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I want to see you do some bank fishing Glenn.

Thank you all for the replies so far. His spinning rod is 6'. Sadly, I only have one baitcaster so I can't gift him that one without then having to pick out a new one for myself. I'm not buying it for a while unless a ridiculous deal pops up (black Friday maybe) so my budget may go up by next summer. The original figure was based on me not wanting to buy him a setup more expensive than all of my individual rod/reel combos. That just wouldn't be fair! Lots of good suggestions so far. The one thing I definitely want to stick with is the 2 pc. aspect. Its just more convenient logistically because his sister is usually back there with him and I don't want rods anywhere but the trunk. Less chance of a mishap that way.

I can do alright with my baitcaster in my opinion. I grabbed an Abu Garcia silver max at Walmart for dirt cheap a couple years back but only recently took practicing with it seriously. Most of my backlashes now are hitting a tree behind me or trying to cast too hard. Maybe once every 2-3 hours of use. I'll be teaching him when he comes up from Tennessee for the summer next year.

I read a good chunk of that but wasn't sure it'd apply to a kid. Is it that cut and dry?

My son is 8 years old and will soon be 9. He told me that he wants to learn how to use a baitcaster next summer. He's very good with spinning gear so I figure it shouldn't be too hard to teach him how to use one. Now I'm not all too experienced with them myself but by next summer I should feel confident teaching him. So I need recommendations for a rod and reel that he could handle that would be ideal for teaching a kid to use. My budget would be topped out at around $100. It absolutely has to be a 2 pc. rod unfortunately as I have a small car. I'm clueless as to what reel to buy but cost and ease of use are key. I don't really plan on buying a setup until christmas or maybe after the new year but I really want to get a head start on the selection process. My one big concern I guess would be rod length (just not sure what he'd need for his size). He loves throwing soft plastics and shallow cranks if that helps in recommending an action. Recap: 9 year old boy - 2 pc baitcasting rod - sturdy but cheap reel - $100-$120 max total Any suggestions are welcome and thanks ahead of time.

Well it looks cool.

Bait binders. Can probably only store 10-12 bags per binder before they are hard to zip shut. I use one for random soft plastics that are out of their bags and in the zip lock style pages. You can usually find them for 10-15$ at Dick's and maybe Walmart.

I smell Bologna.

Are you trying to name your channel or want one to watch? I suggest onerodonereel for an interesting bank fishing channel.

I think he wants a cheaper knock off alternative.

Squarebill

If you think all of these fishermen are catching on, just think of the bass. They're starting to see them all the time. Soon they won't be fooled.

I've got the 90 in yellow head and throw it on spinning gear with 8 pound test line. On every single fish I've caught, I've had to use the pliers to undo the bottom treble from the belly of the fish. I've only caught a handful of dinks and a large bluegill with it but the blowups keep it fun so far. I also have to keep the rod tip high or the tail won't spin and sometimes it runs subsurface.

Are there any decent yet cheap spook knock offs out there?

This is the reason that I personally as a bank fisherman despise boaters. That's not gonna get or keep kids interested in fishing by being arrogant or showboating. Maybe the guy can't afford a boat. You were obviously doing it to stroke your ego otherwise you wouldn't be bragging about it here. I'm not gonna pat you on the back.

I bought 5 of those crank baits after seeing this pic. You mean there wasn't some subliminal message?

http://livetargetlures.com/freshwater/crawfish-crankbait

I've been seeing a lot of people mentioning dead sticking. I had a decent size bass grab at a yum craw that I had resting on bottom the other day. Sadly I was fishing impatiently and distracted so I missed all but one out of 20 good bites that I had in 3 hours. That's my newest lesson learned (again). If you can't concentrate on the fishing, you may as well be home. Thats when I get most frustrated. Getting bit all day but my mind is somewhere else so I miss some good strikes.

I planned on it about a month ago when there was a sale but it's kind of an out of sight out of mind purchase. No Academies around here so I finally subscribed to the email list so I can order online for the next sale.

Sounds about right. I average about 1 to 2 per hour on most days at my favorite little pond.

Don't fruit your beer!

I need some good square bills in the sub 5$ category. Also, I wanna know about jawbone tackle. I've bought a couple poppers but gave them to my son to have. 8 year olds don't tend to give accurate fishing reports.

Voltage hand painted lipless cranks at dsg. Work great and can be had for about 2-3$.

Squarebills in sunfish and crayfish patterns. That's right I said cray not craw.

I was thinking something similar. I really thought it looked like a workbench invention, not something mass-produced.