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February - March 2018
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boatingonthehudson.com
GRANDPA
CARL’S
KID’S
COLUMN
by Carl Bruger
The first article hopefully of many
more to come in a series for children
and their families to enjoy.
From the publisher:
Carl Bruger has been a
member of the Hudson River Fishermans
Association for many years. He is totally
devoted to fishing and especially teaching
children the wonderful sport. Carl is usually at
one of the many HRFA events held throughout
the year on the Hudson River and else where.
John H. Vargo, Publisher
W
ith a new year and plenty of winter ahead to prepare
for the spring and summer fishing seasons all of my
readers have time to really get prepared to go fishing with
the right fishing gear. Moms and Dads, Grandparents and
other folks guiding the beginning youngsters will be have
useful information in each article that will optimize the
odds of a successful angling adventure.
This first sharing will cover what to take with you when
you take a kid fishing. The article will be in two parts
and so the April issue will complete the details of all the
various needs in gear and equipment if you want to really
do it right. Please understand that if you don’t have every
item you are not going to “fail” in Fishing 1A. You should
never expect an angling adventure with a young child to
go perfectly smoothly. The key is to roll with the challenges
of tangles, skinned knees, wet clothes and mosquito bites
to get to the unmitigated joys of that first fish caught or
the really big fish landed that everyone remembers for a
lifetime!
Let’s start with the child’s first fishing rod. It is best to
introduce kids to casting with a push button spin cast reel
on a rather short rod matched to their size, age and co-
ordination.
Pflueger President
Spinning ...
Walmart$46.45
Daiwa Goldcast
Spincast ...
Sportsman’s Guide
$59.99
My own two grandsons, Miles and Harry, ages 8 and
6 as of this writing, are relatively capable spin casters
based on a couple weeks of vacation time with grandpa
each year, but they are excited about learning so much
more and I will be thrilled to share the progress they
make in future articles.
The line you use on a push button reel is usually
monofilament ranging from 4 to 12 pound test in fresh
water and 10 to 30 pound test in salt water. The brine reels
here on boat rods are conventional casting reels. (Picture
the classic Penn reels we all know.) Hopefully they include
a level wind feature to avoid line spool overlap because
beginners don’t think about line distribution.
If they have demonstrated casting competence with such a rod
feel free to move them up to spinning rods and reels as the next
level of difficulty.
Really gifted and enthusiastic youngsters can eventually
be taught to handle fly rods and reels including the casting
techniques if they have a couple of years of solid casting wisdom
under their belts and an enthusiastic elder guide to coach them
in this awesome angling aspect.