I have been doing the workaholic thing for the past 20 years and only picked up a rod ever so often. My son has the gene and wants to fish all the time and wants to catch everything so I am gladly taking a little more time to get him to the water.

My question for all y'all that have been through it ... is it easier to teach a nine year old to catch crappie under a cork or with a tight line?

thanks in advance for your opinions

My Advice Would Be To Use A Slip Cork --makes It Easier To Cast Or Long Pole ---

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It ain,t braggin if you can do it
Frank

minnows under a cork will make it easier to start with and when the fish are biting really well, have him switch to tight lining jigs and a long pole. time on the water will make a big difference for him. be patient

having a 12 year old and fishing with him I would also say with a cork. One it easier and second for a kid (and my self i must admit) its thrilling to watch that cork bob around and disappear

easiest to start him fly fishing... he gets that down everything else is easy lol

We have already started fly casting ... talk about needing patience ...

I have to disagree with everyones comments. It is much easier to teach a kid or an adult to tightline a jig. Casting anything takes more skill. I can teach anyone to tightline in a matter of minutes. The whole key to tightline fishing is your trolling motor operator. Just make sure you are hovering over the brush and not moving all over the place. Anyone that feels that bite while tightlining will catch more fish. You will loose interest and not even see the bite on a cork. I have guided for 15 years and believe me you get anyone in the boat that isn't a good caster and you are better off leaving the shallow brush and going back out to deep water and tightlining. Then you have the wind blowing your cork around and getting it hung up as well. Believe me you spend all your time getting people un hung out of trees both overhead and in the water.

I,m not intending to correct your fishin Steve---you,ve throwed back more fish than I will ever see [lol] I assumed they would be fishin from the bank so it would be harder to tightline
When I can control a boat like you I,ll put a star after my name --hahaha

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It ain,t braggin if you can do it
Frank

My boy is 11 and he started out with a bobber. My dad swears by the jig so I just recently started fishing with them. I have to say I love it. My boy has a problem with bouncing it around too much. When I get him to settle down he catches fish. He says I catch more because I am in the front of the boat. LOL. It is much easier to change the depth than to have to keep reseting the bobber. Anyone could fish with a bobber, but I think I catch more fish with the jig. I think I would start with the jig.

Regardless of how you do it, just remember one thing, when it is time to stop and toss rocks in, then Stop and toss rocks in.......... To many little ones get burnt out/turned off from being "crammed" with stuff they don't understand or want to do at the time. jmo

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~Don't just take a kid fishing, Teach Them!~Only keep what you need~