Rods/reels for kids

[ThunderLund78]

Curious what others have done for their kids fishing outfits.  I have a 4 and a 7 year old and both love fishing with me.  As I would guess most do, I started them out with the typical "Snoopy" pole.  They're fine for teaching a kid how to operate a spincast reel, but  you get what you pay for.  In no time at all these reels bind up, you can't seem to cast more than a few feet without them snagging on something internally.  I'm not sure why Shakespere and Zebco feel the need to put 8-10 lb test on these reels - the line seems way to bulky and it's really overkill when fishing sunnies of the dock.

While my oldest has graduated to a spinning outfit for panfish, it's still a little hard for him to handle a medium-action spinning rod/reel for casting or trolling (which he loves to do).  So he has a larger spincast combo for that, but it's the same problem.  The line seems to bind and you literally have to pull it off the reel, sometimes.

curious to see if anyone has good recomendations for kids' set-ups, or certain methods to get the cheap kids stuff to actually function?

[BobT]

I used "snoopy" poles to teach my children.  The first reason for this was the length.  It is difficult enough for them to handle a rod let alone one that is 5' or 6' long.  

The reason I think they can get difficult to cast is from line twist.  Try removing hooks from the line and just let the line out behind the boat while you slowly troll along.  After a couple minutes, slowly reel the line back in.  This will untwist the line and you might find it will work better for a while.  

Why the 10 lb. test?  

1. I always assumed it was more like 15# test.
2. As already mentioned, the reels are far from high quality, ergo the drag system is far less than efficient. Trying to set the drag to properly handle light line would be too much to ask for the price.  
3. It would be very disappointing to have the line break off every time they hooked into anything with any power and even with a good drag, they are not experienced enough to handle a real fight, particularly with the short rod.

It's a kid's rod and therefore subject to abuse only a child can deliver therefore it will not be high quality.  

 

I'll never forget a trip when my son was about 4 years old.  We were in an 18' cedar strip canoe with him on the front and me on the back.  We were working our way around a narrow rocky point on Ely Lake near Eveleth looking for largemouth bass.  He was just learning how to cast (hence him being 18' away) so I tied on a Jitter Bug surface plug figuring it would entertain him if nothing else.  

As we rounded the end of the point, he told me he wanted to change lures.  Seeing that we were heading toward an outcropping of lily pads on the inside turn of the point I told him to wait a little bit because, "we're getting into real bass territory and there's one in there with your name on it."  

I don't think it was two casts later that his jig hit the water an exploded.  The bass dove down into the weeds and was hung up.  He looked at me and said, "Help!"  Figuring he was outfitted with about 15# test line (good thing) I told him to just pull.  When he did, he broke his rod but we still managed to boat the 4-1/2 pound largemouth bass.  

He was concerned about having broken his rod so I just told him that he has graduated to a "big boy" rod and so we stopped on the way home to get him a new rod and reel.  

[Pat K]

I let my grandkids use my ice fishing rods. In my experience a 4 year old can learn how to operate a spinning reel with fewer tangles easier than they can  a spincast reel. The ice fishing rods are short enough for them to handle easily..

[Cheers]

I hate the kids snoopy rod things .They never work well  and end up loosing the kids fish more often than not as the drags dont work and the line is always twisted. Best get an ice fishing rod and baitcaster reel . Put a piece of pipe insulation on the rod and it will float when dropped over board ,or tie a cord around the but and attach it to the boat. If you catch a small fish, distract the kid and  rehook the fish onto the kids line and sneek it back in the water. Then get real excited and tell the kid he has a bite ! This trick has made many kids happy over time.

[Chris Haley]

If you fish quite a bit.  I would just get them on spinning combos right away.  You can buy cheap ones everywhere so if they lose it, it's no big deal.  The sooner you get them going on them the better.  The 7 y/o won't have a problem adapting and you can start out by casting for the 4 y/o and it to them until they get a feel for handling a spinning rod.  

[Iambjm]

I like the idea of an ice rod to learn how to use a spinning reel. Use the longest one you have and/or can borrow with a spinning reel on it, take them out in the back yard and start practicing. Whatever you do don't yell at them, I didn't start fishing until I was about 32 and my brother would always yell at me "where did you learn how to cast". It almost made me give up fishing. Thank goodness my husband had more patience because now I fish as often as I can, sometimes every day.

[Ballyhoo]

Both of my kids went from snoopy rods to a 3'8" Ugly Stick.  The rods are yellow and indestructible, longer than the little rods but very manageable for the kids.  I put decent spin cast reels on both of them and they work fine.  We mostly jig so they haven't done a lot of casting although it does happen when they get bored.  I have not had a lot of issues with the line binding.  When they were younger, I had slip bobbers on them so when they set the rods down after 20 minutes, the jig was still fishing and would still catch fish.

I asked them both this year if they wanted full sized rods and they didn't, they liked the rods they had.