The Lake of the Ozarks or a local pond are ideal locations to teach your kids how to fish. Whether you are a hardcore experienced angler or have never fished before, the following five tips will help make fishing a fun and easy experience when you introduce kids to the sport.
1. Use live bait and simple fishing tackle such as a cane pole or spincast rod-and-reel combo for the kids. All fish prefer the real deal, so live bait is the best way for beginners to start fishing. All they have to do is throw out their lines and let the bait do the rest. Keeping the tackle simple allows the kids to easily cast or plunk their bait into the water and prevents you from having to untangle balls of line that occur frequently when novices try to cast spinning or bait-cast reels. The cane pole is the simplest form of fishing tackle because it can deliver a bait to the fish without having to push any buttons or make a long cast, and fish can be hooked and landed by merely lifting the pole rather than having to reel in line.
2. Let the kids decide when they want to start fishing. If they would rather go swimming for a while, let them swim. While they are swimming, you can wet a line a safe distance from them and you might spark their interest if you start catching a bunch of fish.
3. Avoid coaching your kids too much. Allow them to try a new bait or cast to a different spot if they want to try something different. Remember that you became a better angler because you experimented with different techniques and lures, so why shouldn’t you allow your kids the same opportunities.
4. Bring along plenty of other forms of entertainment, such as toys and games, for the kids—especially if you are fishing from a boat. Remember that kids have a short attention span and will want to do something else, even if the fish are practically jumping in the boat. So if you still want to get in on the good fishing, have something else readily available for the kids to do.
5. Turn your fishing trip into an educational experience. I have a bad habit of tuning out the surroundings on the water and focusing on my line to detect bites, which is fine for fishing in tournaments but is not the way to get kids involved in the sport. Let them take in the whole fishing experience and point out to them the blue heron stalking the shoreline for a fish, the turtles sunning on logs or the bluebirds singing in the trees.
These tips can help make the first fishing trip a fun and easy experience that hopefully gets your kid hooked on fishing for life.
