My boy is 5, and he's getting to be pretty decent with his aim. But he's rough as dagnabit on reels, and rods for that matter.

 

Spinning reels he gets them in a tangle almost every time. The reel survives, but I have to get the knife out to fix the issue.

 

Spincasters, like Zebcos, do not hold up for long. They either are junk, or his abuse kills them. They get dunked, they get pulled against too hard when he snagged. Yes, I try to teach him, but I often don't notice until he's been pulling a few minutes. He also has a bad habit of putting his reels down in sand, mud, and slush. Sand is the worst thing. I spend a fair amount of time maintaining his gear just to keep him going.

 

I think I've finally broken him of throwing his rod/reel down when it stops working as intended, so there is some progress.

 

In the last 2 years he's been through 5 spincasting reels that I can remember. Not sure what I'm going to do when he finishes off the Zebco 33 he's working on, and then goes through the reserve I have put back. I used to think the older Zebcos were tough, and they have held up better than anything else so far.

 

Well, he is trying to learn baitcasting, slowly. I won't give him anything decent, because 1, I am using the decent ones, and 2, I don't want him to destroy it. He'll try in the yard with mine sometimes and he can do it some of the time, and he's getting decent at getting backlashes out Not good enough to take him on the water with one yet.

 

Just pondering aloud I reckon.

 

I would start with getting him somewhat proficient with spinning gear before moving onto casting gear.  You can get serviceable spinning reels for cheap, and they will hold up to a surprising amount of abuse.  Try to get him to manually flip the bail.  That will lengthen the life of the reel and keep help to minimize wind knots.  If that fails, then you may have to go with the spongebob outfit for the time being.

I'd get him the 24 steez. Skip all of these zembcos and ugly sticks, and get him to the end game at the age of 5.

If your letting him use baitcasters get him an old Abu Black max. They can usually be found super cheap on facebook marketplace and they were one of the toughest cheap reels on the planet. I ran over one with my truck and other than a scratched top it still worked great. They were also very forgiving on the caster and easy to set the brakes on. The only drawback to them is that they don't make the original black maxes anymore. 

I don’t have any kids, but my nieces and nephews were rough on gear. Spinning gear is pretty forgiving, and cheap.

Ugly Stik Tuff spin cast ... Pflueger President spin cast ... Shimano Sienna spinning reel once he goes to spinning ...

Good Fishing

Instead of buying junk Zebco, I'd recommend buying 33 Micro.  

 

If you want something that stands out, Isuzu Piccino in recent JDM production.  

 

Raising Independent, non-compliant daughters (on UL-1) - if they couldn't do it themselves, they didn't want to do it.  

they'll also let you know when they're ready for next level

I was given this guy as a kid, maybe at 8 years old though. 

 

Daiwa Minicast. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world because it came in a case.

 

I have my kids using the Daiwa Revros. Super nice reels for the money. 

I’m going to add my 2 cents and somewhat echo @bulldog1935 in that I don’t feel you should “upgrade” his equipment until he’s ready. Although I don’t know you or your son I remember my (2) at 5 years old and although your son seems like he enjoys fishing way more than mine did until he learns not to lay into a snag, put down the rod and reel in anything that could cause problems (which is probably next to impossible) and shows he’s ready for the next level which would be spinning gear in my opinion I would stick with your current plan of rotating through the Zebco reels you own. Also if you are going to upgrade his current reel bulldog had some pretty nice things to say about the Zebco Omega awhile back if my memory is correct. 

@Eric 26 Except for the weight of Omega Pro - I would not place that load on a kid.  

I've done this before and my daughters will out-fish any man they ever meet.  

I also wouldn't place the learning curve of a baitcaster on a child.  

 

 

Take them to places they can have fun if they choose not to fish, catching crayfish and turtles.  

Don't teach, but facilitate their wants.  

Some days they'll want to play - other days, they'll take you to every hole they've ever fished and put in a tough half-day.  

hey, your sister's fishing there

Just get him this and be done with it

 

YES - THEY STILL MAKE AND SELL THIS - $42

27 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Just get him this and be done with it

 

YES - THEY STILL MAKE AND SELL THIS - $42

Me and my older brother both received these as a Christmas present years ago. And yes I caught some fish on it 😃

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

To be clear, he wants to learn to use a baitcaster (just like dad) and is prompting me to practice in the yard. He knows it'll not be quick or easy, and I've tried to dissuade him. But I also figure he might get it easier by starting early.

 

I am not currently spending lots of money on his gear. He likes the short handle of the $10 durango rods from walmart, and the reels he's been using were all second hand, save for a Zebco 202 which was less than $10.

----------------------

6 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

Instead of buying junk Zebco, I'd recommend buying 33 Micro.  

 

If you want something that stands out, Isuzu Piccino in recent JDM production.  

 

Raising Independent, non-compliant daughters (on UL-1) - if they couldn't do it themselves, they didn't want to do it.  

they'll also let you know when they're ready for next level

So the Zebco 33 Micro is decent? Would it handle 8lb line?

I believe it comes charged with 4-lb, and I'd stick with the factory line, because I believe it will perform best - especially cast distance.  

The Zebco line is a little thicker than most, and you can probably fit 6-lb fluoro (8-lb ester).  

I still have a pair of UL-1 my daughters were raised with.  As @Eric 26 mentioned, Delta and higher models have spool oscillation for improved cast distance, but I personally believe 33 Micro is the nicest kid-fish reel made.  (except maybe the Isuzu, which I haven't handled).  

Thank you very much for sharing.

 

I'm not sure how he'd do with 4 or even 6lb line. He gets tangled in brush/trees quite a bit. With the larger reels I run 10lb line for him. He can usually rip a gob of leaves off and fix the problem himself.

 

I haven't been able to teach him to re-tie yet.

 

Being a young'un, casting distance is priority for him. I most often give him an 1/8-3/16oz bullet weight to go with his worm, because he wants it to really fly.

I got my 5 year old the Zebco Omega.  The previous Omega I had for my other son gave us 2-3 years of heavy saltwater/freshwater use(abuse).....which is darn good both for a Zebco and spincast reell!

🤣  Can't suggest a reel.  Started at 5 myself.  Dad gave me a cane pole.  Following year a Mitchell 300.  Used that reel for years.  Never knew you should clean and re-grease a reel.  I think it funny (and unusual) for a child to go through that many reels in a year.  How many X-Box controllers does he go through in a year?  

 

I'd have to agree that he is a bit young for a baitcast reel.  Seems to me that he isn't very serious yet about fishing.  There were 3 of us boys and we all started young.  We each were given a Mitchell and they lasted us for many years.

8 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

🤣  Can't suggest a reel.  Started at 5 myself.  Dad gave me a cane pole.  Following year a Mitchell 300.  Used that reel for years.  Never knew you should clean and re-grease a reel.  I think it funny (and unusual) for a child to go through that many reels in a year.  How many X-Box controllers does he go through in a year?  

 

I'd have to agree that he is a bit young for a baitcast reel.  Seems to me that he isn't very serious yet about fishing.  There were 3 of us boys and we all started young.  We each were given a Mitchell and they lasted us for many years.

He's never played video games. We don't watch tv either. Closest thing is youtube, but we limit that. He's outside moving some bricks around as I type.

 

No, he's not very serious yet, he fishes a while, then he's using his pole to swat at birds or stab at frogs or whatever. I do scold him for trying to do those things with his fishing gear. He plays a lot when we're fishing. At the river he throws rocks in and watches them splash. But he wants to go, and he wants to fish some, and he occasionally catches one to keep the fire going.

I have 6 and 8 year old boys.  I found the Kid caster at Sportsman's. It's a lifesaver. It cuts down line fouling enough that I can actually fish.  The reels are nothing special but very functional.  

I saved this earlier but didn’t include it but will now. Although I don’t know much about this combo I will add DO NOT get your son a cheap baitcaster, when I say that I mean a lower quality baitcaster and that is on you to figure out as I do not know your budget but I will say I tried going down the road of “budget” baitcast reels and it’s not worth it. I will say the Abu Black Max was mentioned earlier and although I don’t own one and have never used one for me that is as low as I would go. Here’s the “budget” spin cast combo I would suggest and I welcome any and all criticism as again I’ve never used it but it would be my first choice in @Bazoo’s situation.

13 hours ago, Bazoo said:

He's never played video games. We don't watch tv either. Closest thing is youtube, but we limit that. He's outside moving some bricks around as I type.

 

No, he's not very serious yet, he fishes a while, then he's using his pole to swat at birds or stab at frogs or whatever. I do scold him for trying to do those things with his fishing gear. He plays a lot when we're fishing. At the river he throws rocks in and watches them splash. But he wants to go, and he wants to fish some, and he occasionally catches one to keep the fire going.

As all of us old fogies know, the most important thing is that you are getting to spend time with your son.  In the end that is what's really important.  I know I spent way too much time working when I should have been spending more time with my daughter.  Best of luck finding a 300 series stainless steel fully enclosed reel.  

Like some others have stated, I started fishing with a cane pole and a bobber. 30 years ago, I started my daughters out with Zebco micro trigger spins. 
 

When my grandson is ready to fish, I plan to start him out with a tenkara rod. Kinda a cross between the old cane pole and a fly rod. 

We rarely fish bobbers, so cane poles aren't going to work for us. He wanted to fish worms and bobbers tonight so I rigged him up. I let him fish bobbers as much as he wants, but he likes using various bass lures as much as I do.

 

He enjoys slinging whatever it is out half a mile. I can't blame him.