Musky fishing with kids

Looking at taking my nephew’s son out on a musky trip. He’s 8 so don’t know if he can handle the baitcaster reels I have, so was thinking about finding a heavy duty spincaster (push button) reel. Anyone have any experience using spincast reels for musky? If so, what make/model did you use? Along the same line, has anyone used braid on a spincaster? I’m thinking about using 20 lb. braid, but don’t know if the braid would get frayed because of the way a spincaster picks up the line.

Thanks for the help,

Dave

dave53:

I guess my first question would be, what reels has he worked with??? If its only the baitcaster, then use the baitcaster!!! I would think that the braid would hold up to some wear and tear… You will have to keep and eye on it and go from there. I am also thinking that I would consider a braid closer to 65# for him as that seems to be the lightest that most musky reps would recommend.

A second thought, do you have a light low profile baitcaster that you could start him on if he hasn’t already worked with one. Just a thought, it might not be something that you can even get close to during his first trip… and I would rather clip on a topwater and just let him have fun!!! Good Luck!!!

Mark

Mark,

I have a variety of baitcasters for musky fishing, both round and low profile. He usually just fishes once a year on our family fishing trip and to date has only used a cheap push button reel. That is why I was looking for something that might work.

To your other point, I may just take an old baitcaster set-up and let him play with it for a day and start to get the hang of it. I suppose I’m a little protective about turning him loose with $300-400 rod and reel combo (I had someone have a fish hit as he was pulling the bait out of the water and it caught him by surprise and he let go. I heard the splash, turned around to grab the net in time to see the cork handle disappear under the water. We spent an hour dragging baits trying to snag it, but no luck, so I’m a little cautious with what I let out to others), but it’s hard to learn on junk.

Dave

Teach him the basics with a bait caster in the yard first. I taught my 6 year old in about 10 minutes. Tightened down the spool knob a little tight and let him go at it. Doesn’t through bombs, but good enough to cast on his own.