kids ice fishing reel

[tomfromblaine]

Hi guys, this is my 4year old daughters first ice season and she's pretty stoked especially since she saw the clam 6800 I got from moose-hunter. when fishing she has no problems with a plain reel but that wont work with bobber stops , I think a open face reel may complicate things for her at this time but she has said she wants one like daddy's what do you guys think.

[RK]

Hiya,

Go find a Diawa Underspin 40. They're a closed face reel, but hang under the rod, and have a lever you lift to open the bail. Great reels for kids (I started both my girls on them) and a great next step toward a regular spinning reel. Plus the drags are actually half decent (can't say that about most spincast reels). They do ok with bobber stops (they'll catch once in a while but not all that often) as long as you trim the tag ends down on the string stops. Neoprene stops work well with them too.

Cheers,

RK

[icehousebob]

When my kids were little, I picked up several spin-cast rigs at garage sales and shortened them up. For a bobberstop, I tied a slipknot in the line and inserted a short piece of braided line, so I didn't have to worry about a bobberstop slipping. I had about two bucks into each rod so I wouldn't have felt bad if one went down the hole. I made up several and had bobberstops set at different depths, so instead of changing the setting, they could just grab a different rod. These don't work well outside the fishhouse, where things tend to ice up. Another option is one of the underspin reels, made by a number of different companies. I have a son who used one for late fall openwater fishing, because he could use it while wearing gloves.

[tomfromblaine]

thanks guys for the info, went to sportsman warehouse and they didnt have that underspin like you suggested, so I figured since I'll be setting next to her anyway to help her get her line down I just got her a cetus because she has the reeling up part down pat, besides maybe she'll let me use it sometimes