Learning to fish

Hey everyone,
So I just rediscovered fishing. I hadn't been doing it since I was probably 5 and would go with my grandpa. As you can imagine, at that age I wasn't able to soak up the wealth of fishing secrets he possessed before he passed away.

So, now 24 years later I am back into it and really becoming obsessed. I slow down at every stream I cross while driving and if given the opportunity will gladly trade any day off for a day on the water.

I have started fly fishing learning mainly on YouTube and a lot of reading. I am at a point now where I have gotten decent at fly casting and regularly catch panfish and bass. So that has been great.

The problem I am having is I am starting on this lifelong adventure of fishing with my 5yo son. I dug out my grandas old zebeco 33s and he has spin casting and really had taken to casting with that and the fly seems to much for him at this point (maybe Santa later this year will change that). I just don't really know how to fish with other tackle and I really want to help him get some catches so he gets to share on that. I have a good understanding it seems at finding the fish and all on streams. I just have no idea what kind of bait/lures to use for this type of fishing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. He's very excited about it and it has been so much fun to share this with him. If you have any advice about bait, methods, or anything of that nature. I will take,
advice, weblinks or book recommendations.

Anyways,

Tight lines as always.


Jason

I'd get him some 1/16oz marabou Roadrunners ... solid chartreuse and what Blakemore calls their "Electric Chicken". If he's using four to six pound test line on the spincast reels, he should be able to cast them a pretty good distance. May even do well with eight pound test, if it's a soft (limp) line.

I mostly fish for Crappie, and use marabou Roadrunners quite often when casting shallow for them (<10ft deep). It's not uncommon for me to hang into a large catfish, or Bass, when casting for Crappie. Warmouth, Green Sunfish, & Bluegills will wear one out, too, if I get it close to the shoreline.

Now, I'm not saying it's necessary ... but, I trim the tail feathers off about halfway between the hook bend and the end of the tail. The fish don't seem to care about it being "bob-tailed" ... and the only reason I do it is to stop small fish from nipping at just the end of the tail.

I'd also consider having him use a small float & a #2 Cabin Creek Pop-eye Jig .... tipped with a wax worm or small piece of earthworm.

... pappy

Well at that age, I always suggest a bait with movement that requires action because sitting and watching a bobber is too difficult. If you have to reel it in after u cast it out, it seems to keeps a kiddos attention better. I would use some type of light rooster tail as an option. White, chartreuse, black are typically the colors I stick to. I also would recommend a good selection of bobby Garland soft plastics. The 1.5 inch minnow plastics in bayou booger, pearl, black and chartreuse always seem to be a big hit in the streams on a 1/32 or 1/16 ounce jig head. Both baits can be fished by just casting and retrieving slowly but fast enough as to not drag on the bottom. Good luck!!!

An easier lure for streams, that I started using when I was around your son's age was the Rapala floating minnow. I still use it some to this day. They can be fished with a straight retrieve, or retrieve pause, retrieve pause. The lure floats, so if he isn't able to keep a constant retrieve going, it won't snag the bottom. I would suggest the F05 or F07 size. They are lighter lures, especially the F05, so if he isn't proficient at casting yet, he may have a little trouble at first.

As other's have mentioned, inline spinners are great too (Mepp's or Rooster Tail), but may be a little easier to get snagged on the bottom.

How far are you from Wolf Creek Dam? PM me.