or, my son wants to go fishing and i'm clueless

**steve** · 06-07-2007, 12:23 PM

my son is 3½.

he wants to go fishing.

i have fished in my lifetime when i was a kid.. but my pop always tied the line for me and stuff.

so regarding fishing. i have no equipment. i have no knowledge. i do have a son who wants to fish.

since next weekend is NJ's free fishing weekend, with no license required, my plan is to go to ramapo reservation in mahwah. 5 minutes from home. perfect.

I bought fishing for dummies.. so I have a *little* knowledge now.. but that book says nothing about taking a kid to fish.. i care not about eating them.. i just want him to be happy that he caught a fish.

can I just buy him walmart's $10 rod and reel combo?
what lure/s should I get him for the best chances of success?
assuming that he might hate fishing after this weekend and never want to go again, what else should i buy? sinkers/bobbers/hooks/tacklebox/etc?
what questions am i not asking??

**The Dad** · 06-07-2007, 12:27 PM

I think your son is a little too young, but you might want to see if there's a 4-H nearby. My sons are both in the fishing group for our local 4-H, so they're around guys who actually understand this stuff. I'm basically in the same boat as you.

**pechelman** · 06-07-2007, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by steve

can I just buy him walmart's $10 rod and reel combo?
what lure/s should I get him for the best chances of success?
assuming that he might hate fishing after this weekend and never want to go again, what else should i buy? sinkers/bobbers/hooks/tacklebox/etc?
what questions am i not asking??

yes.
screw lures and use bait if you're there to get him hooked up.
All you need is the rod\reel\line\hook\bait although Id say to get some of those cheap plastic bobbers.

make sure you bring him and you food and the right clothes incase it rains.

I grew up fishing as a kid in my backyard and always remember using some cheap stuff. Shit, I remember my grandfather fishing with a SPOOL of thread, a hook, and cut up peices of HOT DOGS for bait. Of course he had the super steezy cubano handline'ing down from his youth.

**Free Range Lobster** · 06-07-2007, 12:31 PM

walmart, worms, and bobbers.

**schwerty** · 06-07-2007, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by Free Range Lobster

walmart, worms, and bobbers.

That's your best bet. Anything more and a 3.5yr old will be getting tangled and hooked while not catching a damn thing. With this set up, he can fling it out there and wait instead of trying to make a cast and reel in a treble hook.

**tromano** · 06-07-2007, 02:35 PM

He is young to start fishing. For that age, pretty much all you can do is the cane pole. I recommend a cane pole or bamboo about 30" long with a length of line about 40-50" long tied to tip of the pole with a bobber and small hook on the end for him. You should use one about as tall as you are with a length of line about 50% longer than the lenght of pole you choose( 9 foot of line for a 6 foot pole). You can set it up at home ahead of time in half an hour. Learn to tie one knot that works in case you need to retie it in the field. Don't forget to bring all the necessary provisions food water, clothes, extra worms, and a ball or some thing else to do if fishing doesn't go over as well as you hope. Good luck!

**MakersTeleMark** · 06-07-2007, 04:00 PM

I can't believe this exists.

What a great gift for a fishing bud's birthday.

**warthog** · 06-08-2007, 06:02 AM

Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark

I can't believe this exists.

What a great gift for a fishing bud's birthday.

I can't get the image of a fish seeing this book and freaking out. Kinda like Bugs Bunny does when he sees Elmer Fudd's book on how to cook Wabbit.

Go to WalMart and buy him a cheap set up. While you are there, get yourself something too. for $50 you can get a pretty good set up(think Shimano) for yourself. Avoid the all in one kits. Get a rod and reel seperate, not the prepackaged set up. It will last you a long time. Also, buy some decent line. Zero memory stuff, or even braided if you wanna do it up right.

By the time your son is old enough to remember, you will be Bill Dance in his eyes. It helps that the practice is fun too. Learn a good knot for joining two lines, and a good one for connecting the hook, and off you go. Don't get into using swivels, and crimp all your barbs-for your, your sons, and the fish's sake.

Edit- Start with a spinner.

**Tunco** · 06-08-2007, 07:36 AM

My dad took my 3 and a half year old son fishing last weekend. He bought him a Spider-man spin-casting rig. He didn't catch a thing but had a great time telling everyone walking past,,"I am fishing with my Grandpa." They had some cookies and came home. A good time was had by all.

How far from salt water are you? It's been so long since I have done it that I don't know if you missed them this year, but snapper fishing with a bamboo pole and a bober is a great start for a little kid.

**lemon boy** · 06-08-2007, 08:21 AM

One other idea, call your local div. of wildlife and ask them about local to you stocked ponds, might as well stack the deck.

**steve** · 06-08-2007, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by tief schnee

How far from salt water are you? It's been so long since I have done it that I don't know if you missed them this year, but snapper fishing with a bamboo pole and a bober is a great start for a little kid.

hudson river is 15 miles away. no boat though. does anyone know if you can fish off the pier in piermont?

otherwise, it's long island, jersey shore, or connecticut.

Originally Posted by lemon boy

One other idea, call your local div. of wildlife and ask them about local to you stocked ponds, might as well stack the deck.

i know they stock the stream at ramapo reservation.. i've seen signs posted when trail-running there.

**Tap** · 06-08-2007, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by tief schnee

My dad took my 3 and a half year old son fishing last weekend. He bought him a Spider-man spin-casting rig. He didn't catch a thing but had a great time telling everyone walking past,,"I am fishing with my Grandpa." They had some cookies and came home. A good time was had by all.

this is your program right here.

**SKISC** · 06-08-2007, 08:58 AM

Spiderman rod is good. No need to get high dollar stuff. Get some light weights, hooks and bobbers (my son calls them dopplers for some reason). If you have a good poopulation of bream get some crickets and put them on a size 10 hook (not to be confused with size 1/0) and you will be good to go.

**yooper** · 06-08-2007, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by steve

i have fished in my lifetime when i was a kid.. but my pop always tied the line for me and stuff.

Wow. That blows my mind. I'm not sure I know anyone who doesn't know how to fish. Different worlds for sure.

Bobber, hook, worm. You'll figure it out... It will definitely be fun no matter what.

My daughter's first fish (she was about 3 1/2...)

**mnflyfish** · 06-08-2007, 10:13 AM

I would avoid the "short" cartoon character rods, at the off chance your son get's a strike they are terrible for setting the hook. Get a cheap, closed faced zebco, stop at a local bait store the night before you go and get the beta on what the crappies and sunnies are biting on,(insert any local, huge population fish here), then buy that and have the bait store guy show you how to rig up the bait, line, etc. Then bring lots of snacks, and stuff for you and your son to keep him interested. My daughter loves the minnow bucket, so even if you don't need them, get a bucket and a scoop of small minnows for your kid to play with.

Good Luck,
Jay

**steve** · 06-12-2007, 06:34 AM

brief TR here..

took joey fishing. for those of you who bough spiderman rods for your kids, you should know that my son now has a superman rod. and everybody knows that, if it came down to it, superman would absolutely annihilate spidey.

i found myself at a bait/tackle/hunting shop just south of sloatsburg (davis if you know the place) and was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff. I opicked up a dardevl and two things of worms - 24 "trout worms" and 12 night crawlers.

when we arrived at the stream, I found a spot near some gentle rapids, tied the worm on, and cast. my bobber quickly went downstream and would end up a couple of feet from shore, near rocks and roots and shit. that, and the fact that we didn't even get a nibble in the ten minutes we were there, had me conclude that this wasn't the place to take a 3 year old on his first time. So instead we went a couple hundred yards upstream where the water was much deeper and relatively still. I figured that the fish would be less likely to bite here, but at least my son would be able to hold the rod by himself and not worry about hanging up his hook.

turns out that this was great.. there happened to be a concrete block here and the water right next to it was shallow and filled with rocks - a great place for the runts to hang out. Joey didn't have to cast. all he did was drop the hook and we could see the fish come out and take a nibble at the worm. And, every now and then, one would get the hook!

Joey's first fish! (taken from a cameraphone - my regular phone was broken.)
anybody know what that is?

so what I ended up doing was casting into the deep water trying to catch something substantial, and then occasionally catch a runt while pulling it in. joey would get nibbles all the time but, being 3, was very sporadic with his rod and would catch too much as a result - fish wouldn't get a chance to nibble! but he did pull in at least one fish all by himself.. he was holding the rod, got a bite, and I told him to reel it in - and the fish stayed on!

the total number of fish we caught was about 7.. all using worms. he liked it a lot, I'm going to buy a NYS license, even though it's from Sept to Sept..

btw, we threw everything back. no point in keeping the fish.. let them be fished another day.

**The Dad** · 06-12-2007, 07:57 AM

Mazel tov!

**BeanDip4All** · 06-12-2007, 08:06 AM

That right there, is a happy kid. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun

**Free Range Lobster** · 06-12-2007, 08:21 AM

stick to bowls like that above moving water steve.
you'll find tons of sunfish and small mouth bass.

also around any deadfall into the water will be a habitat for fish.

**SKISC** · 06-12-2007, 02:24 PM

Nice. Looks like you two had fun.

**mushmouth** · 06-12-2007, 02:46 PM

the looks kids get on their face when they see fish out of water for the first time is so funny. it is pure fascination combined with a bit of angst as to what it's going to do...

I took a friend's kids fishing off a dock at my wife's mother's lake house last weekend, took video and pictures and made a fun movie for them...they're going to get a kick out of it...but their faces are priceless.

**ak_powder_monkey** · 06-13-2007, 01:34 AM

P.S. From what I can tell thats a bluegill

P.P.S. Hope you hooked him, fishing rules

**bodywhomper** · 07-12-2015, 02:09 PM

Bump
Looking for inexpensive rod/reel advise for the 9 yo. He's never been fishing. I haven't been in a long long time. We'll be parking ourselves in a small backcountry alpine lake basin for a couple of days. I'm thinking about lures. Should i be considering an inexpensive telescoping pole; maybe an inexpensive "backcountry kit"? If he gets into it, i can see his two younger siblings doing so too. We're good with that, but need to keep cost down.

**Harry** · 07-12-2015, 02:36 PM

They have "all-in-one" setups with a rod, reel pre-strung with line, and a sampling of lures for $14.95 to $19.95. Hard to beat that price.

Worms and a bobber FTW for kids, guaranteed to catch fish.

**east or bust** · 07-12-2015, 03:11 PM

Haven't seen this thread yet, Steve if you want any more info on local spots feel free to shoot me a PM. I live about 5 minutes from the reservation and have been fishing this region for a long time.

If you're getting a NYS license and went to Davis it sounds like you're in the Harriman area. That is a great place to fish, there are a couple spots with easy access for the little guy.