Underspin?

[jigstop]

The big advantage IMHO of the underspin over a standard push button spin cast reel is that you can get a lot of decent spinning rods for walleye and panfish whereas the baitcast rod there really isn't much of a choice.

[Juls]

I would highly suggest just getting them started on regular spinning reels.

Girls are very coordinated and will pick it up quickly.

Getting them crappy equipment will just make them frustrated and they will lose interest in the sport.

[CI_Guy]

Originally Posted by Juls

I would highly suggest just getting them started on regular spinning reels.

Girls are very coordinated and will pick it up quickly.

Getting them crappy equipment will just make them frustrated and they will lose interest in the sport.

+1
My granddaughters have much better fine motor skills at a younger age than my sons or grandsons did.

[Agronomist_at_ia]

I believe that a lot of people dislike the spin cast & underspin reels because they have a lot of cheap junk on the market to target kids & picnic fisherman.

In my own experience, I found some of the spin cast and under spin reels to be really good. For example, you can go in and get a zebco rod and reel from Walmart for $20. Thing is absolute crap. The drag sucks & lots of problems with the reel. Now go into a sporting goods store and you can buy a very good quality zebco reel built of aluminum, & like 8 ball bearings. Now you have a different story.

I bought a high end zebco spin cast reel for my three boys to use. I decided that I was going to test how it worked. So I used it to cast twister tails on the river, even tried trolling with it on my boat. I can say I was honestly impressed with it. The drag worked well, and the unit was smooth. Caught a couple walleye when trolling with it, and the drag worked fine. I actually use the reel quite a bit myself now for constant casting operations. The one bad part about all spin cast is the short amount of line they hold, & if you don't have a pretty full spool your casting distance falls off.

So my advice is look at the quality of the reel, and if it is built well you'll probably be good with the reel.

[T Mac]

Originally Posted by Dave in Walker

I remember them as a kid,a closed face spinning reel that hung under the rod, they were quite good, maybe pflueger made them? but I think it was Johnson

Me too...yep... Johnson sounds right. I wore that sucker out

[kzoofisher]

Thanks all, I'll pass your thoughts along to him. I started my kids with open face and fly fishing when they were quite young, amazing what they can do when they don't have any bad habits formed yet.

[grizzley]

I used Johnson SABRA's for years, and still have a bunch of them.
This is a bigger spincast than most, but I will swear by them and wouldn't be afraid to use them for almost any type of fishing that I do.
One thing strange about them though, you can not have any pressure on the handle in order for the drag to work.