Easy Tips for Fishing with Your Kids - 孩子钓鱼窍门

After reading the benefit of fishing with your kids: staying away from xboxes & cell phones, learning a new skill set, getting father-son time, I bet you want to give a try.  But how, or how to get an easy first catch with your kids? 

There are many online tips, but probably not very practical. My post will share one easy & practical tip to fish with you kids in a pond. It works every single time. In fact, we even held a fishing party, and every kid caught a few. 

Please try it out and comment with your results :-)

Long story short. The tip is to use small size hook with a little piece of beacon or turkey meat to fish bluegills assuming there are some in the pond. 

Here are the details:

Target Fish - Bluegills

Bluegill is the right species for kids fishing.  Medium size (typically <10", < 2 lbs), quick action without long waiting, active but not picky with meat lure, and always gather in school. If you see them, you can catch them.

Don't start with Bass or Catfish fishing. Bass fishing requires some complicated techniques: casting-reeling, different artificial lures. Catfish fishing takes much more patience. Neither of them is good for beginners. So, just try bluegill to keep your kids interested at least for the first few times.

Lure

Raw beacon and turkey slice is my silver bullet. Bluegills are crazy about meaty bait. A little piece is good enough as long as it is securely on the hook. Beacon may work better than turkey because turkey tissue is easier to split and stays less time on the hook. No need to try those artificial lures as they requires either long-time waiting or fancy reeling.

Setup

Any kids' Spincast reel/rod should work, but do not start with a Spinning reel. Spinning reel has an open spool - a little hard to operate, so not for beginners. 

Shakespeare Salamander is a nice spincast combo that my son has used (here is a good set for girls). Check out YouTube video to see how to use a spincast.

My son uses Balsa Style Oval bobber just because it is wooden natural color. Also make fishing line a loop around to prevent slip.

Add one or two Gremlin Removable Soft Lead ~ 2" above the hook. Also make fishing line a loop around the lead to prevent slip.

Remember use a Small size hook, please.