Bass combo for kids

[shiltsy]

My nephew is 7 and a fishing fanatic. He likes to chat a lot on the boat, but he can cast for bass an entire day and not be ready to go in at 9pm. Seriously more patient than 99% of adults I fish with and is extremely analytical about his approach to finding fish.

Anyway, we'll be bass fishing this entire weekend. He has a very light rod and closed faced reel right now. Obviously it's pretty sloppy trying to cast even small spinner baits and cranks. I had him on an open face one afternoon and he did really well.

So, for those of you with younger kids that share our addiction, what kind of combo has worked well? My first thought is to get something lightweight in a medium power. Not really sure what kind of length... I want him to get nice long casts, but could do without the treble hook in my ear when he's winging it around.

Also, thinking about getting him going on an open face... I really think he will get the hang of it quickly. Don't mind spending some money because he'll take good care of it.

Love to hear your thoughts! My daughter could care less about fishing, so it's pretty fun to have a nephew that loves it!

[Fairchild_82]

I can see. Check out what the Daiwa Steez has to offer.

[mainbutter]

My advice:

1) Spinning reels are a great idea. Kids are smarter than most people think and quick to learn new physical activities. Skip the spincast reels, encourage learning something new!

2) LONG rods are a bad idea, but your kid would probably get a kick out of a "real" rod. When I was teaching my little sister to fish, she was using 6-7' rods. I left the specialty long rods at home.

3) Medium action is probably a good balance of weight and power. It takes a more experienced angler to use UL/L/ML action rods effectively than M/MH rods.

4) Don't skimp on line poundage. Kids will make mistakes fighting fish, and I have had my best success getting novice fishermen/women to boat some fish by using slightly heavier line and cranking the drag down as well. There will be less reeling against the drag and fewer break-offs.

For what it's worth, I love $40-$60 store brand rods. Bass pro, cabelas, and gander mountain all worked wonderfully for me. I'm not picky, except I want 2 piece rods for portability. If you have the room for one piece rods, that's awesome.

Shimano saharas and Pfleuger presidents are solid spinning reels that come in multiple sizes. There is a new president on the market this year I think and I may be picking one up. I tend to spend about $70 (give or take) on a reel I want to use long term.

[RK]

Hiya -

My kid's the same age. I started him on a closed face underspin when he was 4, and switched to an open face spinning reel when he was about 5. He picked it up in no time. A 7 YO will have no trouble with spinning gear, other than a cast going straight up in the air every now and then.

My 7 YO right now is using a 6'8" Medium power Fast action spinning rod. I forget which series exactly but it's some flavor of Shimano. It's short enough to be manageable but can easily handle bass duty.

The reel is probably more important - has to be a little smaller because of the smaller hands. My son uses a 2000-size. I have two spools of line for it - one with 8# mono, and one with 20# braid. He can use the braid when we're around cover and mono when we aren't.

He's also learning to use a baitcaster this summer. Have a 6'8" medium-heavy rod and I put a little Shimano Scorpion spooled with braid on it. So far so good.

[TruthWalleyes]

My 9yr old was standing near the edge of the boat about three weeks ago, made a big cast, and fell overboard I was quite suprised she hung onto the rod. She has a few cheap open faced reels on 5' medium rods. Usually use 8-10# line. I'll generally stock up on $5 rods and reels at berkely outlet and then she can snap as many as she likes.

[Chemlight]

My oldest daughter is six, and she just got the patience/love for fishing this season. I bought her a spincaster, and it was the worst thing I ever did. She had so many problems with it, that had it been my pole, I would have given up in 1/10th of the time she spent on it.

Before we went out again, I picked up an open spinning reel and an ugly stick for her. She cast it on her first try, and hasn't had any problems, and was finally able to start catching bass. The only thing I would change is getting a medium/light rod instead of a light. Pretty much like everyone else has said.

[RK]

My oldest daughter is six, and she just got the patience/love for fishing this season. I bought her a spincaster, and it was the worst thing I ever did. She had so many problems with it, that had it been my pole, I would have given up in 1/10th of the time she spent on it.

Going back to my days fishing with kids at Camp Fish I've always thought spincasting rods were just a bad route to go for kids. They're temperamental, usually cheap, and almost always frustrating. When it does finally become time to switch to spinning gear, the mechanics are completely different which makes that frustrating too. I started all three of my kids on closed face spinning reels that hang under the rod. Daiwa and Pflueger both make good ones. When it came time to switch to open face spinning reels, it took about 5 minutes because the mechanics are basically identical. My son made the switch when he was not quite 5.

I don't think a lot of parents realize how frustrating cheap gear is to use. They buy kids stuff they wouldn't dream of trying to fish with, and assume that since they're kids they won't know the difference. When I fished with adults and their kids at Camp Fish and the kids started getting frustrated with their gear (and parents with their kids) I'd make them switch equipment for a while. It was usually an eye opener for both of them. I had more than one parent apologize to their kid out in the boat, and it usually led to a trip to Reeds for new equipment at the earliest opportunity.

[EBass]

Excellent thread. That's funny Truth - hope she was OK. Almost happened in my boat this past Sunday.