 12lb. Seaguar floro. The cool thing is if you want to panfish everything can stay the same but tie on what you want for a leader. If you are going to slipbobber in 10 ft. tie on 12 ft. of 4 lb. and go after the panfish. The powerpro has no memory or twist that will be frustating for the kids and you, it is round so it casts well, and after the season reverse it on to another spool and get another season out of it. The powerpro is thin and will cut the weeds and without the stretch your son will feel the bites. I hope this helps. Just my opinion.

[itchmesir]

Should've bought him a fly rod

[amateurfishing]

i have my 6 year old on a kiddie combo set up with slow death hooks/crawlers. this is very nice for him cause he gets bored with watching a bobber, can practice casting/retrieving more, keeps him busy and attentive to his line, and he has already learned what a bite feels like cause the more aggresive fish hit with this method. catch anything from 2 inch perch to 12 inch bass this way and he loves it. it works so well for him i changed his line out to 8lb. mono after he had his line snapped twice in 2 casts after he got fish to boat but not in last weekend.