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Fishing with kids for first time


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My son (3yrs) is pretty keen to "go fishing with daddy" and im rather keen to foster his interest!

 

I'm after some advice from those who have been thru such, in terms of ideas, dos, don'ts ect.

 

I couldnt care less what we target as long as he can at least have a go, feel a bit of action, see a fish & let it go. Landbased, patternoster for ST/tommies/mullet is what im thinking.

 

West Lakes (gives us little bream to catch & release too), in in front of one those parks so he can run around & arse on some play equipment when the novelty wears off (can then head off to the Railway Museum instead).

 

Im not familiar with WL tho and not a fan of fishing metro either but would proably go on a weekday with the missus. Maybe even this friday.

 

 

Otherwise i was thinking down Willunga, Maslins where the cool pebbley rocks start and he loves rocks.

 

The jetty option is out;  too hard to watch him. Anyway id sooner watch Mr Douche on IFish than fish a metro jetty!

 

 

Also asks  to "go to the fishing shop and buy me a fishing rod", which i dont mind and will give him his own to swing around. If those cheapish kids combos are at all worth buying?

 

 

I gather the Public Liability Crisis destroyed the trout farm option (Kersbrook & Tooperang)?

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Westlakes is best I reckon, I got my little guy started there. On Delfin Island at Corcoran Drive there is a great reserve with a pirate ship playground and a nice stretch of sandy beach. There is also another good beach/playground spot at Tiranna Way on the eastern side of the lake. ;)

 

We used prawns for bait and caught heaps of little bream, this time of year you might get into some st's as well. It was actually too good of an introduction to fishing, we caught so many fish so easily, now when we go if five minutes pass without a bite my boy gets annoyed. :lol:

 

I got both my kids BCF combos, I think they were about $15 on sale. A crappy little reel and a coloured rod, but it certainly does the job to get them started.

 

Best advice I can give though is keep it fun and all about them. When they get bored just move on to another activity. B)

 

Good luck!

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Cheers plankon,

 

Just what i was after! Park and sandy beach is great, will bring the bucket and spade too. Picked up the TackeRatz combo this morn.

 

Probably over-analysing things......will they fish ok with a westerly (forcasted  :rolleyes:  to drop to 12km by 0930 anyway), given they both face west ? Was thinking unweighted or light running rig, with said prawns?

 

Otherwise that leaves (east facing):

 

  • Bower Rd end, western side -no playground
  • Oarsman Reserve - no playgroundand dont want to contend with rowers, kyakers etc!
  • Park down Military Rd, near Moredun St - no playground
  • Trimmer Pde end - no beach & kinda near the main rd.
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I don't reckon the little bream will care too much about the wind, and salmon trout are always down for a feed. As long as the wind doesn't affect casting you should be fine.

 

With the kids I use a running rig with a ball sinker about the size of a pea or a bit smaller depending on the wind. I rig it so the sinker can go all the way to the hook and I like to use size 8 circle hooks, especially with the kids, fish hook themselves and almost no gut hooked fish if the kids are being lazy.

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For my little girl who is 3 I got one of the little kids spin-cast rods. The overhead push button ones which is a bit simpler to manage and harder to stuff up than a spinning reel.

 

Attached a de-hooked lure to the end for casting and retrieve practice as it came with a rubber plug which the line cut through in very short order. I've just re-purposed a small sinking stickbait.

 

For actually going out and catching fish I took her to the SAFWAA family day which didn't hook anything, did some fishing down Port Broughton off the jetty for loads of Tumpeters which she loved to catch and throw back and took a trip out to Mannum which has some great area's along the park to fish for carp or callop, but was a public holiday and o crowded with ski boats there was no fish to be had.

 

Best suggestion for that age with a rig would be KISS. Pop a small ball sinker on and tie a hook on the end. For safety concerns I tied on a small circle hook since there is much, much less chance of her hooking herself on it and circles don't need barbs on them to keep in place. Also it helps with her being too little to understand the proper technique of striking a fish since she just wants to reel it in.

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Had a go yesterday morning at the Corcoran Drive park. Was way too interested in the playground, particulary the sit-on backhoes in the sand there- must admit they were pretty cool! Also had the wind in our faces which made casting, feeling & watching line and holding it out there too hard.

 

We moved to another spot so the wind was behind us but unfortunately the other playground there also took his fancy! Upended his chocolate milk in the drink and was facinated buy the milky brown cloud in the water!

 

No fish but a good day out.

 

 

Try to find a spot that the youngster can't see the playground

Too right there.

 

 

 

For my little girl who is 3 I got one of the little kids spin-cast rods. The overhead push button ones which is a bit simpler to manage and harder to stuff up than a spinning reel.

Hmmm. Curious, had to google that one. What specifically?

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http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/shakespeare-combos-spincast-combos/1348936.html#start=19&sz=16

 

Little princess rod with practice casting plug.

 

Spincasts are easy for her to get started on because the whole line assembly is contained inside a shield so there is less risk of loose line causing a massive birdnest or tangle on the reel or getting looped around working parts like a spinning reel. And its simpler to learn to cast as its just push the button, hold, release to cast and retrieve to put back in gear without having to worry about flipping bail arms over or holding the line with your finger while casting.

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