Taking 2 year old son to catch his first fish. Got a little push button rod/reel combo and hook/sinker/bobber. Ready to go to town on some perch! I figured we'd dig in the yard and get some worms. What do y'all like to use?

Hopefully pics to come Saturday

crickets

We've been practicing

Bacon

Funky Winkerbean said:

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Bacon

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Forgot about bacon

Box of nightcrawlers

Anything can be caught on canned corned. Hominy If you are trophy fishing.

Beetle spin with a black and chartreuse tube or Berkeley nibbles

Bacon
Corn
Chicken hearts
Cheese

Bacon or hot dogs

Lasts for years (or until you use it all), does not smell, stays on well (you can catch multiple fish with one bait). Use with teeny tiny hooks.

Protip: always make the hooks barbless when fishing with little kids.

Regular earthworms. I worm can last 39 minutes. Break it up.

Thanks for tip about the barb!

Just smash it down with pliers?

In addition to the barbless recommendation, just make sure you're careful if you're using a **** push button reel. My dad hooked my younger brother in the eyelid when we were young and he was casting a ****ty Mickey Mouse rod and reel with too many kids in a small boat. Fortunately it was just the eyelid and everything ended up being just fine, but those crappy kids poles are garbage

Quote:

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Protip: always make the hooks barbless when fishing with little kids.

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or drunk groomsmen.

You are a good parent taking a kid fishing!

Simple cane pole, line, bobber, #6 hook with barb mashed down as suggested.

Bait- earthworm pieces, whole corn, bacon, Berkeley power bait nibbles sold at Academy.

I take my grandkids perch fishing every chance I can.

Thanks for the warning. Safety is always the first priority but it will be doubly since momma will be there too

Hot dog. Break off small little pieces

Funky Winkerbean said:

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Bacon

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EOT

We always used worms with my kids when little. Not the huge catfish ones but the small ones you find in the edge of your flower bed. They loved how squirmy they were. We would catch perch for hours on end. So many smiles and fun times.

When I was young and we had a baitstand nearby in town we would use crickets. Or if in a pasture, grasshoppers. They will bite on gum, anything that looks shiny or odd. I bet I have held 1 million perch in my lifetime and let about 90 pct of em go. Just a ton of fun. Start em like this:





Then they get like this:

jpd301 said:

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Quote:

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Protip: always make the hooks barbless when fishing with little kids.

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or drunk groomsmen.

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Or dads putting away the rods and not paying attention requiring a trip to the doc in a box.

All good bait recommendations above but don't forget about catalpa worms if you have access to any.

Earth worms. Sometimes We also used shrimp cut into little pieces.. The perch went crazy over that shrimp.

I've had a day where I wished for barbless hooks.



But on topic, I like the panther martins with skirts for Perch.

Oh man that's awful

Grasshoppers. Easier to catch in the morning

They cannot resist

Ouch

TH36 said:

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I've had a day where I wished for barbless hooks.



But on topic, I like the panther martins with skirts for Perch.

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Just push it the rest of the way through and snip the barbs off. It'll back right back out after that. Rub a little fish slime on it and continue your day. No need to ruin a fishing day for everyone else.


Edit to stay on topic. Earthworms from the garden. My kids and now grandkids had nearly as much fun digging worms as fishing. They'd fight over them like chickens as soon as I'd turn the dirt over.

Where are you catching perch in Texas?

Huh? The question is where can you not catch them.

I had a Hulu popper in my eye. Brother went to cast, and got me.
Surgery, three days in the hospital. Fun times!

Cheap biscuit dough in a can with a treble hook.

Perch being the common slang for sunfish,

Yes, we are aware that freshwater perch are technically the yellow perch and similar species related to walleye, but the name is applied to sunfish as a category name.

Aggieangler93 said:

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We always used worms with my kids when little. Not the huge catfish ones but the small ones you find in the edge of your flower bed. They loved how squirmy they were. We would catch perch for hours on end. So many smiles and fun times.

When I was young and we had a baitstand nearby in town we would use crickets. Or if in a pasture, grasshoppers. They will bite on gum, anything that looks shiny or odd. I bet I have held 1 million perch in my lifetime and let about 90 pct of em go. Just a ton of fun. Start em like this:





Then they get like this:

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Is that second picture a Rio Grande cichlid? I've been trying to catch one for years and can never get them to bite.

Rio grande cichlids like natural baits. They love tiny crawfish if you can find some. They are more particular feeders than sunfish so if both are present, the sunfish often bite first.