Fishing with Kids: Tips to Make Things Easier

Sometimes starting a new family activity has growing pains, and it is no different when you are fishing with kids! We have 5 children all still under the age of 10, so as you can imagine it sometimes get a little hectic when trying to enjoy fishing ourselves, teaching, and all around enjoying fishing as a family.

Today I wanted to share some tips on how we enjoy fishing with our kids. Over the last couple of years we have gotten in a routine and have set up a few systems to make things run a little smoother.

Appoint Jobs

Giving each person a job not only helps us as parents not to do everything, but as the saying goes “many hands make light work.” The younger children are given things like carrying the bug spray or sunscreen to carry out to the van.

Dad is always in charge of the fishing poles so no one gets snagged or a fishing pole gets broke, ask me how we learned that trick. *sigh*

An older child might be responsible for filling the cooler with water and snacks. A must when fishing with kids! Which leads me to my next tip:

Label Water Bottles

We have reusable traveling cups, but we do bottled water when we are fishing with the kids. Hands inevitably smell like fish and the kids always end up playing in the dirt. We pack extra bottles too, then toss in the recycle when we get home. And one less thing for mom to wash up or forget to gather up.

Bring Soapy Water

This is one of the smartest things I started doing, if I say so myself! I took a gallon water jug wrote ‘soapy water’ on the side, filled it with warm water, and squirt of Dr. Bronner’s Soap, fold a hand towel in the handle and you have a way to wash everyone’s hands. I highly suggest Dr. Bronner’s because it really seems to get most of the fish smell out of your hands with one or two washes.

After the kids catch a fish we simply can pour a little out and they can rinse their hands off. It’s super helpful and convenient when we take a snack break. When we come home, we just rinse it out, let it air dry, and ready for our next fishing with kids adventure!

Take Photos

I don’t know about your kids, but it could be weeks later I can overhear the kids recalling their favorite fishing day or telling their friends about dad’s big bass! Taking photos (and printing them out!) keeps their excitement, and hopefully fond memories as they grow up.

Fish at Different Places

Sometimes shaking up where you fish make for a good adventure. You can easily get on google or look up your state’s DNR website to look up public fishing sites.

Many places we fish are close to a park to explore or to take a walk.

Let them Explore

Sometimes one or more of the kids don’t want to fish, or have to take turns. If we have bought worms to fish with rather than our favorite baits (Z Man jig heads) we will let the kids each have one to “play with” — their favorite is to have them do a worm race.

Giving the kids space to explore the flowers, catch frogs, sit in the sun, and eat snacks — lends to a good experience when fishing with kids. It helps encourage them to have fun, even if they don’t enjoy fishing, you can bet they get excited when someone does catch one!

I hope this encourages you to load up and enjoy a day of fishing with the kids! Feel free to comment with your tips too. And don’t forget to Pin it to Pinterest to reference back to!