{"id":2711,"date":"2023-02-23T20:03:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T20:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/?page_id=2711"},"modified":"2023-02-23T20:03:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T20:03:49","slug":"trips-with-young-children","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/trips-with-young-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Trips with Young Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Taking a kid fishing can be an awesome experience for everyone involved!  However, it can also be a frustrating and negative experience for everyone involved.  Ha!  Having been a full-time fishing guide for several years and as a father of young children myself, I have learned a lot about how to have the best possible experience if you are considering a guided trip with kids.  Here are several things to take into consideration that should certainly help everyone to have a great time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These tips are primarily intended for young children between the ages of 5 and 12. In my experience, I do not recommend taking children under the age of 5 on a guided fishing trip. <em>Exceptionally few <\/em>children under the age of 5 do well on a guided fishing trip. Under the age of 5, my recommendation is to simply <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=E5VFLV0TOUc\">watch my YouTube video about taking kids fishing<\/a>, find a local pond, and give it your best shot.  This doesn&#8217;t mean I am not willing to take a child under the age of 5, but rather that I just <em>generally <\/em>recommend waiting until they are at least 5 years old for a guided trip.  I target black bass species with artificial lures only on my guided trips, and most of the time with kids under 5, this just doesn&#8217;t work very well.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The biggest thing to keep in mind<\/strong> when bringing a young child along for a guided fishing trip is that in so doing, this <em>fishing trip is not <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">your<\/span> fishing trip anymore!<\/em>  This trip is all about that kid and helping to ensure that he has a good time.  That kid and helping him to have a good time becomes my #1 goal and it should be yours as well. I have had <em>a lot<\/em> of trips over the years where it is <em>very clear<\/em> that dad is bringing the kid along because he knew the only way Mama was going to let him go on a fishing trip is if he brought a kid along with him.  These trips <em>rarely<\/em> go well mostly because dad is frustrated because <em>he<\/em> wants to fish and gets impatient and short tempered with the kid complaining about it being hot, being bored, being tired, etc.  <em>If you want to book a fishing trip for <strong>you<\/strong> then you need to book a fishing trip for <strong>you<\/strong>.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Having said that, that absolutely does not mean that you won&#8217;t get to fish.  You will get to fish plenty and will also have opportunities to catch fish.  All this means, is that when you bring a kid along, you are an afterthought for me.  Helping the kid to catch bass and have a good time is my #1.  Sometimes this means that we don&#8217;t get to fish perhaps what would be the absolute best areas or use the absolute best techniques because it may be beyond the kid&#8217;s skill level or patience level or whatever.  I have to figure out what the best way for <em>the kid<\/em> to catch bass is, not necessarily what the best way is for an adult (yourself) to catch bass is.  Sometimes they are the same and sometimes they are not.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bring additional activities.  Generally I suggest leaving the electronic devices at home, <em>but <\/em>I am not completely opposed to them.  Bring a book to read, music to listen to, an activity book, whatever.  Don&#8217;t expect your kid to fish the whole time.  Generally when you are trying to force them to keep a fishing rod in their hands the whole time, that doesn&#8217;t go well.  Usually what happens is they will make a handful of casts then want to do something else.  Whether it&#8217;s just sit down or eat a snack or do one of their other activities.  They will pick up their rod again and start fishing when they want to (usually when someone else has caught a fish&#8230;ha!).  Just let them do things at their pace.  As long as they aren&#8217;t causing damage to anything in the boat or putting themselves or anyone else in danger, I am not opposed to them doing whatever they want to do on the boat.  Just let them do their thing!  I have a few tricks up my sleeve for keeping kids entertained on the boat when they don&#8217;t want to fish as well, but don&#8217;t just count on my activities to keep them busy.  Ha!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be ready to call the trip done early.  Don&#8217;t expect to get a full 5-8 hours out of the kid.  They usually want to tap out at around 1.5-3 hours.  When a kid is ready to go home after an hour and a half and you hold them hostage and keep them out there for the full 5 hours, that <em>never<\/em> goes well.  <em>Ideally <\/em>once the kid says they are ready to go, it is probably time to go.  I am ok with trying to encourage them to stay out for another hour or so after they&#8217;ve indicated they want to go, but much more than that you are asking for trouble and they will generally have a negative experience.  Nonetheless, having said that, <em>you <\/em>are the one that makes the decision on when to go in if we go in early.  I will take us back to the dock whenever you tell me to.  Just keep in mind, if we do head in early, I do not offer a discounted rate on our trip at all (unless it is due to unsafe weather conditions).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RELAX AND ENJOY THE TIME ON THE WATER WITH YOUR KID! Remember that this trip probably isn&#8217;t <em>really <\/em>about catching fish.  Remember what the <em>real <\/em>reason for the trip is.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep these things in mind, let me know if you have any questions or concerns, and we will all be set up to have a great time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taking a kid fishing can be an awesome experience for everyone involved! However, it can also be a frustrating and negative experience for everyone involved. Ha! Having been a full-time fishing guide for several years and as a father of young children myself, I have learned a lot about how to have the best possible [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-2711","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2712,"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2711\/revisions\/2712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andermeine.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}