Son wanting to take next step to lures.

My son just turned 10 and really wants fish with more artificials this year. We got him a nice pair of polarized sunglasses a couple years ago ($15 Solar Bats on eBay) because he wanted to see what I was looking at underwater and understand how to fish the underwater structure. He has fished lures a couple times in the past and caught fish, but he has expressed interest in really wanting to learn how to fish them and how to feel the bite on them starting this Spring. My question is what should I start him on that will give a young and inexperienced angler confidence? I figure most of us were introduced to not only fishing but fishing with lures by our fathers or other fishing role models and have done our fair share of introductions to the next generations, so I figure collectively we have stories and instances when some lures and techniques worked and some didn't. Thanks for the help, yall!

i chose jig-spinner because 1) they generally produce and 2) they're pretty much just cast and retrieve. Later you can teach him to work a plain jig.

I choose the jig / soft plastic. I had a 10 year old fishing with me for white bass in the creeks this weekend. I taught him how to bounce a 1/16 ounce marabou jig off the creek bottom. He caught 6 white bass. Learning finesse techniques with light jigs or weightless plastic worms would be a priority for me to teach. I suspect he is already an accomplished fisherman so he should catch on quickly.

I personally would buy him a 5 weight fly rod and some betts fancy poppers. My dad bought me a fly rod and betts fancy poppers when I was 11. It was the greatest fun I ever had fishing. I didn't pick up fly fishing again until I was 50. It's still the greatest fun I have ever had.

I started out as a kid using small spinner baits such as Rooster tails and Little Georges. I would fish the local golf course ponds. They were easy to cast and direct to a target spot. Also I have fished with "Dhogdogs" two boys on several occasions and they loved using the Curly Tail Grubs.

beetle spin

Voted jig/spinner. I grew up on those cheap H&H spinner baits from Wal-Mart. I think they're still only a buck. They catch fish and won't hurt much to lose a few.

Plus #1. Still use em along with my fly rod. Love catching sunfish on artificial baits. Small spinner baits and flies.

This is what I'd do. I got my first fly rod when I was 12 and it's very versatile. I've used live bait, jigs, flies, and a few other things that you're not supposed to use with one, but it works. I'd get one of the kits from wally world or one of the other big stores for cheap so he can learn and not have a lot in it. Once he's learned the basics then get a better one. I try to use my fly rod as much as possible because it has a habit of catching more fish as a rule, but that's just me.

No question, there are many situations in which a fly rod is far more successful than artificial lures. The ability to throw light flies and the improved presentation is a big advantage. I'm also more accurate, can throw it into tighter spaces and get it there much quicker if I have room to back cast.

I was fly fishing below the dam a few weeks back. I caught 8 hybrids and 20 white bass while 50 other people were fishing around me didn't catch a single one. They were throwing in on top of me with conventional gear and couldn't buy a bite. They quizzed me the entire time and even took pictures of my fly.

I still use a $20 BPS fly rod with my poppers. It doesn't have the sensitivity for subsurface flies but it works great for using top water flies.

Any fly-fishing shop will have some tiny red-ants of soft plastic. They are killer on bream and a great teaching tool.

There's always the "hybrid." And it works. Put a Clouser minnow with bead or lead eyes on 2 feet of line tied to the rear eye of a floating plug, like a Tiny Torpedo. Fish the plug pop-and-stop style. You get castability and if there's a fish in there the fly will get hit. For a kid I'd remove all the hooks from the plug because otherwise landing the fish can get dicey.

When I "graduated" from worms, Black and Chartreuse tubes with an unpainted jig head was the first artificial I used. Some times I would cast and retrieve other times I would fish under a bobber.

I also drop shot flies on UL gear for certain kinds of fishing.

For a starter lure, this is hard to beat.

I'll second the fly rod suggestion, but not sure I would go with the cheap 'kit' rod. One thing about that though, it sure makes you appreciate a nice one when you finally get your hands on one!

If you do decide to seriously consider trying him on the fly rod, I'd suggest to post the question over in the fly fishing section and see what some of the guys who teach casting say.

Like most of us, I started out on the cheap-o rod and caught plenty of fish on it, but I'm thinking a little better rod that casted easier would have sure helped me a lot in the beginning. I had hell (and still do have trouble) breaking some bad casting habits that were the result of being self-taught with a POS fly rod.

I think TFO has some entry level rods that won't break the bank. Something to think about anyway.
I also could be totally wrong about this whole line of thinking but it wouldn't hurt to ask around.

flukes,..rigged weedless,..catches fish, and less hangups..

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I'll second the fly rod suggestion, but not sure I would go with the cheap 'kit' rod. One thing about that though, it sure makes you appreciate a nice one when you finally get your hands on one!

If you do decide to seriously consider trying him on the fly rod, I'd suggest to post the question over in the fly fishing section and see what some of the guys who teach casting say.

Like most of us, I started out on the cheap-o rod and caught plenty of fish on it, but I'm thinking a little better rod that casted easier would have sure helped me a lot in the beginning. I had hell (and still do have trouble) breaking some bad casting habits that were the result of being self-taught with a POS fly rod.

I think TFO has some entry level rods that won't break the bank. Something to think about anyway.
I also could be totally wrong about this whole line of thinking but it wouldn't hurt to ask around. [/quote]

I can't argue with that train of thought. I have a TFO rod. I had to teach myself as a kid as well. That wasn't a pretty sight. Matter of fact, it still isn't, LOL.

I had to teach myself how to use lures this past year after spending a 25 years growing up using only minnows, worms, and catfish bait. Start with a 1/16 and a 1/8 oz rooster tail, it's what I did and it is still my favorite lure to use period. He will catch all sizes of sunfish (even some 2 inch ones), catfish, crappie, largemouth, sand bass, etc. He will catch them by just casting and reeling and then you can also teach him how to control depth by letting it fall and or raising/lowering rod tip, faster/slower retrieve, etc. It's what I did and the 1/8 rooster tail produced my first ever in my life 5lb largemouth during the very first month. It will prove to him that fish will actually bite lures, and bite them hard, and that he can actually catch more fish faster without having to lug bait around and get clothes messy.

Well, we went out there, but a brisk cold front blew in so he didn't want to stay long which was ok. Started him off on the jig/spinner combo and didn't get a bite. Switched to a tiny 1"grub on a 1/32nd jighead and he caught quite a few. Went by myself the next day and the wind was only gusting a little bit but was still cold. Water temp was barely 50° but fish were eating on top. Caught a few with the 1" grub and surprisingly a few on size 03 Floating Rapala. It's rare in the day that bream would eat a topwater in March in SoTex, let alone Colorado. Was seeing some type of flying insect around; a couple landed on me so I guess I got there during a hatch. Still pretty crazy to see a hatch this early with the water so cold.

Same here. It was discouraging when I was 12 and had no one to teach me. I had a StCroix 6 weight and could only find straight taper line then so casting was an effort, to say the least. My first good rod was an Orvis combo and it caught a lot of fish.

You might look at bass pro for one of their combos. Was in the one in Shreeveport Monday and they had kits about $70 and it would be a good starter set up.

Lots of great stuff here for crappie and white bass. Flies can be magic for sunnies for sure. If you aren't ready to make the time/money investment in fly fishing, you may want to investigate fly and clear bubble spinning technique. Pistol Petes work incredibly well. Finally, small Gulp minnows worked like a fluke are deadly!

Seriously, jagg, get that young angler a fly rod and a place on a bluegill pond....and 50 years from now, that angler will still love fly fishing for 'gills as much as anything. It happened to me and odds are pretty good it would happen to others.

I've fished for almost every fish species all over the world and still love to return to the bluegill pond, a fly rod, and a popper....nothing like it.

That is how I learnt and then moved on to fly fishing, left the rest.

My kids and I have caught nice bluegills, redears, etc on spinnerbaits while Bassin'. Good Luck
Also, never seen a nano run right.

Yeah, starting to think that's not a bad idea. Any starter rig and fly assortment you would recommend, Meadowlark and others?

I would start him with a 5 weight combo with weight forward floating line and 7 to 9 ft monofilament leader. Betts fancy poppers. You can buy starter kits at BPS and Orvis and get lessons there as well. There are a number of events which offer free fly fishing lessons, as well as, local fly clubs.

I would focus on using top water poppers to start with. They work awesome and it is what really captivated me as a kid. Not only will they catch lots of sunfish but I've caught bass over 3.5 lbs. on those small Betts poppers.

Woolly buggers, clousers an briminators would be a good collection of subsurface flies.

I still have my old glass rod (Wright McGill) with one of those Shakespeare automatic reels that I purchased with my hard earned money at 10 years of age (probably cost something like $10 to $20 back then, LOL... which was a lot for me).

Seems like you might have a couple options, at least.

One would be to purchase a good quality rod...something like a 5wt TFO TiCrx...and give him that and if he doesn't take to it, then you have a great all purpose rod for yourself.

Alternately, get it for yourself and give the youngster a comparable older rod of yours if you have one. The weight isn't critical but if you are spending money I'd go with 5wt. I'd bet he would cherish one of dad's rods forever.

No need to spend much on the reel or really the line just any WFF line would be fine.

Fly assortment: my personal favorite, which you probably know, is the BH Prince Nymph...but I think to get him hooked I would start him out on a Miss Prissy or any other small poppers. Once he sees and experiences the hit, he will be hooked. Later combine the Miss Prissy and the BH Prince in a popper dropper rig and that youngster will never look back.

I learned on my own...as anyone can, but a little help from Dad would really go a long ways. Let us know how it goes. I love to see youngsters get hooked on fishing, especially fly fishing.

First thing I ever gave my nephew was a "Tiny" Zoom brush hog in watermelon Red Texas rigged , 4 years later its still his go to bait . He has used it to catch sunfish, crappie and bass .

I say Jig/Spinner with maybe a float/jig close behind. Like said above the jig/spinner is basically just chunk and wind and it produces well for the most part. Heck it's still my go to for panfish.

It'd have to be him learning from the guys at the local Bass Pro, because his Poppa knows nothing about fly fishing. I've got ULs for days, but no fly gear to speak of.