Everything Kids Want to Know About Fishing

If you are looking for a book to introduce kids to fishing, this is a great book. 'Hook, Line and Sinker: Everything Kids Want to Know About Fishing' by Italo Labignan shows the basics for fishing brought to a kids level. It has great illustrations and fun color photos of children and kids fishing.

Places for Fishing

The author highlights and goes into detail the different places you can go for fishing, and interesting fish facts like how fish feel, see, smell and taste. Safety is an issue with locales and the different places for fishing include fishing in a boat, wading out into the water, and ice fishing.

Fishing Tackle and Line

The basics are highlighted and described. Of the popular tackle, poles, rods and reels are highlighted with emphasis on cane poles. There are different kinds of rod and reel outfits and these are described: spin casting rod and reel outfit, spinning rod and reel outfit and bait casting rod and reel outfit. This information is very simply laid out for people who don't know the difference between them.

Other fishing gear talked about are hoods, swivels and leaders. The book even has a DIY 'Make Your Own Tackle Box' using a shoebox, egg cartons and extra cardboard.

Methods of Fishing and Catching Your Own Bait

There are many ways to catch a fish and bait fishing is the first mentioned. The author talks about how to use a worm as live bait (how to hook it on the hook itself) and how to bait various insects. If live bait is the way to go for you and your crew, the author gives great tips on catching live bait including when to hunt for worms, where grasshoppers and crickets live and tips for crayfish (crawfish or crawdads) and minnow catching.

Float fishing is talked about where a bobber or float is attached to a line. Lure fishing is also talked about with special mention for spoons and spinners, plugs, plastics and jigs, and crankbaits. Another DIY project is 'Make Your Own Floats, Sinkers and Lures' using cork, twigs and beads.

Casting, Landing, and Removing the Hook

As expected with any beginning fishing book, the author show how to cast with a rod and reel. The illustrations show a girl doing it so it is proportioned for a kids body. The book shows what to do when the fish actually takes the bait or lure and what to do next, including how to remove a hook properly.

What I like about this book is it introduces kids to Catch and Release fishing with tips on how to release fish in the best possible way to ensure long life afterwards. For those trips where you and your young fishing buddies will be catching the fish for eating, there is a great section on how to scale, gut and gill a fish, with illustrations on how to do it step by step.

Illustrated Picture Guide on Knots and Popular Fish Species

The important fishing knots are described and shown in detail: The Half Hitch, The Palomar Knot and The Clinch Knot. Along with those illustrations, there are a number of color illustrations showing in detail what different fish look like. There are four different headings for fish descriptions: Cold Freshwater Fish, Warm Freshwater Fish, Cold Saltwater Fish, and Warm Saltwater Fish.

All in all, this makes a great gift for the budding fisherman or fisherwoman. Even better, this book is a great guide for parents and kids to read and talk about together making fishing a fun and enjoyable family activity for life.