Paddle-Fishing.com

So my 6 year old has the fishing bug hard. HELP ME. I do have a fishing yak but not good for two people. Should I go canoe, johnboat? Most important thing to me is that it is easy for me to lift by myself. I do have a full size pick up. Don't really want to go whole bot/trailer route. Should I stick to peir fishing? I really don't know what's best to go get a hour or two of fishing in and maybe more on the weekends? We live in south Tampa. If money was not a factor. What would be the best solution for us?

One good option would be a Native Ultimate 14.5 tandem. I used to own one of these. The advantage is that it is a true tandem with two seats that way the little guy can sit up front in his own very comfortable seat and you can keep track of what he is doing. The boat is very roomy and very stable. When you want to fish by yourself you can just remove the front seat and move the rear seat into the solo position. It paddles great as a solo boat. It weighs about 70 lbs and should be easy to load and carry in a pick-up. If there is a down side to the Native Ultimate is that it is not a sit-on kayak. It can be swamped like a canoe. It will not sink, but once the water is in it there is no real way to get it out without getting where you can stand up. This was never a problem for me, but it is something to think about. Hope this helps.

I came down the Rainbow River with my grandfather for the first time in 1953 in a beat-up canoe (and probably hastened the onset of his later heart condition with enough butt-wiggling and hull-stomping and sudden lurching and tackle-dropping and bird-startling shrieks of pure joy to instantly turn a brave man's hair snow white). So, a diehard SOT man now, I'd nevertheless suggest a used canoe. More possibilities for seating arrangements, for starters.

Craigslist Tampa has used canoes and kayaks galore right now. (One guy in Gibsonton has a toadload, and he says he'll trade for just about anything. Don't know him, so caveat emptor.) You can probably pick one up for a decently modest chunk of change, and a pile of pool noodles and polypro and PVC and such can be turned into many hours of rigging (read: bonding) time when the weather sucks.

Forget fancy, expensive "child paddles" (for the kid anyway). Fifteen bucks gets you a bright orange and shiny aluminum telescoping t-handle "emergency" paddle; less than a pound, and you can adjust it to the proper height of the child and lock that down with a setscrew at the lower grip, and it can grow with him/her. Contact the local Coasties. IIRC, a short time ago they were not only giving free kid's classes but giving them free PFD's, too.

For a kid with the fishing bug, two bobbers off a short pier or dock (or from the grassy shoreline of a public park), or a simple trip to a tackle shop, or just walking around a marina or sitting onshore by a busy waterway, is like a trip to Disneyland.

Oh, and a pair of mini-binoculars, handed over at the first sign of boredom. (*You* may have forgotten the thrill of standing watch in the conning tower of a U-boat. Trust me, that's just *one* of the places that 6-year old mind will be going.) At six, I'd rather have had a pair of binos than an actual, working raygun.

Man, I envy you. Mine are long grown and gone far away, but I remember enough pure bouncing, vibrating energy and enthusiasm to power half of downtown Miami.

You, sir, are truly blessed. And, from the sound of it, so is that child.

Once you get the boat, go in search of ladyfish and jacks. You can keep a kid busy for hours with a school of them around.