I'm not a big fisherman. In fact I last fished about 20 years ago. However, I still want to expose my kids to fishing when we go up to Colorado next week.

I've got 3 kids (9, 7, 5) and they all are very excited about fishing. We're going to Estes Park.

I have some rods and reels for them to use. Can someone give me some suggestions on what size/type of line and hooks? What about lures. Should we use live bait?

Any good fishing spots by Estes?

I'll take all the advice you can give me.

I would get some rooster tail spinners, small spoons and get some trout hooks and salmon eggs. For kids, you don't want anything too complicated for them to use. You can just cast and reel in the spinners and spoons and fish the eggs with a bobber and small weight. Will you be fishing in lakes or rivers, it makes a difference? You can use a rod and reel to fish with a fly too, just use it with a weight and clear bobber.

Good luck and post pics.

Salmon eggs, powerbait, corn or earthworms.

Mary's Lake is a good place to catch stocker trout on earthworms. Just fish on the bottom with a small split sinker and you should catch plenty.

There are a lot of fish in the Big Thompson and Fall Creek but with smaller kids moving water can cause some problems... well, complications at least.

Lures: 1) Lakes a. - Orange and Gold spoons ( i.e. SOB,Kamaloops, Daredevil), GOLD SuperDupers, #1 or #2 Mepps Aglia Gold/Orange or Gold.Fish them slooowww, just over the top of the weeds.
b. - Late evening (night) small gold Rapala swimming minnow. Fish it real slow, almost like a worm for bass.In other words, cast it out, let it settle to the count of 10 and the either work it back like a worm OR a VERY slow retrieve. Big fish swim at night!

2) Streams - # 1 or 0 Mepps GOLD spinner/aglia. DO NOT buy the ones with bucktail on them. It looks unnatural to trout (i.e. moss on your hook).
- Don't do the typical thing and just cast your spinner downstream and let the current do it's thing. Instead, cast the spinner across the stream/river and let it sweep across the current. Even better, is to find a deeper hole that is slick,and cast the spinner UPSTREAM. Retrieve it just fast enough to keep from hanging up on the bottom ( i.e. bump it along the bottom of the hole).

I haven't been to the Estes Park area but you should be able to find some small lakes that are regularly stocked. I've found this to be the best locations for kids to catch trout.

tackle needed:
light weight rod
small spinning reels with 4# test line
# 8 size hook
Berkley Power Bait (various colors)
small slip weights placed a foot or so above hook
Also make sure to have a pair of long forceps to help in hook removal.

A sliding weight and swivel with about a six inch leader with a trout hook. Use powerbait(I like rainbow), cast out and let the weight hit the bottom the powerbait will float up from the bottom a little. If the trout are around your kids will have a blast.

If you fish "bait", you'll kill alot of fish you wouldn't normally kill.

Gold Panther Martin Spinnerbaits. Can't do any better.

Buy some Gold and Silver (or orange) Z-Ray lures, or Kastmasters when you get up there. They are really good at getting bites if you want to try lures. Powerbait on small hooks is also effective.

Ginger quills.

Gold bead head nymphs.

Worked in that area in the 60s.

I have fished several streams and lakes in Colorado including Estes Park. I had my best luck on red Pautzke salmon eggs (about 1/4" dia)and brown Rooster Tails. NW80 is absolutely correct about how to cast & fish streams. Good luck.

I know that the from the only fishing I've done in Colorado, a box of 10-12 different Fox spinner baits turned into one of the most memorable fishing trips ever, for me. This was in the mountains north of Paonia, CO. On the border of the Grand Mesa National Forest.

I also learned on this trip that the little spindly worms that you find when you turn over piles of horse crap are great for catching trout. Just something to keep in mind.

Any of the small Panther Martins work great, and be sure to take some chrome spoons.

Also, I always had good luck especially with the panther martins with the holographic spinner and the red treble hook. Kastmasters with either red or green on them work well.

[This message has been edited by Savage243 (edited 7/4/2011 10:17a).]

adpotts........
I used to live and work on the mesa and I spent some time in Paonia when I was with the USFS. Hands down one of the most amazing parts of the country.

[This message has been edited by Savage243 (edited 7/4/2011 10:19a).]

+1 on the roostertails....

This will be interesting. I just loaded up at Academy. Thanks for the advice. I'll let everyone know how it goes.