Tips for teaching a kid to tie?

[josephcsylvia 0]

Ok Guys, well I took my 10 year old daughter out fishing today for bass and gills, only planned on going out for an hour came back 6 hours later!

 

The fish were everywhere today she caught her first unassisted bass today on a push button zebco and 12 to follow, I landed 53 bass and then she grabbed my fly rod and caught 3 before we packed it in,

 

I even had a 10lb plus bass swallow a 12" bass I hooked right in front of us almost breaking my 5wt because I was getting ready to leader the other bass (crazy experience) he then spit my hooked bass out dead! Then had a smaller 7or 8 lb do the same thing to the very next bass I hooked, we got that on video!

 

Anyway she asked me to teach her to tie, she does have a.d.d so Im wondering what FUN, simple patterns would be good to teach a kid?

[FlaFly 0]

I'd suggest simple flies that have few components and can be completed in a short time. For example a popping bug (stick head on hook, tie tail behind, apply hackle at base of tail). or maybe a foam spider (cut out foam body, tie on hook, attach legs). Make sure she gets to fish with them and see the success of her tying, before trying anything more difficult (wooly bugger next maybe).

 

And congratulations to both of you. Were you fishing in a fish hatchery?

[josephcsylvia 0]

Thanks, didnt even think about foam bugs, shed love that, I definitely want her to fish what she ties,

We went fishing a stocked pond if that's what you mean by hatchery, we actually fished lake tarpon for the first hour only catching one small bass and several blue gill, so we decided to scout.

Driving back I noticed an opening in the trees behind a strip mall so we pulled in and found what looked tp be a very old retention pond, overgrown on 3 sides and carefully mowed on the business side (assume so they can charge waterfront rates!! Lol)

 

anyway walking up I noticed a bunch of bass Frye so I had hopes, out of the 60 plus bass we landed 3/4 of them were under 12" I assumed it was stocked unroll the property manager came over and said there wasn't any fish in there lmao, as soon as she said that I hooked another one, she has managed that property for 10 years and said she's never seen anyone fish it!

 

I was just telling my daughter that they were all probably going to be small as we didnt catch 1 single panfish, when the monster swallowed my hooked fish! And then another beast swallowed the next fish. I figured out whats going on there eating each other.

 

Ive never seen a pond with no panfish, the only large fly I had with me was a yellow sex dungeon and a 5wt to throw it on, needles to see the strange color got no interest, these fish were eating insects and smaller bass,

 

I managed to land a nice 3lb bass that ate a blind squirrel 1 of only two flies that produced, the other was a soft hackle tied on a #10 scu d hook dubbed with a burnt orange body and a few wraps of lead.

 

Ill post a picture of the nice one I landed in a little bit.

 

Im going to tie up a big articulated fly in bass colors for the next trip with a 9wt,

 

We also managed to hook a gator too, I was telling her to cast word structure and I took her pole and showed her a log to cast to landed right near it, the log then ate her bobbed!! And hooked itself in the process then broke the line. Quite a trip.

[Piker20 0]

Also allow her to play and throw colours on and move off course from the set menu. Just limit the access to a few materials so it stays in the boundary of something normal. Make it too subscribed and they get bored quick. Once (if) they enjoy it they'll want to learn to tie 'proper' patterns. My daughter threw together some lovely claret and pink flies which trout loved.

[josephcsylvia 0]

heres the nice one that was actually landed

 

[josephcsylvia 0]

Also allow her to play and throw colours on and move off course from the set menu. Just limit the access to a few materials so it stays in the boundary of something normal. Make it too subscribed and they get bored quick. Once (if) they enjoy it they'll want to learn to tie 'proper' patterns. My daughter threw together some lovely claret and pink flies which trout loved.

Thanks Piker, I am also going to restrict access to my good materials for right now so I wont get frustrated, this way she can waste whatever she needs to, I want her to be able to catch on whatever she ties and natural colors seem to be the way to go where I am.

 

What size should I start her with, would smaller be better as she has little fingers?

[Piker20 0]

My local trout will hit a #8-#14 happily enough and I've found a 10or 12 seem right to keep the interest and get some material down without being too big to use loads of stuff and become a chore.

[josephcsylvia 0]

My local trout will hit a #8-#14 happily enough and I've found a 10or 12 seem right to keep the interest and get some material down without being too big to use loads of stuff and become a chore.

Thats what I was worried about, I didn't want to put a big hook on there and have her trying to handle large clumps of material, No trout here but I thing a #8 or 10 will be the first up.

 

My first fly as a kid was a bumble bee I tied with black and yellow pipe cleaners!

[Poopdeck 0]

The panfish polecat. Easy tie, enough to keep the kid excited during the build and no self respecting panfish or bass will refuse it.

http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/patterns4.asp?page=13

[josephcsylvia 0]

The panfish polecat. Easy tie, enough to keep the kid excited during the build and no self respecting panfish or bass will refuse it.

http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/patterns4.asp?page=13

That one will be on the list for sure! Thanks

[Dave G. 0]

Purple Zonker with orange thread, leave two turns of the skin at the head to wrap around the shank forming a flowing collar of rabbit. Have her wrap tinsel on the hook, a quick bead of super glue started a quarter way back on the shank and slap the Zonker strip on , now wrap thread in two or three spots to help cinch it down. Wrap the collar and tie it off. Very easy but effective first fly, even for a kid with short tendencies towards attention. Keep it active so she has a quick step at a time that brings her to a completed fly. Complication will bog her down.

 

Another easy tie but effective and require just thread, a hook and one marabou feather: about a #4 bait hook, pinch down the shank barbs. Get a piece of marabou, slice off about half inch of the fibers along each side of the barb on the small end. Tie in that small end and wrap the marabou forward to behind the eye of the hook and tie down. Tie one yourself first so you know how it goes, wetting your fingers helps, then keep sweeping the fibers rearward as you wrap forward. This makes one awesome bait fish in the water.

 

Those are two simple yet very very effective flies. Tie them purple, white, chartreuse. The zonker could be olive maybe or chartreuse., bass love chartreuse or black.

 

Then of course is the venerable woolly bugger.

[FlaFly 0]

Joe... just remember you're fishing in Florida = no trout. You'll need to stay in the 8-12 range for bluegills, size 6 is most common down here for crappie. Bigger if you're only after big bass. Also remember, kids get hooked on fishing when they have lots of success, and to a kid, lots of fish is more important than big fish. That suggests staying in the bluegill/crappie range, at least for a while.

 

I'm baffled by how a pond can support so many bass, even large ones, on a strictly insect diet, and I've never come across an ecosystem based purely on cannibalism. Suspect someone is supplying a food source, or as you said, stocking the pond. But then why not open it to pay for play fishing? Makes one go hmmmmm.

[vjc 0]

We always have kids, 6 yrs to teenagers at our Monday night classes and it is surprising what some of them can do. Like some others suggested wooly buggers and zonkers are good, easy ties. Most of our kids have no trouble with sizes down to 12, they usually start on 6s. Some of the regulars can even do a fair job on 18s.

[mikechell 0]

Panfish attractor:

 

Thread, bead chain eyes, a little dubbing and hair. I use raccoon tail but I've also tied them with synthetic hair and they work almost as good.

 

Satin streamer:

 

Thread, fingernail polish and any soft fiber ... these are made from stripped out fibers from satin cloth.

 

Soda can minnow:

 

Thread, synthetic hair and a soda can. She can make them with the colorful side out and get neat patterns on the sides of the "minnow".

 

All the SBSs for these flies are on http://www.flyrecipes.com/

Just click on "ready to tie a fly" and it will take you to the list of recipes and instructions.

[josephcsylvia 0]

Joe... just remember you're fishing in Florida = no trout. You'll need to stay in the 8-12 range for bluegills, size 6 is most common down here for crappie. Bigger if you're only after big bass. Also remember, kids get hooked on fishing when they have lots of success, and to a kid, lots of fish is more important than big fish. That suggests staying in the bluegill/crappie range, at least for a while.

 

I'm baffled by how a pond can support so many bass, even large ones, on a strictly insect diet, and I've never come across an ecosystem based purely on cannibalism. Suspect someone is supplying a food source, or as you said, stocking the pond. But then why not open it to pay for play fishing? Makes one go hmmmmm.

 

the only thing I can figure is the smaller bass are eating insects, then the larger bass are eating them, I was very surprised that not one panfish was caught and I even threw a #10 soft hackle which the gills love!, Nothing, I cant see someone physically stocking it as its in the back off half empty office buildings and the property manager said im the only person they had ever seen fishing there.

It was very strange but there was no short supply of fish, I couldnt identify one fish that I could honestly say we caught twice. and The larger fish like the one I posted a picture off ate a #6 blind squirrel on the drop.

Maybe at one time someone threw a few bass in there and they have thrived, The insects were quite heavy around there even with the cold weather,