I watch the hatchery reports for some of the local lakes in the spring, and also call some of my friends who live on those lakes. When the hatchery truck comes in I drop everything and take my kids up there in our drift boat. We (my kids) have caught lots and lots of hatchery trout with very little effort, even when they were only two years old.
Our fishing method is very simple. We use a small wooly bugger and just troll around with it. I tie a light cord from the rod handle to a cleat on the boat so rods will not get dropped overboard.(My friend's 5 year old daughter once made a 40 foot cast - with the rod that is - she threw it clear off the end of the boat!) A couple of tips I have learned about making fishing with small children fun and successful. First, leave your rod at home, you are not going to get the chance to fish if you take more than one child. The goal is to help,encourage and entertain them. Hopefully they will have so much fun, they will be excited to keep fishing with you as they grow up! Second bring lots of candy and food. Also, let them play when they lose attention for fishing. We have spent hours climbing on the stumps around Rattlesnake Lake, splashing in the shallows in the Yakima, and turning over rocks at the beach. My two oldest boys (7 and 8) are fairly proficient casters. They have their own fly rods and we practice casting occasionally. They have picked it up fairly rapidly with a little coaching help from Dad. We had a great day on the Stilly in September casting drys for SRC. I have flyfished extensively for 22 years, salmon, steelhead, trout, saltwater, bass, etc. My most precious and memorable fishing experiences by far have been with my kids. -----Original Message----- From: Bill Kuper [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 12:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Kid Fishin' (was Secrets to Getting Away) John, That is awesome. I have a six year old daughter and and an (almost) four year old son. I would love to hear from the gang here some tips on getting the kids going in fly fishing. They had their first fishing experiences this last summer at a friend's pond (with little spin-casting outfits and worms). Sort of a mixed bag, but the weather was kind of crummy. If I can get these guys fishing, I'll have a hall pass anytime I want. Have any of you used the little rod with the yarn thingy to help teach them? Also, any tips on locations for easy, consistent hookups (fish size doesn't matter) would be cool. You don't have to give away the farm, just some good ideas.... :) cheers, bill At 6:54 AM -0800 11/15/01, Abbott, John C. SMC (SW) wrote: >Hi Gang, > >I don't have any secrets, but I do know how to use leverage! Working for >Uncle Sam keeps me away quite often which is a plus because I can fish all >over the place. Also, when I get home after a few days of catch up family >time, I am ususally free to do/go whenever I chose. Another plus I have is >my 7 year old daughter's enthusiasm to go with dad. She ties her own flies >and doesn't care about any weather conditions. (You guys should have seen >dad's face this spring when her and I went lake fishing and she threw her >casts with little any guidance. I have a natural here guys-watch out!) >Only downfall... keeping enough food on hand for her appetite. >Dad does often get upset at her.. she catches the first, most, and largest >fish of the day- consistently! Almost time for that first swimming lesson.. >(just kidding!) > >John
