Tips on helping the kid land her first big fish

My oldest is 6, just about to turn 7. She's been obsessed with fishing for about a year now and is getting pretty antsy to start landing bigger fish. The biggest she's caught was a beefy green sunfish, maybe 12oz or close to a pound.

I've got a background in fishing as a kid, but as an adult have mostly either caught trout on stocking day at the local pond (which is honestly cheat code type fishing) or ineffectually tossed a lure in the water for a half hour and been skunked. We are mostly doing worm fishing, which she likes to do with no bobber and no sinker - and that works great for sunfish and bluegill and little bass. Some days she catches so many I don't even get to put a hook in the water. But so far it's failed to produce anything bigger than that sunfish. We've done fishing from the boat a couple times and bank fishing and dock fishing.

I'm sure the biggest impediment right now is patience, which is in very short supply at 6 years old. But I'd like to figure out the best method to at least try to enable her to catch something like a 1 to 3 lb catfish or largemouth bass or something. Knowing, of course, that it's "fishing" and not "catching," what do you guys suggest? I was thinking something like a slip sinker rig or bank sinker rig for catfish and then also have her do her bobberless fishing for panfish at the same time, at least then she'd have something to entertain herself. Ideas?

Strongbad had a good answer for this one.  
 

2 min video

Try some movement lures. It might be good for patience. 

Cast then slowly reel in (good kid movement) 

Recast and reel in again. 

What are the carp like where you fish? 

THey're the easiest "big" fish to catch, but knowing how my 6 year old is, might be a little too big on her own. 

Get a can of corn, throw a handful out along the bank, stick a few pieces on a 12 or 14 hook, and toss that in amongst what you chummed with. 

If you can get to channel cats easyish with her, dough balls and chicken livers work well on circle hooks. You might need to set the hook for her though. 

My daughter has busted 3 or 4 practice rods in the last 3 years, so as much as I'd like to get her fishing and as much as she wants to, I'm hesitant to take her because I don't want to deal with so much broken hardware.

Lake Erie is all about The Erie Dearie 

Others write:

The Erie Dearie or Original Erie Dearie walleye lure should be tipped with a live worm I have had my best luck catching walleye this way. ... When Tipping the lure make sure your night crawlers or worms are alive and active. Before walleye fishing trips place them in some bedding in a carton.

Figure out what you're going to target. Assuming Alum Creek, the internet tells me that it holds Largemouth and Smallmouth, musky, and saugeye. I personally wouldn't target the musky, fish of 10,000 casts. So, the bass are likely the easier options between bass and saugeye. 

Using your depth finder on your boat, and fish finder if you have one (spring for one with GPS and depth contour), find drop offs - that is where the fish will be. Also throw at docks, bridge pilings, downed treees... any kind of structure, or moving water, i.e. a storm drain or a creek inlet. As the water gets warmer, they'll move deeper, as it gets colder, they move shallower. Either side of dams are always a good spot as well, any creeks or crevices usually are going to hold some bass. 

For bass, I always throw a Cotton Cordell Big O. My favorite lure by far. Probably why I catch the most fish on it, because I use it the most.  You can also troll with it (speeds of 1.5 to 2.3 or so, depending on the time of year, sometimes at this time of year you can speed up to 2.8) to cover more water. I also will troll with Rapala J-9, the classic floating rapala, and the Wally Diver, and Berkley Flicker Minnows and Shads. 

If you stick with the live bait, also consider leaches. If you want to target the saugeye, you need to get the bait near the bottom - whether it is live bait or not. 

I'd probably find a drop off that looks like it is holding some fish, stick a worm or a leach on a jighead, and teach your kid to jig. Try different tecniques and speeds, sometimes what works one day is useless the rest of the year. 

Ohio has a couple of decent fishing forums. Probably worth a google search or a post there as well.

My kids have evolved from the dock and worms to full-on open bail rods and casting for bass or pickerel.  It takes time.  The casting part takes practice.  both my daughter and my son did not really get proficient at casting until they were about 10 years old.

Another thing that I have always stressed to my kids from the very beginning is that it is called fishing not catching. If all you want is the catching part fishing may not be for you.  

I have always stressed enjoying being out on the water with people and talking and experiencing nature while you are fishing.  That is what it is all about.   Some of the best times with my kids have been on the lake in our little 14' alu boat and we have not actually caught anything but we saw loons, eagles, hawks, turtles, and much more.  Oh we had a close encounter with a moose swimming across the lake this summer.  That was really cool.  My point is again to stress the experiences and the adventure of going fishing and if you happen to catch something all the better. 

Awesome, thanks for the tips. mtn - a jig head seems like a good idea. She would like to jig, she's done it some without a jig head, and I have a few she could try. Shove a worm on it and maybe we'll try for some crappie at Hoover. Supposedly they get pretty big there, and they're good eating.

Rico - we've tried the carp fishing with corn a couple times and I haven't managed to get us anything.

Dean - we've definitely had some awesome moments on and around the water. But at 6 she still does the minor freak out every now and then when she hasn't caught a fish for 3 minutes. We're working on it.

Sonic said:

Strongbad had a good answer for this one.  
 

2 min video

Ha! I don't even need to click on that. Totally part of my young adulthood. Yeah, so I was fishing the trout stocking day at Antrim with a rooster tail and catching quite a few. The guy next to me said the newly released fish don't usually bit on rooster tails and he was suprised it was working for me. Lisa says, totally deadpan, "Is he saying that he doesn't think that's going to work on a stocked pond?" (Drawing out the pond into pawnd of course)

One thing I've learned after going out with a few guides - be it walleye, bass, or salmon - is that if you're not catching fish, you need to change something. Change baits, change presentations, or arguably the most important, change location. If the fish aren't there, they're not going to bite.

Bobber with a shiner will help limit the small fish and attract some of the bigger Bass. 
 

Maybe rig your rod with the bobber and shiner and let her continue to use worms. That could help keep her from getting to impatient, but also show her there are benefits to patience when she get to reel in a bigger one.

If you're catching small sunfish (3" or under) in an area, there are larger predators around the same area. Catch a small sunfish, put it under a bobber on a large circle hook (about 3/0) and wait. Oh, make sure whatever tackle she's using for the bigger fish is set up properly. My favorite bat rod is an Ugly Stick. Good line, right rod strength, drag set properly, etc. Most importantly, make sure it is secure in a holder of some sort in case a big one does grab it and swim off.

Bring a second rod so she can keep throwing bait or lures for smaller fish while you wait on the big one.

Study the fish in whatever lake you'll be at. Depending on when the last study was done, your wildlife resources commission probably knows whats in there, but local anglers probably know how big they they are now (NOTE: caution and skepticism advised).
 

Any updates on this? I'm hoping it already happened!

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

My favorite bat rod is an Ugly Stick.

I prefer the Berkley Cherrywoods to the Ugly Stick, usually slightly cheaper. But I, like every other angler out there, have a few Ugly Sticks too. Never a bad choice.  

Today was the day but... We were rigged up on one rod with a drop rig loaded with shad we caught with the castnet - for catfish just in case - and another with a jig head with a night crawler on it to keep her busy. She hooked something really big with the jig. I let her handle it for a bit then I got a hand on the rod as well. She was doing great keeping the rod I just thought she looked tired. Then - slipped the hook. It was big enough that her reel (a cheapie from Target) is a little worse for wear. She was super excited even with it getting away. It's possible it was a monster blue cat that they have a lot of in Hoover in which case we were never going to land it with that rod.

She tells me she wants to stick to the heavier rod now "just in case." We spent another hour or so out there but it was getting dark and she's been fighting a cold so we headed in. I wished we could have spent some time jigging at the dock but it was already bedtime and we needed to get home. Soon!!!

You want big fish?  Get her up to Hayward, Wisconsin next summer.  Musky fishing capitol.  You'll throw a 1# lure for a week and maybe get a nibble.  

At least Paul Bunyan's restaurant is fun.  
 

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

If you're catching small sunfish (3" or under) in an area, there are larger predators around the same area. Catch a small sunfish, put it under a bobber on a large circle hook (about 3/0) and wait. Oh, make sure whatever tackle she's using for the bigger fish is set up properly. My favorite bat rod is an Ugly Stick. Good line, right rod strength, drag set properly, etc. Most importantly, make sure it is secure in a holder of some sort in case a big one does grab it and swim off.

Bring a second rod so she can keep throwing bait or lures for smaller fish while you wait on the big one.

Study the fish in whatever lake you'll be at. Depending on when the last study was done, your wildlife resources commission probably knows whats in there, but local anglers probably know how big they they are now (NOTE: caution and skepticism advised).
 

This is our favorite trick for our HOA pond which has so many small sunfish that the big boy bass an cats in there really need an easy meal on wounded prey.  Super fun.  My sons face was amazing puling in a 14" bass.

How do you guys hook the sunfish? I've seen through the back under the backbone and also through the nose. Either one preferred?

Excellent update on the big fish that got away. Feeling those big fish pull has a way of changing up expectations.

I hook through the nose with a circle hook most of the time. Either way will work, though.

I have realized messed up when setting her up for crappie jigging at Hoover. Since it was a colder day, I showed her how to find the bottom of the water and had her jig near the bottom, and now I find out crappie are "suspended fish" and I should have had her jig more toward the middle. Is that correct? Also, I don't have a depth finder and am finding out I'm much worse at reading depth maps than I thought. We did finally find the "deep spot" but it took a lot of trial and error.

Well, check this out. Spring time hit, and yesterday as I was going for a bike ride I stopped by a fishing dock that was on my route. Apparently morning is the time the fish are out - I saw three enormous carp, 7 or 8 big largemouth bass, and some assorted trout. They stock trout in the pond, everything else is breeding there. I told my kiddo about it and asked if she wanted to get up early the next day (today) and try for some. Yes, dad! Well, this morning she was super tired and said she wanted to try again tomorrow. I told her that's ok and to let me know if she changes her mind. Ten minutes later she's up and has changed her mind. We walk to the pond with gear in hand and a plan of action: catch a small bluegill on a bread ball (really tortilla, they like it more than bread for some reason?) and put that bluegill on a big hook to catch a bass. She had the bluegill in hand less than a minute after stepping on the dock. I hadn't even gotten the hook on the bigger rod.

I hooked the bluegill and she dropped it in, and within a minute, WHAM a very big largemouth grabbed it. Unfortunately adrenaline took over and she reels it in too fast and the bass slips away. WHAM another one - same thing. This bluegill is looking pretty bad now, so we toss it out and she catches another one that I put on the hook for her. BAM the biggest largemouth I've seen in this pond grabs it, but mouths it for a bit and adrenaline takes over and she reels in just the bluegill again. Meanwhile she's spotted a couple of literally the biggest bluegills I've seen in person. We're starting to run out of time (Today's a school day, after all) so I tell her - how about we put a bobber on this bait bluegill and you try to catch that big bluegill with a worm?

I put the worm on the panfish rod for her (more on that later) and hand her the rod then add the bobber onto the bigger pole's rig and have her cast it out. While I'm straightening up some gear, she says "I GOT IT -- I GOT IT!!" and hauls up that monster sunfish:

I don't have a fishing scale, but it was a beast. It also qualifies for a Fish Ohio pin ( https://ohiodnr.gov/buy-and-apply/hunting-fishing-boating/fishing-resources/fishohio-program ), which is a program that "recognizes anglers for noteworthy catches of Ohio’s fish." We'd set a goal of getting her a fish Ohio pin this year, and here it's only May 3rd and I think we have it clinched. Well, while we were dealing with the sunfish, I notice some action on her bobber. There it is, a largemouth bass checking out her bluegill. I tell her to take it easy and just watch what it does. The bass is really conservative, mouthing at the bluegill for a bit, carrying it by the tail for a bit, then letting go and circling around. Finally it decides it's time, and grabs it and heads to the bottom. Her bobber is solidly down at this point, and held down for a while, so I say, see if it's hooked. She says "it's not, I know it's not!" I said - just check. She gives it a gentle tug and sure enough that bass is hooked. She struggled to reel that beastie in for a bit but I kept my hands out of it. She got it out of the water but couldn't lift it over the railing of the dock using her rod (it's about bent double from the weight!) so I scoop it up in a net for her.

Not her first largemouth bass, but it's her largest by at least 10 inches:

Needless to say this was a very successful morning and we've learned that there's a good reason why fisherman are out so early. That's when the fish are hungriest!

She even had me print copies of the photos out so she could show them off at school. I almost wish I could be there to hear her telling the kids about it. She did let both the fish go (she did it - not me) because she wants to let them get bigger. I was eyeing that sunfish, I bet it would have been delicious, but that was her call to make.

Thanks for the tips, guys, this has been a really fun journey so far. I don't think the fishing bug is going anywhere for her, so I'll let you guys know about any more good catches. If she gets 4 different species that meet the Fish Ohio minimums she gets a "master angler" pin. Maybe just getting the Fish Ohio pin was too low of a goal - maybe she can get a master angler pin this year?

Oh, more on that panfish rod: she and I like to pick up trash and abandonded fishing tackle we find on our expeditions. We found the broken off end of a fishing rod, and she decided she wanted to make a rod to fish with. We drilled a hole halfway through a wine cork we found at the park, and used hot glue to secure it to the big end of the broken rod. We used fishing line we found to string it up and a hook we found to rig it. We've gone through a few hooks, not all found, and she's probably caught 100 fish on that stinking rod, she calls it her "trash rod" and for close to shore fish it works better than anything else. Yes, it's mostly bluegill, but also some green sunfish and little bass. She's even developed her own techniques with it, abandoning sinkers and bobbers in favor of letting the bait gradually fall in the water. (That was her own innovation, I had no part in it.) Other people are amazed at how many fish she catches with the thing. Sometimes simple is best.

And now that I think about it, while the rod she caught her 16" largemouth bass on was purchased, the hook and bobber we were using were found, at this pond.

Big chunk of shad on the bottom and wait for a big ole catfish to take it.  Be careful, the fish she hooks could weigh more than your daughter.

This is arguably my favorite thread on the forum. Love it. Way to go kiddo!

And of course she's already asking when we can go back and try to catch the bigger bass that didn't get hooked. And of course I WANT to take her back.

One thing I've noted in my years of fishing freshwater lakes and ponds is that the time of day is crucial if you're looking for a lunker.  Dawn and dusk are great times to fish.  I don't do early mornings well, but I've caught some very nice fish in the time between sunset and dark.