4y/o want's to try out his new fishin' rod.....

I think I went to the same place. My sister caught a trout on one of those little swivel clips that are meant to hold the hook on. Be careful though, as the place we went to wouldn’t let you throw them back and mum and dad had trouble stopping us from throwing the hooks back in. Ended up having to cough up for almost 20kg of trout.

How about just wandering down to a jetty in the bay? You might only catch 2” long fish, but it’s all fun for a kid, chuck them back and you can buy him fish and chips on the way home that saves you having to clean them too.

Gday Greg, occasionaly we take our kids to a trout farm in Emerald. It has the long ponds where you put your line in and 2 seconds later you have a fish, but it also has a nice dam set up so you can fish for real with your own lines or theirs.

We usualy fish the dam for a couple of hours until we have enough or the kids are bored silly, and go over to the suicide ponds to get some if the kids have caught nothing at the dam.

They also have BBQ's, a shop, tables, a bit of a playground, toilets and animals wandering around so the kids enjoy it and you can have your fish for lunch if you want.

I still have a brochure..

It's the Australian Rainbow Trout Farm 26 Mulhalls RD, Macclesfield, 5968 4711
Entry fee for adults $5, kids 14 down to 6 $2.50, your little bloke free.

They clean any you catch, but you have to buy all you catch, no throwing them back.

The prices are $9.50 per kilo for the dam ones, and smaller suicide pond fish, and they are about half a kilo each, altho my son did catch one that was about 2 kilos in the dam. Also bigger ones for about $12 a kilo, or salmon for $19 a kilo.

If you go I am sure he'll have fun, plus it's a nice part of the world up there.

Cheers

Glenn

Speaking as an experienced grandfather with 4 & 5 yo's with fishing rods... I recon the safest bet is a wharf or jetty on the bay somewhere where they can drop their line into the water and will if you have put on say a No 10 long shank catch a few, maybe even an edible leather jacket... I think maybe unless you have the patience of Job teaching a 4 yo the wonders of casting is a true nightmare...Prawns as bait will gaurantee a catch for the younger ones...

The end of a pier is the best option, often take the kids down to Dromana pier right on the high tide to let them catch some garfish.

Only need to cast 10 to 15 ft in with a floater and a 2ft leader and retrieve slowly.

Use smallest hook possible and bread as bait.

We generally catch 5-6 fish per hour and limit the stay to 2 hours although the kids are ready to go after 1/2 hour.

The gars make a good meal for me too ,seeing as my boys wont eat them.

cheers and good fishing,

Ren

GDay Greg,

Depending on the type of fishing, obviously the fish farms are a garenteed catch, but i find it more relaxing either around the bay on one of the jetties.

Rye, Sorrento or Mornington can all be good spots to wet a line.

Some other places which you may think about going would be places likes patterson lakes, or if your up for a day trip, head down to Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay type areas and type the esturies. All you need is to head down there about high tide time with some prawns or some sand worms and the Bream are usually biting.

Check out http://fishvictoria.com/index.php in the fishing reports section, there are also some good little maps there for some details on what you can catch as well as baits and rigs.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Zam