Teach a Boy to Fish
- This topic has 11 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Apr 11, 2007 at 9:12 am by
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I’m looking for advice on how to teach a boy to fish. He’ll have his 11th birthday in October.
I learned from my dad and grandfather, with worms and salmon eggs and on lakes and rivers, starting at about 10 years old. Dad and Gramps quickly guided me to a flyrod and flyline as I continued with bait. The transition to flyfishing came easily and without a defining moment. One day in my early 20s I just realized that I never fished bait anymore. All flys all the time.
But even then I was still keeping most of the fish I caught. I was poor, lived in Carbondale, Colo., and needed every scrap of food I could find. I fished nearly every day from April through October. Later, in my 30s, I began returning fish to the water. I’ll still kill and eat a fish now and then, but very rarely. Truth is I got sick of eating trout up in Carbondale.
With my nephew, I’d like to instill a catch-and-release ethic early. Hard to do that with bait, because fish swallow the hook and often must be killed. So I’m planning to start him with dry flys, fished with a bubble on a short spinning rod. If he likes that, I figure he can handle a fly rod in a year or two, and we’ll worry about nymphing later. After that it will be up to him, but of course, if we became fishing buddies, that would be swell too.
Brady is about 4-foot-6, average for his age, with average athletic ability and above average intelligence (he’s my newphew, after all!). He’s got lots of other activities, and he may never take to fishing. Then again, he might love it as I do.
His dad doesn’t fish. Brady lives in southwest Denver.
I started my sons on a pond where we live primarily because there were less trees and bushes to get hung up on.I kept the casting instruction time short and let them just mess around alot. I found it helpful to start them with a roll cast . It ‘s easy to learn and easy to manage,especially on a stream. I felt they were able to get comfortable with the whole
He’s older than most kids taking to fishing for the first time, but I still think the general rule applies: don’t overload them.
I would start him with a fly rod set-up if that’s what you want him to get into.
I say think more about what the kid actually wants to get into.
Agreed, Carter.
You guys do what you want, but I think you’ll have a lot better chance of teaching a love of fishing if you start with gear, worms, and bluegill than if you start out teaching with dry flies and trout. I’d wager that the vast majority of us here started with gear when we were kids and later expanded into fly fishing.
bd
I say start em out however you want, just do it in a fun and exciting way. If he’s a fisherman you won’t have to force feed it to him, it’ll come naturally.
When I read this post yesterday I began to seriously think about HOW I helped transform a young 2nd cousin (9 years old – 1996) into a very skilled fly fisherman at age 22 (2007). Although I’d been fishing with Matt’s grandfather and father many times, I was always the guest and Matt erred to his grandfather. Bobbers and crickets for bedding bream or trolling spinners for schooling stripe. When Matt was 9, his mother finally turned him loose for a week away from home with me fishing. I’m sure we started with bobbers and crickets, but gradually as time wore on we expanded Matt’s repetoire.
Looking back, I think the key to that expansion was providing Matt ample opportunity to catch fish (bobbers and crickets) while I fished using my favorite techniques–fly fishing and ultralight spinning even though I knew my odds were decreased because of the little kid slapping the bobber around. When Matt watched me catch a fish on the ultralight or flyrod, he wanted to try–and try I let em. Initially the skills weren’t there–no fish, back to the bobber. But it allowed me to see what he needed to learn, and understand what I needed to teach him. We got 2 or 3 opportunities every summer to fish for several days together. As his age, attention span and eye-hand coordination improved, his casting skills improved. It was never really forced–he decided how he wanted to catch fish and I decided how I wanted to catch fish, except that when his big cousin caught a fish fly fishing, he needed to try.
When he was about 13 or 14, it was time for the big trip. His mother allowed him to go with us to Minnesota for 2 weeks (she packed enough clothes for a whole semester at college but that’s another story). This was a big test for him. Could he focus and fish for 2 weeks in the North Woods?–no bobbers and crickets. This was a real confidence boost for him. He learned some new techniques, experienced new kinds of fish, and had a great time doing it. Despite sunburn and mosquitos, he did well. We made that trip several more summers, adding in a bit of hiking into lakes with canoes or float tubes–always trying to broaden his experiences while allowing him to catch fish the way he wanted too. HIs first trout trip was to the Smokies. He did OK, but he was hooked so to speak. When he was 19, I flew him to Colorado for a few days of trout fishing with a guide float fishing the Arkansas River. Another new experience–his fly casting skills had improved significantly so he could focus on learning how to catch trout from the guide and listening to the guide. Again I just took the opportunity to broaden his horizons and skills. I can say today that’s its paid off hansomely. He goes fishing on his own whenever he can. He catches fish fly fishing and with ultralights to the amazement of his friends. He saves his $$ for trips and gear. He is the envy of his college buddies.
In retrospect I am sure his success is due to much more than my helping him, but the fact that I let him fish however he wanted to, but never failed to fish (as an incentive) the way I wanted to when I was fishing with him helped alot I didn’t impose any technique on him, but showed him all the techniques that worked for me.
When I read this post yesterday I began to seriously think about HOW I helped transform a young 2nd cousin (9 years old – 1996) into a very skilled fly fisherman at age 22 (2007).
See?
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