Another rabbit hole....fishing

[Indigo22]

Well I started down the rabbit hole. Grandson wanted to go fishing...
I had no gear, none, nada... I stopped into a local second hand shop that often seems to have a wide variety of "stuff". I found a pair of near matching poles in good shape. Ultra lite Zebco 33 micro reels mounted on short 48" medium light action poles. Both reels need new line but function as they should. I also picked up a like new tackle box and an older but clean net. So now I need to acquire all the necessary goodies and hardware for an outing.
I haven't fished in at least 20 years or more. I am not sure which of my sons I gave all my gear to, but it is likely easier at this point to start fresh and set up another pole that is heavy enough for my needs to fish with. The ultra lite's will be fun for panfish and medium sized bass or like sized fish but if I want to fish for big cat's or carp I will need something more substantial... Ya, there's that rabbit hole again. I'm thinking a starter grade bait-caster would work but I'm not wanting to spend to much. Maybe something will turn up at the second hand shop. Folks either love a bait-caster or they hate 'em. I had one a long time before I learned how to run it without making a tangled mess of the line.
I'm going to have to ask locals where a good kid friendly pond is that will keep him interested on his first outing. Catch and release will be the name of the game until I am confident with which waters and fish are safe to eat in my area.

 

[Cracker57]

Indigo22 where are you in Jefferson county. Watertown has some good kid spots, and just below the dam in Jefferson.

 

[Indigo22]

I am in the city of Jefferson... Fishing okay in Watertown park? Panfish? bass? I'm just hoping for enough action so he won't get bored.

 

[Tabby]

Well I started down the rabbit hole. Grandson wanted to go fishing...
I had no gear, none, nada... I stopped into a local second hand shop that often seems to have a wide variety of "stuff". I found a pair of near matching poles in good shape. Ultra lite Zebco 33 micro reels mounted on short 48" medium light action poles. Both reels need new line but function as they should. I also picked up a like new tackle box and an older but clean net. So now I need to acquire all the necessary goodies and hardware for an outing.
I haven't fished in at least 20 years or more. I am not sure which of my sons I gave all my gear to, but it is likely easier at this point to start fresh and set up another pole that is heavy enough for my needs to fish with. The ultra lite's will be fun for panfish and medium sized bass or like sized fish but if I want to fish for big cat's or carp I will need something more substantial... Ya, there's that rabbit hole again. I'm thinking a starter grade bait-caster would work but I'm not wanting to spend to much. Maybe something will turn up at the second hand shop. Folks either love a bait-caster or they hate 'em. I had one a long time before I learned how to run it without making a tangled mess of the line.
I'm going to have to ask locals where a good kid friendly pond is that will keep him interested on his first outing. Catch and release will be the name of the game until I am confident with which waters and fish are safe to eat in my area.

Last summer I was fishing for Walleye up on Lake Winneconne using a 6 foot ultralight rod and Pflueger President and 8 pound test line. I hooked into a 22 pound Channel Cat and was able to finesse it into the net. So the rabbit hole just got expanded a bit. There are a lot of new inexpensive rods and reels out there so why waste your hard earned money on stuff somebody else basically threw away. On the Pflueger web site they have rod and reel combos on sale for $79. https://pfluegerfishing.com/collections/president-president-xt/products/president-spinning-combo . Lots of options available. Speaking from experience, don't buy any Johnnie Morris reels at Bass Pro either new or used. They have not held up for me even in a short term and usually find their way to the scrap heap.

 

[Tom L]

Don't know if it's still a thing, but the dam at Evansville was always a sure thing. Otherwise there's Koshkanong (sp).

 

[Cracker57]

Check out right below the dam in Jefferson, just below the hwy 18 bridge. I always look for younger people when asking about the fishing they will give up info on what's biting, what bait to use etc. old farts tend to be tighter lipped.
I am new to Watertown and have not found the hot spots yet, the brickyard park in Watertown has pan fish and seems like a good place for kids.

 

[Indigo22]

There is a local bait and tackle shop in Fort Atkinson that I'll be stopping into today. They have good reviews and folks say they are helpful about places to fish. I'll ask them about kid friendly places.

 

[Indigo22]

I picked up a handful of tackle for my fishing box. Literally a handful. Swivels, sinkers, hooks, line, rubber practice casting plugs, little rubber things that look like minnows. 85 bucks... I received some good direction on where some good fishing should be found from a young man who was buying some live bait for catfishing, the bait shop owner wasn't giving up any info. ... I received a lot of kudos for getting him out of the house and spending time with him. What one will do for a grandson that wants to go fishing.

 

[Tabby]

Sounds like a good deal. A bait shop owner who doesn't want to tell you where to try or where they are biting is about useless. If it was the owner (which I actually doubt) I would look for another place to go. Don't forget to ask the granddaughter if she wants to come along. Both of my grandfathers had passed away before I was old enough to walk down to lake on my own. I had fantastic uncles and older cousins who along with my dad set me on the right path both fishing and hunting. I was lucky.

 

[Indigo22]

Yes, it was the owner... His face is plastered all over their FB page. There is supposedly another bait shop on the other side of the river that I am looking into. One of the grand daughters has expressed interest in fishing as well so I'll be bringing her also. ... Today, I dropped another 30 bucks on a few crank baits and jig heads at WM. Just some simple small stuff.
Oh, the fishing line I picked up yesterday is an 8lb braided line. I bought two pkgs of 150 yards about 60 yards each fit on both reals, so I may bring one pkg back. I also bought a small roll of green/clear monofilament for leaders and such.

 

[Indigo22]

Aand now all four of the grandkids want to go fishing... I can see a couple cheapie starter reels in my future. I'm likely going to need to get something for my daughter also if we all go as a group. She will need a license too. Turning into a production.

 

[Tom L]

@Indigo22 , Zebco sells kid's fishing kits through Farm & Fleet, etc., that worked great when I took my kids out some 30 years ago. Still have them methinks. That and a container of worms, hooks and bobbers you should be all set. I started out trying to put together an outing with the real gear once. But, if you are taking 4 kids you will likely be spending all of your time rigging and untangling lines anyway. God help you if someone actually catches something. In which case it becomes catch and release.
Once when I took the kids we actually caught a few pan fish. I let them go. The kids got all disgusted. So on the way home we stopped and picked up some fresh walleye filets at Empire Fish and I fried them up for dinner that night for a "shore breakfast". It was fun listening to them tell tales of the day.

 

[Tabby]

Aand now all four of the grandkids want to go fishing... I can see a couple cheapie starter reels in my future. I'm likely going to need to get something for my daughter also if we all go as a group. She will need a license too. Turning into a production.

Don't complain. All of those kids interested will become your best fishing buddies in the future if they are introduced into fishing correctly.

 

[Tabby]

Here we go. Once again I am going to play devils advocate and suggest that you spend a little more on their fishing gear, which is age dependent. Going back many years now, I had been assigned to the airfield as a maintenance officer at Fort McCoy My son was four or five. For those of you not familiar with the fishing at McCoy and surrounding areas it's fantastic. Got my little guy one of the aforementioned kids fishing rod/reel combos at the PX. After work hours one day I picked him up from the babysitter and we went fishing at Sandy Lake, which is not far from the airport. One of the first things noticed was that his little fishing pole and closed face reel could not cast far enough out into the lake from the shoreline (boats prohibited at the time) I could not cast the little rod/reel much farther than he could. While we were not catching a thing on his rod, we were on my rod. I was using a Diawa spinning reel on an ultralight rod. So we chucked the kids rod and I would cast out and he would reel in the fish. Taught him how to gently remove the hook (I was using barbless) and return the fish to the pond. After a while he wanted to try casting the ultralight, so I showed him how and was amazed when he actually did quite well. The releasing the line with his finger was much easier for him than releasing the thumb release on the kids rod. Anyway the next day I was back at the PX and bought him a Diawa 5 foot spinning combo, and set it up for fishing the trout waters in and around the military installation.

Looking around there are a lot of short ultralite rod and reel combos out there that are really inexpensive. An example is the Bass Pro TinyLite spinning combo on sale for a whopping $29.99. I can't vouch for it's quality, but it gives you an idea that getting something that can be used for years and is easy to cast might be a better idea than one of the zebco combos. There are a lot of good deals out there if one wants to shop around.

 

[Tom L]

@Indigo22 , @Tabby makes a good point. Forgot to mention earlier, since you'll have a few lines in the water, some short lengths of pipe are handy to push in the ground to hold the poles when the kids or their mom have something to do. And, if appropriate, plastic pipe may be called for to keep any kids from clobbering any of the others.

 

[Tabby]

@Indigo22 , @Tabby makes a good point. Forgot to mention earlier, since you'll have a few lines in the water, some short lengths of pipe are handy to push in the ground to hold the poles when the kids or their mom have something to do. And, if appropriate, plastic pipe may be called for to keep any kids from clobbering any of the others.

The short pipe rod holders work well, but in some places you might need a hammer to get them into the ground. As for kids clobbering each other, way back when thoughts like that would have not crossed our minds or at least if they did would not be tolerated by the adults accompanying the kids fishing. Times have changed, and I'm afraid not for the better.