I started taking my grandson when he was about 3. It's hard work with them due to a very limited attention span, but greatly rewarding.

The secret is not to get too annoyed when all they want to do is catapult all your bait in before they start firing stones in.

'I've seen fishing on the TV, it's not quite CBeebies, but daddy likes watching so I humour him and watch with him, Mr Jonny Wilson, he laughs a lot and looks like the red Tellytubby with a hairy face, and Mr Matthew Hayes, he reminds me of Sponge Bob Square pants.'

Ha ha! brilliant.

Paul,

Thats an insult to Sponge bob,

Started taking my own sons when they were born, sleeping in the pushchair,( them not me). Then sitting on your knee, then like graham has said short attention span.  I took my sons to Stanborough lakes, easy to catch kept them happy for an hour or so.  Dad i have caught 21 fish now, can we, the very words of my son Ben, he was 4.

Now he wants to go for days, and he does now he is driving.

That's smashing story, Mark. Well told as always and your features have been missed, I can tell you.

.

A tip I found was to take the catapult and give it to them only when they get bored. The fun they get from spraying magoots all over the place is unbelievable.

What a lovely feature, Mark, and real fun to read. The pictures really iced the cake for me.

When I became a dad, there was a mix-up at the hospital and I got a girl. Undaunted, I took her whip fishing when she was 8 and we had a great day catching roach and perch to 1lb. She came again when she was about 10, lure fishing for whatever grabbed, and she caught a pike and looked on while I got a zander about 4lb.

Her casting was incredible - a foot from the far bank every cast (almost) and I thought she'd be an angler for life.

But then she became a teenage girl and my chance was gone. It's to my great regret that wild horses wouldn't get her on the bank now... not good for the image. 

You put us all to shame Mark.........i'm sure both of you will be a name to remember.

 Markspark.........perserve, they change so much!

by the way nice one Mark

I forgot this link works better

This evening my 4yr lad took this chap on sweetcorn & bread with his whip no more than 2mtrs out  .

Was well pleased considering i`m in finland and anything other than lure/fly /or worm dangling is unheard of (or at least untried for the most part as they are only after the predators or game fish).

I first took my son Tom with me to Shilamill Lakes in Cornwall, when he was 4.  I set up just 1 rod and we "shared" fishing with it.  After a while (30 mins at most) he got bored, and went for a wander and came back with a hazel stick and a piece of line & a hook that he had found.  He decided to fish a hole in a bush to my left and proceeded to catch crucian carp after crucian up to a pound !!. When he was 8 he caught a 16 lb mirror again from Shilla Mill, although I helped him net it, and it stood as the family record until I caught one of 19 lb several years later.  (he has since eclipsed me with a 26 lb fish caught last year)

He has now converted several of his non fishing friends to fishing addicts, but I do believe it is important that when they are young it is important to catch fish.

Lovely pici's Mark.

Cakey - there is NO WAY a beautiful child like that could have any genes of yours!

As said by Mr Dolman it is vital youngsters catch & at a regular pace.

We only fished for an hour anyway, and i took a huge risk with the bread/sweetcorn as that ruled out the perch.

Best stick to maggots&worms as kids will lose interest at great speed (lucky my lad accepted my explanation on the lack of perch & that sometimes we might blank) luckily  we were rewarded & i breathed a sigh of relief!

Yep barbless for sure helps! i crush all my barbs anyway

Also be aware of what they are doing at all times....

Find a "safe" swim for them....my lad almost cast himself in the other day trying to swing out his bait, luckily after much too`ìng & froe`ing & arm windmilling he landed bankside while i was shouting be f*#%/¤! careful will you

Least he learnt a few more English words (he`s mother tongue is Finnish but he`s doing well in English thanks to my lack of foreign language learning skills).