Young kid learning fly-fishing

[Cjs2636]

Hoping to maybe get some thoughts here. A work colleague of mine who knows I fly fish said his 8 year old son is interested in learning and asked if I would help and take them fishing somewhere. While I’m not a great fly-fisherman, I’m happy to show him some basics and get them started.

However, I’d really like to get them into some “easy fishing” such as fishing some poppers or wet flies for panfish. I live in Pittsburgh but never fish around here. Does anyone know of any good shoreline panfish spots or if there are any pay ponds what would be good just so his son might get into some fish somewhat easily?

Appreciate any thoughts from you western PA guys!

 

[hendeylathe]

Peters Lake near Canonsburg is a great place for panfish on a fly rod.

 

[wbranch]

In my opinion an 8 year old is too young to have enough patience to start fly fishing. Have his Dad buy him a decent spin rod and reel. Buy a can of worms and go to a local pond and catch a bunch of sunnies. That was my first fishing experience and I can still vividly remember using my Dad's telescoping metal rod, a cheap bait casting reel, black rayon line, an Eagle Claw spelled hook, and a bobber made out of a champagne cork with a slit in it. I had a great time and we put our 20 or so sunnies in a white enamel bucket. We practiced C&R at the end of the evening.

 

[poopdeck]

I really don’t think an 8 year old asked to go fly fishing specifically. I’m with wbranch, a red and white bobber is a rite of passage. I would not want to have missed out on that as a youngster or with my kids. By all means take the kid fishing but leave The fly rod at home. An 8 year old doesn't want casting and entomology lessons. He wants to see a bobber get pulled under.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

If the 8-year-old's dad also fly-fishes, he can use that method along with the kid's using bait/bobber with Zebco 33. If the kid wants to try, he'll ask - but only if he sees someone catching more fish with a flyrod. My personal progression was a Zebco spincaster to a Mitchell 300 on a spinning rod.
DO NOT hand a kid a baitcasting rig. I nearly threw my grandpap's into the Juniata when he made me use one (after I bird-nested it about three times). This was in the 70s and this one was not user-friendly.
It wasn't until after I got married that my father-in-law handed me a flyrod near Ross Run on Pine Creek. This was the same guy who made his grandsons wait until the 12th birthday before giving them all identical hand-assembled flyrods.

 

[wbranch]

I really don’t think an 8 year old asked to go fly fishing specifically. I’m with wbranch, a red and white bobber is a rite of passage. I would not want to have missed out on that as a youngster or with my kids. By all means take the kid fishing but leave The fly rod at home. An 8 year old doesn't want casting and entomology lessonen s. He wants to see a bobber get pulled under.

Amen to that.

 

[Cjs2636]

Thanks guys. I do agree with the sentiment that 8 is young for fly-fishing. I often don’t have the patience for it at 35! I’ll still try to humor my colleague and his son but I will definitely have a spin rod, bobber, and some bait ready and waiting!

 

[Millsertime]

Agree with all comments. There are some young children out there that are actually interested and capable of Fly Fishing but that is rare. My sons, age 13 and 10 have taken a fly rod to hand, but both prefer a pushbutton Zebco, or spinning rod reel combo all day long. The patience nor desire for FF is there. I did not pick up a flyrod until I was late teens and then didn’t get serious until I was late 20s.

 

[tomgamber]

People need to get over themselves. You can flyfish one day and fish a bobber the next. Let him decide. Anyone who thinks an 8 year old is too young to gly fish is an elitist and should drop into reality. It's not that hard. Every time I get to the Aunt's farm, a few of the little ones asks why I catch all the fish and wants to try the fly rod. They do and they catch fish. Big, giant 'gills and bass. And they never forget it. You're welcome.

 

[hooker-of-men]

People need to get over themselves. You can flyfish one day and fish a bobber the next. Let him decide. Anyone who thinks an 8 year old is too young to gly fish is an elitist and should drop into reality. It's not that hard. Every time I get to the Aunt's farm, a few of the little ones asks why I catch all the fish and wants to try the fly rod. They do and they catch fish. Big, giant 'gills and bass. And they never forget it. You're welcome.

As a father of 6 and 8 year olds, I think some of the posts above just need to reconsider what "fishing" with a kid might mean. In a lot of ways, casting a fly rod is more fun than lobbing a bobber out. (My kids do specify which rod they want to bring to the pond, and they often pick their fly rod.) Either can keep their attention - for a minute.

But if you think you're taking a kid out to match the hatch and really get ripping lips.. then no, most 8 year olds can't really fish.

However, an 8 year old kid will very likely enjoy catching a couple panfish on a fly rod, and they're quite capable in a pond/lake setting if you give them very quick pointers on short distance casting. (Seriously, very quick instruction - they're not listening to or absorbing your Orvis 101 course.)

Just be very prepared for the trip to turn into petting a dog that walks by or digging in the mud or "accidentally" falling in the water a couple times and never returning to fishing. Fly or gear, plenty of kid trips end after 10 casts, and you just have to be cool with that or the kid will hate the experience.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I was going to say the same as above. A shorter flyrod and a farm pond is an excellent way to introduce a kid to fishing. No line control needed. Fish like tenkara or a cane pole with a small popper or dry fly. In my experience kids fond this more engaging than lobbing a 2ft push button.

 

[troutbert]

I started fishing with a cane pole, bobber and worms, for bluegills. This is a very good method for kids because it is as simple as fishing can possibly be.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

I was going to say the same as above. A shorter flyrod and a farm pond is an excellent way to introduce a kid to fishing. No line control needed. Fish like tenkara or a cane pole with a small popper or dry fly. In my experience kids fond this more engaging than lobbing a 2ft push button.

(Tenkara = Cane Pole 😀)

 

[tomgamber]

(Tenkara = Cane Pole 😀)

Tell that to your wallet.

 

[troutbert]

When fishing with kids, with whatever gear, be sure to have all the hook barbs pinched flat. Or buy barbless hooks.

They are much easier to remove from human skin (and fish) that way.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

When fishing with kids, with whatever gear, be sure to have all the hook barbs pinched flat. Or buy barbless hooks.

They are much easier to remove from human skin (and fish) that way.

!!!!! IMPORTANT PSA !!!!!
Be very careful when mashing barbs with pliers. My son thought he'd make his hooks barbless before tying the flies. Not a bad idea since there's a slight chance that the whole point can weaken and break after having tied the fly. When squeezing one of them, the barb launched itself right into his eye. Thankfully, he was able to keep his eye still and open long enough to stagger to a mirror and flick the metal free with the corner of a handy washcloth.
That is all.

 

[Bamboozle]

...A work colleague of mine who knows I fly fish said his 8 year old son is interested in learning and asked if I would help and take them fishing somewhere...

Unless I am misunderstanding this, it sounds to me like the 8 year old kid IS interested in fly fishing...

...which doesn't surprise me as there are many times when I'm fishing at a location where most are using conventional tackle; a kid will stare at me, fascinated by the difference between fly fishing and the fishing that he or she is familiar.

That inevitably leads to questions directed at me or the adult accompanying said kid and longing looks from said kid to the adult, similar to what you see with candy in a check-out aisle. 🙂

That being said, despite the challenges, I would teach the kid how to fly fish with an emphasis on sucess meaning panfish. The attention span may be short and the kid may give up quickly or possibly humble the teacher...

I'll also add, (hopefully to the consternation of some folks here 😉 ), a Tenkara rod is an ideal way to teach the basics of fly fishing INCLUDING casting since the presentation is the same as regular fly casting except you are using a fixed amount of line. Not having a reel and excess line to deal with can be a huge advantage when exposing a total beginner.

Another thing I've done with kids when teaching them fly fishing where faster hook setting may be required is to tie flies on circle hooks. It's a lot easier to tell a kid, "just lift the rod" versus, "SET THE HOOK!"

Nobody loved/loves fishing bait under a float more than me. As a matter of fact I was doing it yesterday and I wouldn't trade my kid memories of watching my red & white "bobber" for all the fly rods in the world...

...however, there will always be time for that if the kid doesn't dig fly fishing.

Have fun!

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

I'll also add, (hopefully to the consternation of some folks here 😉 ), a Tenkara rod is an ideal way to teach the basics of fly fishing INCLUDING casting since the presentation is the same as regular fly casting except you are using a fixed amount of line. Not having a reel and excess line to deal with can be a huge advantage when exposing a total beginner.
Have fun!

I only joke about Tenkara and have had my three boys use a similar method with fly gear - Pull a castable length of line from the reel and lock down the drag so they don't lengthen it. When they could make a passable cast to 15', we'd lengthen to 20', and so on. Sometimes, this was done on the front lawn.
Before they were gifted their own flyrod, they would try mine - but only for a few minutes. Everyone on this board knows that more things can go wrong (by orders of magnitude) than things that can go right when using a flyrod and my boys lacked the patience to accept that before they were 10 or 11. They all started on bait/bobber and progressed to spinners/spoons/plugs. (The youngest boy caught many trout with a favorite baby brown trout plug that he "found" at Walmart.) When they started with their own flyrod, we spent a lot of time on a pond fishing for little sunfish just to keep them interested.

 

[hendeylathe]

Please give the guy who started this thread an answer to his question, Where to take a kid shoreline fishing. Not what to do or how to do it.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Please give the guy who started this thread an answer to his question, Where to take a kid shoreline fishing. Not what to do or how to do it.

Drive around the countryside. If you see a farm with a pond, knock on the door and ask. If you find a public park with open water, you don't even need to ask.