I guess I'd better chime in here and "pay it forward", since I've been doing much the same with my daughter and received so much help from this Board.

First, I'd recommend doing a couple searches on this site using "kids", "children", and "teaching" as key words. Those will bring up quite a few results and plenty of information.

I'm definately not qualified to provide "technique" pointers for you, and will leave that to others here. But I teach snow skiing/boarding to a lot of kids each winter, and have some experience with teaching my own children fly fishing (among other things). I think the advice of "leave your pole at home" and "fish on their timeline not yours" have real merit. It has to be fun, and remember that for many children, the attention span is... well... almost non-existant. Don't sweat it when they want to (heaven forbid) skip rocks instead of fish. Or any other diversion for that matter. And be sure you go to a location where you'll likely do as JC suggests above, but also where you won't be uncomfortable, and they won't be disturbing others when they do participate in the "other" activities. I would like to point out though, that there is no excuse for improper etiquette. That aspect of the teaching should go hand in hand with the "mechanics" aspect.

Finally, don't stay too long. In fact, leave when he still wants to stay. You want him to WANT to do it again. First impression and last impression is generally what stays with them.

Good luck and please pass any pointers you learn in the process on to me.

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The smarter I get the less I know.