Family Fishing Fun For Bass In The Spring

Worms, Hooks, Floats, Weights, Leaders and Fishing Pole

Now that my son is the perfect age to fish he’s now my little partner. As we all know teaching little kids can be either be an easy or difficult task to accomplish. Especially if you have show them how to use reels that get tangled or encounter bird-nests. Well I think I’ve found the perfect match and let me explain how my son has learned to enjoy fishing early in his career. It’s basically just float fishing with worms, you know what we used to use when we were kids. What even makes this fishing more fun is the rod, it has no reel and is just a telescopic stick. This makes fishing way more fun as less enfances in put on learning terminal tackle and more time can be put into just making a simple overhand casts. Lets see what I’ve learned that works with a 4 year old and get the basic knowledge to bag those pesky bass in your bucket.

Rod
In Japan telescopic rods with no reels are very common to be found and can usually be bought for about 2,000-5,000 yen. They come in various sizes from 2-6M. Look on the rod and you’ll see a number like 360, that means 3.6 meters. Personally I have 3.6m rod and it’s perfect for all types of fishing.

Bait
Worms or powder baits are what works best for bass or smaller koi. The worms at your local fishing store will come in small and large sizes and can be found in their refrigerator. The powdered baits are perfect if you want to target small koi called Funa and all that is needed is a bucket and some water. Generally they have a ratio like 3 parts powder : 1 part water. Of course if you can just dig up your local garden for worms if you can. I tried just recently and could only find 2-3 worms so it must be a little too early for them.

Hooks/Floats
Go to your local fishing store and look under their trout section for the perfect bait hooks. I found some from Gamakatsu that were made for worms and that are barbless. Using barbless is a must if your little guy is just learning how to cast and retrieve for the first time. Let me tell you I’ve seen my son yank on that rod pretty hard sometimes with hooks flying everywhere. Floats are easy to find and try getting the ones designed for trout fishing as they are most sensitive for this type of fishing.

Locations/Fish
You can try local rivers, lakes even moats. In my area we have a large range of conditions and by far lakes seem to be the best place to get bass. You’ll have to ask your local fishing store about choosing the right body of water. Common fish that can be encountered are black bass, bluegill, catfish and smaller koi. Black bass are fierce predators and they will pound a worm, this makes makes float fishing a really good way for young anglers to first experience the bite. Bluegill are usually found in the summer months and can be found close to shore. I’ve seen catfish taken in rivers and they are great fighters! Small koi called funa can be extremely tricky to catch as they bite very light. They will readily take powdered baits and worms.

Overall as you can see fishing with young anglers can be lots of fun as long as you make it super simple and safe. So get on out there and enjoy the spring with your family as winter’s finally gone into remission.