I,ve just got my boy a 7ft 4/5wt rod he,s 8 years old can anyone tell me if he,s ready to learn he,s light built and only 4 ft tall. would i be better to leave it a couple of years till he,s a bit heavyer/taller or would he be able to cast with the right instructor ? any advice welcome thanks Alan

Hi Alan we just done a fairly comprehensive reply on something similar. Suggest you use the search key.

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[COLOR="Blue"]"A fish seen is a fish nearly caught"[/COLOR]

Most would say 10 years old is best age,but there is exceptions to this and will depend on how keen he is.You need to be carefull not to dampen the enthuisiasim at that age,short sessions are needed 20 to 30 mins and not in freezing cold or wet weathers.It has to be fun first time and catches.

You are the one who knows him and how keen he is, but carefull steps and if I saw he was very keen I would give him all the help I could.but Please be carefull.

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Kevin

MORAYFLYFISHER your right enough, he likes it but he,s not ultra keen. I think i,ll at least leave it till the summer at least. thanks

LOOPY thank you very much i,ll have a look, can you remember the title of the thread ? cheers Alan

Hi', Alan.
My lads are 42 and 45 years old now, but I taught them how to cast when they were about 10. I also used to run a one-day course for beginners on behalf of our angling club, and have fished with young teenagers at odd times during the 1980s and 1990s. The most important thing that I learned from all that was that to keep kids interested, you have to find a way of getting them into fish. If that means coarse fish, then so be it; although I didn't start that way wih my own lads.
They will respond to playing fish that you hook for them, but they soon tire of that, if they are really interested, and they then want to cast out and hook their own. Kevin is right about the weather, they will put up with a difficult day a lot better if it's a warm one. Another good idea is not to give them too short a rod to start with. They need a bit of length to keep the fly and the line up off the ground. Cheers, and good luck with your lad. Terry

Thanks for your help and advice to everyone that,s posted. much Apreciated Alan