Teaching my kids how to fish on the beach? Tips please

[saltyone]

Hi all. I am trying to get my kids interested in fishing. We go anywhere from Daytona to Cocoa at the beach. What are the basic techniques for catching the small whiting/ croakers?? Thanks

[tacklemake]

Hi all. I am trying to get my kids interested in fishing. We go anywhere from Daytona to Cocoa at the beach. What are the basic techniques for catching the small whiting/ croakers?? Thanks

Kids like to move around and not sit still so let them dig for sand fleas along the water edge for bait.Then show them how to bait the line and cast the rod.If you hook a fish let them reel it in and show them how to take it off the hook.Make a game out of it..woody

[qzx]

sand fleas , shrimp , and squid ...use a rig with two hooks ,,,mix up the baits till ya find what works good .....sand fleas are very good for pompano , croakers , whiting , but tend to need a little time to attract those better fish... shrimp gets bites fast but gets pulled off the hook easy ,,,,,squid gets alot of bites and stays on the hook very well ,,,the shrimp and squid will keep the bites coming from the smaller fish like sand perch and grunts to keep the kids interested , while you will still have a very good chance to get some edible stuff a little bigger like the croakers , jacks, pompano ....no doubt you will catch a variety of fish , and get some to take home for dinner.... shrimp and squid is some of the most common food source among most fish , and in the surf , sand fleas are right on the top of the list too

[qzx]

whiting , croakers and ladyfish will eat the shrimp real good also ...plus theres other different types of fish in the surf up there depending on what time of year it is

[qzx]

one of the big things ive noticed kids usually do that distracts bites is ,,,,young kids tend to move the rod all around , swinging left right , up down ,,, which keeps tugging on the line moving the bait around unnatural looking , and the fish tend to not bite ....if you can get them to hold the rod fairly still ...you should be plenty busy with bites......try to get them to hold the rod more horizontal , it is much more forgiving to the tugging motion,,,plus when they do get a bite and pull up , it gives a fuller swing to set the hook