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Posts: 167
Location: Ontario | My son is 5 and loves to fish. We spend most of our time fishing for pan fish, walleye and bass. He has been on me for a couple of years about taking him muskie fishing but I have been able to redirect that in the past because he just doesnt have the equipment to handle the lures. One of his favourite things is sucker fishing in the fall...but that is a ways away right now. He is becoming very persistent now and I was wondering if there are there any rods that a 5 year old could manage that would have the backbone to handle some muskie baits? Obviously he wouldnt be chucking pounders, but even smaller cranks or spinner baits.
Thanks,
Matt |
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| Get a MH/H bass rod in the 6' to 7'. That will handle everything a five year-old can throw. It will likely be lighter than small musky rods so it will be easier for him to handle, as well. I'd just upsize everything that he's already using for bass. |
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Posts: 167
Location: Ontario | Guys with older kids, do you think 5 is old enough to get into a bait casting reel? |
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Posts: 1405
Location: Detroit River | I'd look into getting him a saltwater spinning rod & reel that's rated for the heavier 4 to 6 oz lures. BPS sells a CatMax spinning rod that's rated for heavier lures. Gander Mt. sells a musky spinning rod as well ($30 I think it goes for). There's saltwater spinning reels that have drag ratings around 20 Lbs & more.
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Posts: 153
Location: Antigo Wi. | I would go with the spinning idea for a couple of years. I started my nephew throwing baitcasting gear when he was about 7,now at 16, he can find every tree and possible snag there is. Good Luck. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | Hi Matt,
I hope to have a 6' musky rod for kids out early 2013. Making it the same as my current musky rods with Fuji reel seats on them but all metal guides so the kids can be a little rough with them.
James |
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Posts: 20227
Location: oswego, il | My oldest son was throwing a bass bait caster when he was 5. My other two did not get the hang of it untill 7 or so. I would not buy an outfit untill he learned to cast a bass outfit first. Take a casting plug and have him practice with it. If you wanted, get a flippin stick and a decent low profile reel that you could put 50lb braid on. That would handle 6" musky lures. I am not big on the spinning stuff, too easy for a kid to tangle. Reeling in bowed line while twitching will surely lead to a big mess. If he cannot get the hang of a baitcaster, The zebco rhino reel handles braid pretty well and putting that on say a 39 dollar 7' bass pro rod or the 39 dollar flippin stick and he can throw large bass lures with it. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | the only limit on a kid is what we put on em ... let him throw your stuff right away. i don't buy into the "kid" rod and reel concept and have raised 4 kids and their friends in the boat with me. they all started and became proficient throwing bait casters right away. |
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Location: sneaking out to get on the water ;-) | This spring gander mtn. had the abu garcia black max combos for $45.They are an awesome setup for getting a kid started in muskie fishing.The rod is a mh bass rod but plenty stiff to throw some spinners small bucktails and some topwaters with.The reel is low profile and easy for them to grip.I started my son with one this spring.Started him in the yard with the casting brake on quite a bit with a casting sinker.Once he got going good I slowly backed the casting break off and eventually put a lighter casting sinker on.Once he got that down I peeled off most of the mono so I had enough for backing and spooled it up with 50 lb braid.He's been doing awesome with it.This set up will throw cisco kids topper stoppers bucktails up to #6 blades and spring dawgs with no problem.Then when he graduates to bigger muskie gear he will still have an awesome pike/bass setup.Good luck and have fun. Russ |
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Posts: 147
Location: Northern New Jersey | look into the pflueger WLP reels. they have wide spools for extra line capacity. i jst picked one up off ebay for light musky/ heavy bass fishing. it hold 160 yards of 50 lb braid. 5.4:1 ratio. seems like a solid reel thus far. it would be good for someone with smaller hands. pair that with the TI rod comin out next year and thats a sick kids combo! |
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Posts: 334
Location: Madison, WI | I have twin 9 year old girls who have been fishing with me since age 3, and let me just say. They can cast with the best of them. Both have various rods/reels (nothing muskie sized) both spinning,spincast, and two older baitcaster and they have no problem doing them. I would be lying if i said they figured it out right away but they do just fine. I would get them into muskie fishing but hey, i need to keep something for myself right?? lol |
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Posts: 335
Location: Minnesota | My oldest son started casting one of my old 6' rods with a 5500C3 when he was 6. I just tightened the tension so he couldn't get too crazy with back lashes and slowly loosened it up for him as he got better. He probably could have picked it up a little quicker had I not been the limiting factor. I agree with Sled - don't limit the kids and let the impress us.
One night my 7 year old was with me and I just left him alone - no instructions - just encouragement, no help with backlashes unless he asked, and no adjustments to the reel from where I would use it...... he did just fine and was casting a long ways. At the end of the night he was pretty proud of how well he was doing. At one point he caught a northern on a topraider. I wasn't looking when it hit but I heard it and thought that he might have just caught his first musky casting a few weeks after his 7th birthday.
My only advice is to teach the kids the mechanics of casting at home with a stick or something so they can figure out how to get the rod to do the work instead of trying to lob it out there with their arms. Then once on the water they can focus on the reel part of it.
Whatever you do - have fun. |
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Posts: 393
Location: Hopefully on the water | They catch on real quick. Both of mine can and do throw baitcasters. They are 9 & 7 now and have been doing it each since about age 5. I agree to adjust the tension when first starting but they catch on very fast. Their set ups are with Bass reals as the are noce size for them and have them throwing smaller baits and topwater. When my 9 year old wants he grab my 7'10" rod and fishes with that for a while. My seven year old I would be a little nervous with that one yet. He wants to bomb cast everything. Find a good light weight rod (overall). there are some heavy action bass rods and others that make rods for kids. 7' to me is a good size for a lot of young kids. Don't be too surprised on them changing baits every 10-20 casts. Thy just got new/used stuff and they want to try it out. With that teach them how to change their own bait. I get asked a lot with my boys until I ask if they even tried. Generally I hear back in a minute that I got it dad. Enjoy the time on the water with them. Skip the trophy lakes for some time and hit some action lakes for them. See how they do on some smaller fish and work your way up. At that age 30" and up is a MONSTER fish. If you can set a goal for them. Both of mine will get a replica once they get their first 40" fish. After that we work up the scale. My days out with them generally get a mix of fishing muskies/bass/ northerns/ and panfish. But it has been fun to mix it up with them. Good luck fishing. |
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