“I’m on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland and want to show my little daughter who is 4 years old and
my son who is 7 how to fish. My older son is 15 and I want to spend some
evening hours with him fishing.”

Well, Dad, you have your hands full! I would let your 15 year old help you
teach the young ones, and then spend extra time with him at night to reward
him for his efforts. The very young children are going to have a very short
attention span. Don’t expect a 4 year old to last much over 20 minutes when
it comes to fishing. The rod and reel will be the focal point of the outing
and she will consider it a toy. That’s why it’s always best to buy a short
rod and reel for the young kids so no one gets poked in the eye!

Young children under 5 years old usually do best with the push button type
rod and reels. They push the button and the line goes out. Start reeling
and the line comes in. Of course, anyone that has ever owned push button
reels know, they can get snarled up inside if the line does not come back
inside of it one strand of line at a line. If the line gets too much slack
and a loose coil of line comes through the hole, there’s not enough room on
the inside spool for it to go, so it goes behind the spool (inside) and
knots up behind this little nut. The only way to fix it is to take off the
plastic cover, take off the nut, cut out the snarl of line, and start over!
(That’s life with a push button reel!)

Hint: When you buy a push button reel, first, make sure it works in the
store. (Unless it is shrink-wrapped.) Then, when you get home, pull off
about 10-12 feet of the line. This gives the line extra space to go in case
some slack does get in the line. Tie on a rig with a ¾ to one-ounce sinker
so there will always be tension at the end of the line. People make the
mistake of using a push-button reel with split shot or tiny lure that doesn’t
keep enough tension on the line.

Last hint: Don’t let the kids play with the rods and reels like toys before
going fishing.

If you don’t want to go through the push-button problems, go with a spinning
rod and reel and cast it in for the child. Don’t over-fill the reel with
line, and if you buy one that looks too full, take some of the line off so
it doesn’t easily spill over the spool. If your young ones are over-zealous
make rigs with one hook rather than two. We make one-hook rigs by using a
three-way swivel with a sinker snap. Insert one short leadered hook on one
eye of the three-way, slip a one-ounce sinker on the sinker snap, and tie
the third eye of the three-way to your line or onto a snap swivel.

“What kind of hooks and bait should I use? Where should I go?”


For the young children, it’s best to use small fresh water type hooks in the
size #6 to #8 range and let them catch spot and small croakers with
bloodworm, night crawler, or artificial Fishbite bloodworms. If you are
fishing from the shore, the Northside Park at 127th Street is an excellent
place to go. Go during the higher tides. Low tide can be slow.

The Isle of Wight Park in the center of the Route 90 Bridge at 62nd Street
is another good place to go. Again, look for high tide. And high tide does
not mean you look at a tide chart and go exactly at high tide. Look at the
tide chart, add two hours for the bay, then go sometime in the range of 3
hours before high tide and 3 hours after high tide.

If you have a boat, take the young ones fishing around the pilings of the
Route 90 Bridge. There are all kinds of little fish there to catch. You’ll
find the young kids are great at catching spot. You can then save them in
your live well and have some good live bait for later! Even if you are not
set-up for live bait fishing, fresh spot is great filleted and used in
strips for flounder or for surf fishing!

“The 4-year old is tired and cranky!”

This age group won’t last long. It’s best to take them in the morning when
they (and you) are fresh. Have the rod and reel all rigged up and working
BEFORE you go fishing. Bait it up, throw it out, and then let her hold it
and encourage her to wait for a bite. Hopefully, she’ll get one soon so she
can reel it in!

How about a bobber?

Bobber’s aren’t necessary because you want to fish on the bottom, but kids
just love bobbers. So if you want to buy a bobber, put it high enough on the
line, so the baited hook dangles on the bottom. Little kids like to see the
bobber go under as well.

“OK, my 4 year old is now playing with her mother.”

Don’t be disappointed if your daughter lost interest in fishing. Remember,
she’s only 4 and next year will be a year older! The 7-year old will be
much more intense, much more interested in fishing, and will want to CAST.
A young boy just loves to cast so spend as much time as you can to show him
how to use a spinning reel. Try to have someone like another sibling or mom
watch the 4-year old so you can give the attention the 7-year old deserves.
Interest in fishing at this age is very important. You don’t want to lose
them to video games!!!

“OK, we caught lots of spot, then we caught some crabs, the kids had a ball
and are home after dinner with mom watching TV. My number one son, the
15-year old, and I are going fishing. Just the two of us!

This is the bonding time that is so important for Dad and son to do. You
can walk out to the beach and cast anytime after 5:30 when the lifeguards go
off. Cast out with a kingfish rig baited with Fish bite bloodworms, real
bloodworm, combined with a little strip of box squid to catch kingfish,
spot, sand sharks, skates, croaker, or whatever else is there. You can use
a small bluefish rig and bait up with box squid or cut mullet or bunker and
go for sharks and blues. Use pyramid sinkers in the 3 to 4 ounce range. Surf
fishing is a lot of fun and easy to do. Get 8 to 10 foot rods, a sand spike,
and a 5-gallon bucket.

You can drive down to the 9th Street Pier, Oceanic Pier, Ocean Pier, or
Route 50 Bridge and do some fishing there as well. Shiners and squid combos
if it’s still light out. After dark you can try your luck down on the
Oceanic Pier with spec rigs and Gotcha plugs for blues, trout, and shad.

Kids… Do your homework, have a plan, then go have some fun in Ocean City, Maryland
with the kids! It’s an important time in your life…. And in theirs…

Good fishing…

Need bait and tackle? Come see us at Oyster Bay Tackle, Ocean City, Maryland (410-524-3433) or Fenwick Tackle, Fenwick Island, Delaware (302-539-7766), OR Shop Online!