Starting them young

[AddictedToScopex]

Well my last few sessions have seen some keen young anglers on the banks with me. My little girl at 4 years old was dying to come to the river with me and see some fish after I took her with me to the canal last year in the hunt for pike and perch. She was really well behaved by the river and loved every minute. She stayed for an hour with my wife and is keen to come again. As soon as she is old enough she will be a regular feature with me on the river bank. It was great to have her there full of enthusiasm.

 

Myself and my brother then took his son (12) out to a commercial for his first session and then onto the river on the next one for a night session. Again I took him a few years back and he really enjoyed it then too. He lasted til 12am on the night session before he was wanting his bed as he had stayed up late the night before against our advice.

 

It was nice to pass things on to them and to teach them about angling and to have something that can connect us with our kids as they get older.

 

[Andrew]

Great stuff mate, always a pleasure to see youngsters on the bank with their parents.

 

The grin says it all mate, :clap3:

[gozzer]

It's good to see parents getting youngsters involved, and you wisely made it a short session for the little one, and let the lad set his own time when he'd had enough.

 

One question though, you said you took your daughter along because she wanted to see some fish, but don't say if she did.

 

John.

[RugeleyAngler]

Awesome

[AddictedToScopex]

lol she didnt unfortunately and then 5 minutes after she left I moved another rod length out and managed to get among them :)Typical! I had her down the canal on Saturday just gone though and she got to see a few perch and loved it again.

[Ken L]

Good stuff.

I take my nephews out on the local commercial.

They had the most fun with cheap Chinese whips that cost me about £15 each fished line to hand.

With the rigs set to fish high in the water and me keeping the fish boiling with a constant trickle of bait, they were catching constantly.

As the boredom levels increased, I took over with rod and line and was hooking carp and handing them the rod.

The tackle I used for this was pretty bomb proof with an old match rod and 8lb line tied direct so the lack of finesse wouldn't loose them any fish.

It was good fun and apparently fishing is "awesome".

[Vagabond]

Great stuff mate, always a pleasure to see youngsters on the bank with their parents.

Depends upon the parents !!!

 

When I started fishing at age 7 , the very last things I wanted to see on the bank were my parents. They saw fishing as a source of wasted time, dirty hands, late-for-meals, and, worst of all, association with "common" boys. Oh, and as I enjoyed fishing, it must have been something "god" forgot to forbid - so they made good that omission - fishing became punishable by a good leathering , which didn't stop me fishing, but did render me immune to the god delusion.

 

 

I did teach my own children to fish, and all ten grandchildren as well. Two of the grandchilren (both girls) still fish. The real test of angling's future is, do kids go fishing on their own (or with their mates) ? It is a sad reflection on society that it is not considered safe to allow kids to go fishing on their own any more.

[AddictedToScopex]

I agree that it is seen as less safe. My nephew already wants to go on his own but it is a bit far for him at the moment and he is still to learn about safety by the river etc. I do think my brother would have no issue with him going on his own as he did the same when he was that age and would pedal his bike to ponds etc with his stuff attached to his bike.

 

It was funny to see him last time sit back in his chair, put his arms behind his head and declare to his father that 'this is the life'

[Steve Walker]

I've had my sister and her two kiddies down for a few days. My nephew is happier playing with his lego or in front of a screen, but my niece has been nagging her mum for me to take her fishing again. We had a few hours on the tench pond last night, float fishing a rod length out. The fish were uncooperative, we just had one tench to my rod, but she seemed to enjoy herself and perhaps learnt that it isn't always easy!

[Vagabond]

I have just had a morning's fishing (no, not a lot - just a few perch)

 

About half-way through the morning an elderly chap and his wife arrived, and had brought their grand-daughter (who looked about 9 years old) "fishing".

 

I had to pass their swim when I packed up twenty minutes later,. It seemed to have been chosen to be as near as possible to the spot where cars are left - NOT a good swim.

 

Grand-dad and grandma sitting in chairs and a great pile of semi-essentials in the swim.

Grand-daughter standing behind watching. No seat for her. I think the other two had already forgotten she was there.

Only grand-dad had a rod !

 

I think that poor kid will be bored stiff in half-an-hour.

 

I hope we can all do better than that.