Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Two is old enough?

The Collinater who will be two in July is coming to stay with us for a few days. I plan on rigging up a simple fishing rod for him to catch some BG and YP off the docked Barge.

Am I pushing the envelope?

*He is very smart for his age!

He's not too young if it's fun for him. Remember, those fish will look like Moby Dick to a miniature human. If it scares him, back up.

I recently taught my girlfriends cousins to fish. They are 3. Lets just say it was a dangerous experiance. Alot of enthusiasm, but also alot of hook flying around in the air.

Seems wat worked best for me was the 'let me cast it for you' Then either let the fish basically hook themselves on a bobber setup, or hook the fish myself and then hand it to robert saying "Here you go, i casted it for you' waiting a couple seconds and then exclaiming 'I think you might have one! Reel it in!"

That seemed to be the safest way to do it, although if you dont actually need him to cast it could be safer that way altogether, either way im sure it will be a fun day.

IIRC my great-nephew was about 2 1/2 last Summer when he and his older sister came to go fishing for the first time. I cast for him and assisted with hook setting, but he cranked in a half-dozen BG all on his own and kept repeating "Gonna catch a big one" over and over.

Definitely not too young... When I was 2 my dad would cast our the spearing under the float and set the hook for me and I would real in the snapper blues. With little ones its not the size of the fish, its the number being caught. I am taking my 2 year old nephew fishing next week. I've got a little honey hole set up for him. I am sure the little one will love Bremer Pond!

MikeyBoy and others are giving you great advice. My addition, especially when fishing with children, always wear a hat and sunglasses to help with some of those hooks that seem to fly around. Never fish when they fish, give all of your attention to the child. When they are ready to quit let them quit. Pushing them to stay out there even for a few more minutes often turns them off.

Bing

I'm gonna fly MikeyBoy in to get Donna-ski and me back into fishing. I am confident his technique will work for us.

P.S. Don't forget the PFD!

good advice so far. Also get some small rocks; he will sure to want to pick up something and toss it in. Dont let it be the worm box.

Note- De Barb those hooks. No Treble hooks. Those plastic fish casting plugs are a blast, you may not even want to tie a hook on for the first fishing trip, especially if the little one hasn't held a rod before.
Did I mention De Barb those hooks :-)

Gracie started last year when she was 2 1/2, so no problem there. Heck as soon as they can stand or hold on to some thing I'll take my next one fishing.
Just remember fishing with a child is not really fishing, it's play time. Keep the little one happy, have other activities readily available, like throwing rocks. Do not make this like work, if either of you starts to get frustrated, move onto something else, even if you haven't gotten the first cast out.

Do not even take your rod, unless your little one is like mine and got mad if dad wasn't fishing also.
Before actually hitting the water we had played with her rod for days, so she was familiar with the rod.

Have a third person for a camera operator, we will want pictures (I missed pics of Gracies first fish and many others, including her first perch tonight, something I regret).

Above all just have fun, even if all you do is walk around the pond explaining all the animal and plant life while carrying the rod. Keep the little one smiling and they will be happy to come back. Make it like work and they will become another video game junkie. I've known people who treat little children like their normal fishing/hunting companions, getting mad for a little noise or not paying enough attention to the rod or whatever.
Even now with gracie, who likes to fish so much she makes me take her, half the time we just end up going to the park or tossing rocks or watching the ducks. And I enjoy every minute of it.
I do not make her fish, if she wants to play we play. If I really want to fish I go out early in the morning by my self, when I take her out the fishing is just a bonus, not the reason for the trip. And yes some times it is hard to keep this mentality, but it helps that we fish 3 minutes from the house, if I had to drive 30 minutes to a fishing hole, I would definitely have less patience.

I stopped in this forum to start a 'My best fathers day ever' post since Gracie and I got back a little while ago from our fishing trip. We went to the sportsman club early this after noon and while she wanted to go fishing (at her picnic table), once we got there and I got all the rods out, she wanted to play at the park. So I pack up the car and move over by the park. I did set a couple of rods out here, but we played at the park for a few hours. Then we fished for a few minutes and went home. To get more bait and the boat. We came back and fished until after dark. I thanked her for the best fathers day ever. After we got home she climbed up behind me in my chair and hugged me, telling me I was her little buddy and her bestest friend.And yes I did get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. It's these moments that make it all worth while, you can't buy happiness like this.

So by all means take that little one out to the pond and take a rod, but remember fishing is not your priority at all, it is just a nice bonus.

Good luck and happy fishing/rock throwing/walking/bird watching/running/kite flying/whatever makes them happy.

Matt

Beautiful post Matt.

It truly is an experiance fishing with the little ones. And when we fished we definitly took lots of breaks to throw bread to the ducks, examine crawdads, look at the ground squirrels, throw rocks in the water, gawk at the immense amount of fish (they must have just spawned, water was so thick with gills u could walk across it) and general exploring.

But I now have fishing buddies for life, they keep telling asking thier mom every week if they can go fishing with me.

I think fishing and rock throwing go together. I started all of my Children and Grandchildren when they were about 2 and would highly recommend one adult per child.

OK, I took Dwight's advice, and started Dylan this weekend, even though he is not yet 2. Ok, Ok, he didn't really fish, but he liked the trip!



The LMB were biting pretty good. Here is son Jamie with one. We had hoped for 5 pounds as the top LMB, but did hit 4 pounds. Got one SMB that was nearly 5.





The bluegills were on the beds. I could not get an 11 incher, but we consistently got the 10.5 inchers (1.5 pounds?). Look at the color difference in these two males caught from the same bed!





OK, time to see if this all worked. I'm always very happy when I handle the picture technology.

Dave, Your fishing and picture technology both are running on all cylinders.

Being a Dad and Grand Dad at the same time is real hoot!

The chance of a youngster getting "hooked" either by his/her own efforts or the efforts of another child does freak me out a bit.

But then again, fishing next to my (42) year old brother (who basically only fly fishes) is still a high-risk proposition.

He almost gave my wife a detached retina via a clouser minnow, and he indeed did give his own wife a nice rapala earring (that took a trip to the emergency room to get out).

Usually a pair of earrings is the preferred present for one's wife; perhaps not in this instance.

Each man has his own way of saying "I love you."

Entertainment in the Northeast must be kinda hard to come by.

Great photos Dave...

By special request from Sunil -- here is the big smallie of the day. Post-spawn, so Wr values were down to about 100 (just a guess). It was a mid-day buzzbait bite, which truly was great fun.



By the way, Sunil, five people in the 16 ft boat was a "tad bit" crowded. However, only two of us were fishing, and we were careful of the grandchild, daughter, and grandmother.

That is soooo nice!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Doc.

Manly men man the fishing poles!

Cripes, there can't be a better place to brag about kids and grandkids than Pond Boss Forum, can there??

Great pics and family Dave. Oh the fish look healty also.

I had planned to use an older ultra-light rod and reel for Collin's first try at fishing. I changed my mind and am picking up one of those Snoopy kids fishing rigs. If he likes fishing and masters the Snoppy rig, he'll graduate to the ultra-light ad start Dingbat Fishing 101.