Beginner AND with kid...

[nicozzie]

Looking for advices as I am planning to take my 6 year old to her first day of fishing ( in Melbourne or close).
unfortunately, I am also a complete newbie...

Going to see what's available already - and will keep a list at the bottom of this post.

Overall , I am just after the first - most simple things a dad would teach his kids about fishing. I didn't have the chance to have this, so any advice is welcome ...

Here are of questions I am asking myself :
(Thank you for pointing in the right direction if there is a thread about it already)

1- Best spot for a first try with a kid, in Melbourne South East ? (atm I'd be heading at St Kilda Pier or the rocks near the Skate Park)
2- Best time of Day ? ( I'd assume Morning, as early as possible ?, but maybe it is just related to tide ? )
3-Best technique ? (I am missing vocabulary here :/ ... I have memories of line with sinker + floater with this great feeling when you see the floater sink ... but what I have observed is floater doesn't seem to be a thing anymore ... )
4- I guess it is part of technique, but which bait ? I guess, it depends on the target, wish I guess is answered in question 1 ...
5-Must have material, what not to forget ?: line, hook, sinker, bucket, knife, bait, ?
6-How do you keep track of all the requirement (fish type , size limit) - and to recognise fishes ?
7-What am I missing ?

again


Advices Gathered

1. Use fresh bait and have 2 different baits, some days the fish want one over the other
2. Fish 2 hours before and 2 hours after a tide change
3. If on the pier burley to bring the fish to you
4. Use small hooks to see what fish are around
5. Try and target a single species till you get a feel for the place
6. Use the lightest line and rod you can for the job

I'd suggest fishing with a float small size 12-14 short shank hook you will find mullet float rigs on the net just google it, use a bread and tuna oil burley and for bait use dough or chicken tiny pieces just covering the tip of the hook have the tip of the hook slightly exposed throw 1 hand of burley near you float every 10-15min have your hook about 800mm under your float. Don't take your eyes if your float.


Kids spots threads :
Townsville Barra fun park, Karkarook and albert park
Melbourne North
land Based options
Tooradin
Easy Access Fishing Spot North Of Melbourne
Barwon, Cunningham

Beginner technique/advice :
Beginner 1
Rock Fishing
beginner fishing in yarra

[DougieK]

Tooradin is great. We've cleaned up there a bunch of times. It's completely safe, sheltered, facilities including toilets, plenty of space to get away from flogs, and very very easy fishing.

You could drop some small baits off Mornington Jetty as well, off the end it's almost impossible not to catch pinkies at the moment.

[purple5ive]

few option for you landbased with kids.

Mornington pier

a bit of a drive for you, but plenty of small pinkies and also squid to keep the kids occupied.
both very easy to target. buy a pre tied paternoster rig (or tie one youself) for the pinkies, use some squid tentacles or strips for bait. theres quite a few around atm.

for squid, but some squid jigs, i recommend the Rui squid jigs (search for them on ebay) in a size 2.5 for mornington pier. they are easy to fish for and a lot of fun for kids.
colours that work well are variations of browns, reds and green. and also rainbow coloured jigs.

Brighton breakwall

follow same as above for pinkies.
same for squid
fish the end of the breakwall and cast into the bay side.


try not to over complicate things and have some fun.
cheers

[Sebb]

You need to get this.
It has all the answers to your questions.

[Fish-cador]

Hit portsea pier. You can walk on the backs of garfish. I was there yesterday scouting for anything bigger than the Mexican marlin but ended up watching 2 fishos having a ball catching these tiny marlins.

Bring bread crumbs, bits of chicken as bait. Use the smallest hook you can find (i.e size 12). Use float of course.

[nicozzie]

Hi guys,

thank you for all the advices - I am going to give it a try.

I might come back with more questions soon :D

[Kenle]

Hey mate, I'm a father myself and getting my kids hooked onto fishing was more exciting for me than catching fish. Wether it may be puffer fish or banjo sharks, it won't matter as long as they pulled something out of the water with a rod. Look don't go over the top, keep it simple. If st Kilda pier is your most convenient location to try then start with that. I grew up in st Kilda and that pier was where I did most of my fishing as a kid. All I can say is that there's always fish there, hundreds of Bream under the pier or big Flathead towards the moored boats near the restaurant at the end. Most often I get pinkies anywhere along the middle section of the pier to the rocks. I'd start half way down the pier towards either side left or right doesn't matter. Use a small rod 6ft" 10lb mono is all you need. Use a double drop rig, small sinker on the bottom, use any hook between size 1 or 4, bait with squid strips no bigger than an Extra chewing gum piece, or chicken breast strips same size, or pippies if you can get some from a servo. Pilchard is great too but can be fiddly to use for beginners. Just cut into small cutlets and put on the hook if you do use them. Cast out as far as you can, tighten the slack line and keep rod still. You should easily pick up a fish or too with this simple form. Try go on a high tide for better chance. Goodluck mate, hope your kid gets something.

[ChrisTaylor]

As above, although I'd suggest dropping a line right down by the pylons. I mostly fish with soft plastic lures (not something that I'd recommend, in itself, to a newbie + child combo) and most of my fish have been pulled up from the pylons. Or former pylons, in the case of Frankston pier. Fish lurk around structure -- whether that's reef, channels, or the pier itself. If you find structure, there'll be fish. If you're using small hooks, you'll hook onto all kinds of weird stuff.

Get the Landbased books that were recommended. They're very good (there's one for Port Phillip Bay, and one for Westernport). They cover a lot of common species (sizes, identifying features, etc) and a lot of good locations -- some of which are less obvious than well-known, heavily-trafficked piers such as St Kilda, Mornington, Frankston, and Portsea.

Identifying fish isn't too hard -- I think most of the fish you'll regularly catch land-based in the days, especially up north or midway down, are fairly identifiable. The size limits were clearly designed with ease-of-use in mind -- a lot of species need to be 28cm+, for instance. A few have no size limit (e.g. garfish). A few can be a little smaller (e.g. Australian salmon). There are some exceptions to that, but it's unlikely they're going to be something you'll be dealing with any time soon.

Some other bits and pieces:

- pick one location and stick to it, there may be a fish-less period before you find regular success;
- it's tough with little kids, admittedly, but try to go there during low-light conditions;
- if the kids seriously do not care what they catch, most land-based Westernport locations will throw a zillion toadfish at you;
- if in doubt re: species/size/etc, throw it back;
- in terms of working with kids, make sure they're not too cold and not sitting out there too long (unless they're catching lots of fish) and learn the importance of respecting both the environment and the individual animals they're killing for dinner (i.e. ike jime rather than watching it slowly gasp to death on a pier);
- yes, the peak of the tides matter.

I'd also try and minimise the amount of gear you need to lug around. You'll see people on piers set up half of bloody BCF. You don't need to do that. It's totally excessive, and (with kids in tow especially) you'll spend an unpleasant amount of time re-rigging, re-baiting, untangling, etc. One rod per human, max. And do you really need a tackle box bigger than my Toyota Yaris? Maybe, but keep it at home -- and take a small box with a handful of appropriately-sized hooks, sinkers, etc. Random lures, gigantic hooks, bargain bin finds, piles of snacks, etc can stay at home. If you really need a seat and an Esky, see if you can find one item that serves both purposes.

EDIT

Now, I say this as someone who works with kids ... and is often only a couple of steps ahead in some areas (technology-related) of where they are ... perhaps it might be best to figure out some of these things, from firsthand experience, before bringing kids into the mix. It may be a little less stressful when you can tie the necessary rigs without paying attention, and have some confidence in being able to hook fish (even if they're 'undesirable' species). I don't think I'd want to be learning how to tie a Paternoster rig while also making sure my child was suitably amused/supervised/etc.