Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Quote from: Bryan Young on October 15, 2020, 12:25:57 AM
Alex, nice side hijack.  Your daughter is adorable!

thanks Bryan, she will kill me if she know that Im posting pics of her when she was 3yo

on that pic she was using a cheapo shakespeare alpha reel, I recall changing many reels but the rod kept going strong, no reason for a nice 2500 sized expensive reel for a 5yo that will having it knocking on every rock

You're a good dad Alex.
-steve

Well thanks for all the replies, I'll post back what I end up with.

Update for 2025! 
My 3 boys are now 6,5,3. Best for multiple littles I found are the telescoping cane poles, this surprised me.

Older two learned to cast and have now outgrown the dock demon due to its shortness and limited cast distances. I've upgraded them to about a 4ft rod and this has been perfect for them.

My boys all LOVE fishing, and I love taking them. Biggest caught his first largemouth last time we went out.

I'll second the cane poles for panfish, can't beat em!

My boys went dock demon > spinning dock demon with a cheap ultralight > regular spinning tackle > baitcasters.

Thank to them I made a deliberate effort to find a good spincast reel, and I find myself picking up some of those options if I just have to scratch that itch. Something cathartic about using a big ole spincast reel on a vintage pistol grip rod to bounce a purple culprit worm along the bottom of a pond.

The old Daiwa spin cast reels are a little better than the Shakespear or Zebco variants.  The Daiwa reels had a little roller sleeve on the pick up pin to help with line twist.

When my boys were 3-4 I started them with snoopy rods they got for Christmas. They caught a lot of bluegill from a dock and had a great time!

https://a.co/d/05Ayn45X

I think this is easy for kid to fish on dock ,match with a heavy Ice rod