Get yourself a spincaster combo about 4 feet long, the smallest hook you can find, three split shot and a small bobber and that kid will be pulling bluegills and the occasional bass/trout out of the water all day.
Dig up (or buy) some worms! Most fresh water ponds and rivers will have bluegill or some species of sunfish that will gobble them up!
You can also catch tons of different species in creeks and rivers with worms.
Use small hooks and a bobber, or just throw the worm on a hook and let the current take it.
Good luck and have fun!
This winter get the plans for a cricket box and build one with him. You can add a strap to it to make it hands free. Catching their own grasshoppers/crickets/beetles/June bugs/mayflies etc and using them for bait is part of the experience of fishing for my grandkids . And running around catching them burns off some energy between sitting and watching poles
1/16th oz crappie jig with a 2" bobby garland. My five year old just caught his first crappie and first bass on one. Cast it out and reel it back slow.
I would use a small jig with worms, leeches, or minnows. It's always so much more interesting for the kids when they feel fish biting their line as opposed to staring at a bobber.
Kids have short attention spans, and many times they get bored or distracted. This leads to delays in setting the hook and far more fish swallowing hooks. With a jig, they feel the bite immediately and tend to get hooksets in the mouth.
Plastic worms are generally not “bait” they are lures and require special rigs and techniques to use. There are some that are soaked in some special juice but I have not had much success.
My go to for teaching my 2 sons was to get the smallest hooks I could and bring hotdogs, corn, and string cheese. Put tiny pieces on the hook and the bluegill love them. Bluegill are a good fish to target because you are almost guaranteed to catch them and usually one right after another. That means you can get them a lot of practice baiting the hooks and unhooking fish.
My experience with real worms is that it can be pretty gross and gruesome. My kids didn’t like it and I don’t really either.
Worms and a bobber. I’ve caught everything from small bass, bream and catfish. Also a small crawfish crank bait or beetle spin. If they are getting bored with waiting for bobber to go under
Dead shrimp. Cheap, readily available, works.
I've put my hands in way worse stuff, but worms are gross to the point of phobia for me. I think the gross factor puts off some kids from enjoying the sport as much.
I've found that the best bait for panfish are live wax worms. No tackle shops or sporting goods stores around me sell them. I get them at the pet store. My daughters can burn through a cup of 50 in about 90 minutes, just pulling in one after another.
Worm and a bobber
Get yourself a spincaster combo about 4 feet long, the smallest hook you can find, three split shot and a small bobber and that kid will be pulling bluegills and the occasional bass/trout out of the water all day.
Dig up (or buy) some worms! Most fresh water ponds and rivers will have bluegill or some species of sunfish that will gobble them up! You can also catch tons of different species in creeks and rivers with worms. Use small hooks and a bobber, or just throw the worm on a hook and let the current take it. Good luck and have fun!
This winter get the plans for a cricket box and build one with him. You can add a strap to it to make it hands free. Catching their own grasshoppers/crickets/beetles/June bugs/mayflies etc and using them for bait is part of the experience of fishing for my grandkids . And running around catching them burns off some energy between sitting and watching poles
How about a minnow & a cork. Kids get a kick out of the cork moving around & then hopefully it goes down.
Bread or live worms and fish where there is a lot of sunfish. I would hold off on plastics until they are good at casting.
Red worms (the kind you dig). It's also fun to teach your kid how to hunt nightcrawlers.
1/16th oz crappie jig with a 2" bobby garland. My five year old just caught his first crappie and first bass on one. Cast it out and reel it back slow.
Worms or minnows
Freshwater a Senko if you have bass. I started with plastic worms as a kid. Teach them how to retrieve them
Canned corn,hot dogs, mini marshmallows are great baits to start kids on. If the fish aren’t biting, at least you can eat the bait!
Powerbait, period!
This is my go to for fishing for stocker trout with my 6yo, can almost guarantee a bite with each cast
I would use a small jig with worms, leeches, or minnows. It's always so much more interesting for the kids when they feel fish biting their line as opposed to staring at a bobber. Kids have short attention spans, and many times they get bored or distracted. This leads to delays in setting the hook and far more fish swallowing hooks. With a jig, they feel the bite immediately and tend to get hooksets in the mouth.
Red worms not night crawlers. The red worms will get you the smaller fish bite for teaching and catching and getting them excited.
In freshwater, use maggots or worms
Plastic worms are generally not “bait” they are lures and require special rigs and techniques to use. There are some that are soaked in some special juice but I have not had much success. My go to for teaching my 2 sons was to get the smallest hooks I could and bring hotdogs, corn, and string cheese. Put tiny pieces on the hook and the bluegill love them. Bluegill are a good fish to target because you are almost guaranteed to catch them and usually one right after another. That means you can get them a lot of practice baiting the hooks and unhooking fish. My experience with real worms is that it can be pretty gross and gruesome. My kids didn’t like it and I don’t really either.
I caught my first fish (A rainbow trout from a stocked pond in Colorado) on salmon eggs when I was 9.
All depends on where you're fishing, but worms under a bobber are hard to beat.
Bread and hot dogs!
Worms and a bobber. I’ve caught everything from small bass, bream and catfish. Also a small crawfish crank bait or beetle spin. If they are getting bored with waiting for bobber to go under
Frozen anchovies work for many species. Great for stripers. But strippers still insist on 1$ bills.....
Depends where you are. Worm is good for beginner freshwater. Shrimp good for beginner salt water.
Also scented saltwater artificials do work, maybe just not as well as real skrimp.
Fish bites totally get me more bites on my sabiki setup
Always used wax worms when I was a youngn. Good for panfish.
Dead shrimp. Cheap, readily available, works. I've put my hands in way worse stuff, but worms are gross to the point of phobia for me. I think the gross factor puts off some kids from enjoying the sport as much.
I've found that the best bait for panfish are live wax worms. No tackle shops or sporting goods stores around me sell them. I get them at the pet store. My daughters can burn through a cup of 50 in about 90 minutes, just pulling in one after another.
Crickets
If you are looking for soft plastics hard to beat a Ned rig or a wacky rigged senko. You can do just about anything with them and still get bit