Help please for a fly fisherman - need to teach my kids coarse fishing

[Thorpe]

Hello all, my first post on this forum. I'm reasonably up to speed on fly fishing (still improving after 15 years...!), but I know zip about other forms of the sport, and I've got a 10 year old and a 5 year old who are desperate to go fishing. Wonderful, except they have tried and not succeeded in being able to cast any of my fly rods - to the extent that they want to go "proper fishing". Gulp.

 

We live in East Anglia - lots of bank fishing on the fenland drains and rivers, with super long poles and competitions. We holiday in Cornwall, where there's sea fishing, harbour / beach fishing, and also a few stocked reservoirs, and twice a year we go up to Scotland and stay at my in laws near to lochs and rivers. We about equidistant from Grafham and Rutland.

 

Can anyone give me some advice as to which - if any - kit might be generally appropriate for the mix above? As a fly fisherman with at least one rod for each of dry fly, upstream nymphing, loch drifting, sea trout, and reservoirs, I do appreciate that no one rod will do everything, but I'm torn between spending lots of money on too much gear (for children, who may decide they are not interested after all), and simply buying one of the "instant fishing" sets that seem to me to be a real waste of money, being fit for no purpose.

 

I'm thinking spinner, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Budget £50 - £100 for rod / reel (£100 only if it looks likely to be very flexible between types of fishing). Line and lures I'll treat as expendable. The children only really want the thrill of the hunt - they're not fussed about the eating afterward.

 

Many thanks, in advance.

[Newt]

Hi thorpe and welcome to Anglers' Net.

 

I like the idea of lure fishing for kids although probably better for the older one after some success to give him the fishing bug. I think the younger one will have more fun if he stays with bait and floats for a while. At age 5, his hand bones are not really formed enough to make lots of casting a good idea.

 

 

I've been through this with my children and grandchildren and strongly favour a type of rod and reel in common use in the US but very rare in the UK.

 

The reel is a spincast reel which looks somewhat similar to a UK closed face reel but isn't. They have the added advantage of being very inexpensive. My wife fishes exclusively with them since her hands are too small to comfortably handle a spinning reel and she doesn't like having to deal with backlash problems with a multiplier.

 

They match up well with a short, limber multiplier rod in the 4-6 foot length range which is also easy for a youngster to handle. I like glass fibre rods for youngsters since they are more tolerant of being banged around and abused and are also pretty inexpensive and rods in the 4-5 foot lengths since they are very easy for youngsters to handle.

 

I'll move this to the coarse section and turn the discussion over to the UK folk who will have lots of other suggestions including the one that is most critical - the kids need to catch fish and to have fun which means short sessions, lots of fish at the venue, and Dad not trying to fish since they will need lots of help. Size won't count; lots of action will.

[dean in devon]

what i would do if i was you is phone up a local still water fishery and ask for the lake coach, he/she will give you hints tips and will show you best types of rigs, baits, and full set ups. I personally never did this as i wanted my own style, but as it's for kids i would recomend it, also what are they into? ledger (upon dependant catch large carp/catfish/tench and even very large roach and ruud (has happend to me hehe) float fishing is much much more fun for those who want to be at the lake and catch lots and lots, get your self a packet of size 18's put a maggot or two on the end and you should cat ruud roach and (upon lake) chub!!

the thing i lack the most is reels, everyone lacks somthing but they are like my dyslexia for fishing, but with Dales help (another member here) hes helped me but i got to put this into practice, remember though if they want carp expect a hard fight dependant on fish, also if ledgering is invovled i would personally recomend carp rods in the future(if you and you kids enjoy it) ledger is not for everyone but i notice a lot like float fishing...

but at your local still water they should hire out rods (approx £7 for the day) thats my local price so it should not be far from that price.

now i live in plymouth right on the edge of plymouth to cornwall, so when you do next come down spend a night at town parks in paighton it's 15 for the night perfisherman, i actually take the whole family there for 15 per night, good friendly man named jerry, say Dean sent you and he will make sure your looked after well.

maybe one day you could teach me to fly fish (but right now it's not my type of fishing) but pike.... i might try tht this winter heheheh

[davedave]

Hello all, my first post on this forum. I'm reasonably up to speed on fly fishing (still improving after 15 years...!), but I know zip about other forms of the sport, and I've got a 10 year old and a 5 year old who are desperate to go fishing. Wonderful, except they have tried and not succeeded in being able to cast any of my fly rods - to the extent that they want to go "proper fishing". Gulp.

 

We live in East Anglia - lots of bank fishing on the fenland drains and rivers, with super long poles and competitions. We holiday in Cornwall, where there's sea fishing, harbour / beach fishing, and also a few stocked reservoirs, and twice a year we go up to Scotland and stay at my in laws near to lochs and rivers. We about equidistant from Grafham and Rutland.

 

Can anyone give me some advice as to which - if any - kit might be generally appropriate for the mix above? As a fly fisherman with at least one rod for each of dry fly, upstream nymphing, loch drifting, sea trout, and reservoirs, I do appreciate that no one rod will do everything, but I'm torn between spending lots of money on too much gear (for children, who may decide they are not interested after all), and simply buying one of the "instant fishing" sets that seem to me to be a real waste of money, being fit for no purpose.

 

I'm thinking spinner, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Budget £50 - £100 for rod / reel (£100 only if it looks likely to be very flexible between types of fishing). Line and lures I'll treat as expendable. The children only really want the thrill of the hunt - they're not fussed about the eating afterward.

 

Many thanks, in advance.

 

If you buy a magazine like improve your coarse fishing, you always get loads of adverts at the back, sometimes a whole different leaflet full of them. Its worth having a look at these as they often have match rods and carp rods from about £29.99, these would be perfect for general coarse fishing, reels start at about £9.99 too so pick up an improve your coarse fishing magazine and then you can mail order it . Hope this helps

 

P.S or try this website, its very cheap and i think its even free postage so worth a look, how about this rod??

 

http://www.fishtec.co.uk/online.cfm/feeder...ods/40/no/45572

[terry t shirt]

This is my personal view but if i was to set someone up with the basic kit i would buy an 11/12ft avon type rod this would be usuable as a float rod aswell ledger/feeder the closest thing i think there is between a hybrid float/ledger and you can buy reasonable reels for about £30 if you look at the okuma range. You want two spools with the reel one you can load with 3lb line the other 6 lb .

 

the important items are landing net and rod license.

And the terminal tackle like floats etc but for a £100 you should be able to buy some reasonable kit to get started.

 

rod something like this ( not endorsing this rod just the style)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Daiwa-sensor-z-Twin-...=item2c53ede31d

 

reel something like this

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Okuma-Razor-40-Carp-...=item2eac9a7947

[Thorpe]

Thank you all very much - lots to think about here. I had not even considered their hands! I think I will take a closer look at the links, and also buy a magazine. I'll also try the rental option for the first couple of sessions (I did not know that was a possibility - certainly in the fly world it's not something I've seen), before settling on a set up like those suggested above.

 

Again, many thanks.

[Steve Walker]

I would suggest buying them whips to begin with and taking them somewhere with lots of small fish to be caught. Simple, cheap, easy to cast, no reel involved. This might be a good deal for you.

[Guest Culshan]

I would suggest buying them whips to begin with and taking them somewhere with lots of small fish to be caught. Simple, cheap, easy to cast, no reel involved. This might be a good deal for you.

No question about it - find a licensed coach in your area and have one or two sessions with them. It will save time and money in the longer term and point you in the right direction. I am amazed at how many angling newcomers I see trying to learn the basics themselves and fishing in a wholly inappropriate manner.

[Steve Walker]

Yes, formal coaching is a possibility - didn't occur to me to suggest it, when I learnt to fish you learnt from your dad or your grandad or your mates - or you read a book and figured it out for yourself!

 

To be honest, given that Thorpe is already a fly fisher, I reckon a bit of advice from here and a bit of reading would sort him out - catching tiddlers on a whip ain't rocket science - but coaching might be an easier option.

Edited April 26, 2010 by Steve Walker

[watatoad]

Shop on ebay for a couple of the Mr.Crabtree books although somewhat dated in tackle types the basic methods have changed very little and there are some excellent watercraft tips in the Mr.Crabtree series of books.