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| I have an eight year old daughter and a ten year old son who I spent a good deal of time walleye and bluegill fishing with. They both can handle light spinning tackle very well. My questions are........What is the best rod & reel set up for these youngsters to use on their first muskie outings. Along with this is, what type of presentations would you think would be the best to start out with. I am kind of looking for something light weight, keeping in mind that a reel and line combo that would have a small backlash possibility would be great.
Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thanks and Good Luck! |
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| Tom,
I started my son out when he was about 6 years old on an old Garcia 5500 with a 6' St. Croix. He handled it with no problem, just make sure you give them a bait that wont sink and get into the weeds. Floating crankbaits are great baits to start your kids on!
As far as line, I have them use the same line I use, 80# Spectron, mono will backlash a lot easier!
Good luck!
Check out my post about taking a kid fishing! |
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| Tommy, I would go with a lightweight rod like a flipping stick or a heavy action bass rod. For a reel, I would go low profile. Many guides use the shimano curado for most of their applications. For lures, obviously the smaller musky stuff, just keeping in mind the lures drag in the water. |
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| Tommy- I got my 10 year old a 4601 C3, it came with a free abu rod- $65 at Reeds. Kinda heavy rod for Michael, but he handles it well. 50lb. power pro on it, he can throw smaller bucktails, spoons, any of his other "northern" lures.
Good luck,
Don |
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| Last year I put a Garcia "Anti-Backlash" 5600AB on an older 6' South Bend "Musky Tamer" rod for my 8 y/o daughter. The reel costs $100 but it works great with 20lb mono and mid-sized floating musky cranks like the Rapala Super Shad Rap. No backlashes at all when carefully adjusted to the bait's weight. As mentioned by the others above, floaters are a must to avoid frustrating snags. Have fun with yer kids!
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| When I started out my dad got me a 6'2" St.Croix with a 6500. I practiced out on the lawn casting for a year before I finally got to go to the water.
As far as baits I would start out with a shallow crank, the Bomber long A is great. It's heavy enough you don't have to watch as close for backlashes, but light enough it's easily castable. Also a crank has some movement, I don't know about anyone else, but when I was a kid I couldn't stand it when my dad put a bucktail on my rod. Bucktails don't look like anything special to a kid, and they're too young to realize they actually catch fish. A crank actually looks like a little fishy and something a big muskie would like to eat. |
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| Oh Ya, You brought up some old memories Plunker. I remember casting that old Mitchell 300 c with the rubber casting plug for days on end till I got it perfect. I used my baseball glove for a target. Geeezz, That was fourty some years ago, Man, lots a water under the bridge.
Thanks to all of you for all the good advice.
Good Luck. |
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