[dallasdb]

Taught the kids to use spinning gear this past weekend. They graduated from their spincast setups and were really excited.

I went to Wally World and got them some cheap $10 Zebco setups... boy was that a mistake. They had a blast fishing Saturday night but I spent most the time dealing with equipment issues due to the cheap poles. Mainly it was the pre-spooled crappy fishing line but it got me thinking of returning the setups and getting them something a little better constructed.

Might be worth a stop by Eagle claw off the 70. I've never been but maybe they would have some good deals.

The kids were doing fine with 5'6" poles.

Considering there is four of them do you guys have any good experiences with combos around $20?

Thank you!

 

[Dakota]

Uglystick has a cheap rod and reel combo. They work great for kids.

 

[TthePikester]

Go to the Eagle Claw store, Garrett and Mike will take good care of ya!!! Check out the Brave Eagle combos for kids or the Featherlite Combo here in the catalog on page 172 and 174.

https://www.eagleclaw.com/media/filer_public/9f/24/9f240613-c829-4aee-8236-017c4fb066c0/eclaw17catalog_lowres.pdf

 

[dallasdb]

I'll tell them Tony sent me!

 

[FishDr]

I set up my kids with matching Cabelas Fish Eagle II spinning rods (7', L) and matching low-end Shimano reels a couple of years ago and those outfits have worked really well. They can use them for bait dunking, throwing light and medium weight lures (I think the rods top out at 3/8 oz.), and have allowed them to catch bass, trout, carp, sunfish, etc. I bought the rods during a Cabela's sale so the price was right. It's definitely worth spending a bit of $$ to get them decent gear - just be sure to keep an eye on them so that they don't use the rod tips to excavate crawdad holes!

 

[dallasdb]

Thanks fishdr!

 

[FishDr]

Thanks fishdr!

Glad to help out. The other thing I did was spool the reels with PowerPro (I think it's either the 15 or 20# stuff, with the diameter of 4 or 6-lb mono). It lets me retrieve most of their snags (or bend out the hooks), and recently has allowed them to put the hurt on some carp approaching 15-lbs. I did take the time to teach them to never try to pull directly on the line with their bare hands if they were snagged and not to yank on snags with their rods.

 

[dallasdb]

I let the kids practice on my spinning rod with Power Pro to discover the biggest air knot I had ever seen!

I don't think they're ready for braid. Heck I just figured out how to fish with braid without getting air knots every trip.