On August 29th I met up with one of my college roommates and his family at the Cape Cod Canal. Specifically, we were in the spot shown in the map below.
His kids are 3 and 5 years old, and they mentioned they’d be interested in trying fishing.
At this age instant action is the most important thing, so I baited up some sabiki rigs with small pieces of squid, added a 1oz sinker and we dropped them to the bottom off the bulkhead.
The kiddos got some good practice with how to hold the rod, open and close the bail, setting the hook, and of course reel-in. The bites were fast and furious with copious amounts of cunners (which I’ve also heard called perch).
If you’re looking to take a very young child fishing, then I would recommend giving this a shot. It’s fun, easy, and you are pretty much guaranteed instant action with lots of bites!
The spot shown in the photo below is one of the easiest places to do this sort of fishing, because you can get out of the canal's swift current.
However that's not the only good spot to do this. Here are several other good areas, marked by red X's.
You can catch cunners in the canal at any stage of the tide, but to make your life even easier, try going at slack tide. With little current, it will be even easier to drop your rig to the bottom.
Good luck and if you end up taking some kids to catch cunners, please let me know how it goes!
Tight lines 🎣
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Hallie is next on the rod.
Get them hooked early!!! Great job Ryan
Get them hooked early is right! Lots of fun! Hope you’re catching ’em up Mike.
Nice job Ryan! My young son Ollie loves the cunners and it’s so much fun for him to catch. Question – can you live line them from the pier for a bigger fish? Not sure if that’s ever worked for you in the past
I’ve never tried live-lining them, but yes I have heard stories of them working. Definitely worth a shot!
Ryan that’s how you get them youngsters hooked great job.
Lots of fun Chris! Thanks for the comment.
Fishing for cunners[we call them salt water perch] Is and can be a very rewarding fishing experience for a youngster of any age. One needs to challenge themselves to catching the larger ones , for they do make for some great eating.
You can teach them how to fillet them at an early age and when they get into the larger fish will have a head start. Just be cautious of the fins for they can cut if not handled right. Fold the fins down as you grasp it in your hand to release the hook.
It is too bad they covered up the bridge down at the tank farm for they were one of the most active fish to catch for eating and also bait or just catch and release. If one learns the art of chumming , chumming works in helping to catch the larger ones or if you have a shiner pot , you can set it up and keep the the cunners for fluke and sea bass or tog. , especially if you fish from a boat. They make for excellent bait for some of the hardest fish to catch.
Peace and Prayers
Very cool Carl, thank you! I will have to try live-lining them for bass, fluke etc. That could be a lot of fun.