What age for kids in the boat?

I'm not talking about YOUR kids or grandkids. What age would you expect a friend or acquaintance's kids to be before you would feel comfortable having them in your boat all day?

I'm asking because I'm starting to have folks ask to bring along their 4-5 year olds. Right now I'm telling them it's not a good idea. I'm sure there are many well behaved 4-5 year olds who have the attention span of an adult and will happily spend all day in whatever weather conditions. I'm also sure many 4-5 year olds have a 20 second attention span and would rather be rummaging thru my crankbait boxes while their clueless parents are oblivious to anything. I've had some 6-8 year olds along who were holy terrors all day and it made for a miserable trip for everybody.

I have no way of knowing which group a child is going to be in so I'm thinking seriously of putting an age limit on kids who can come on my charters. I'd like your thoughts on this. What age do you think would be appropriate to start kids out on a guide charter in a fishing boat, not a family deck boat or pontoon?

Doug, good call. I'm not sure I've seen any 4-5 year-olds that have attention span of an adult! A lot depends on the attentive attitude on the parents. Sorry if I've offended anyone.

I'm gonna say .... 13yrs old (if they get bored fishing they can always stare at their phone :fingerdance )

Lots of ways for a little one to be hurt on a boat. I don't believe so much it would be a difference in the children. Rather than a difference in the parents. Usually well behaved children have parents that pay attention to what their children are doing.

Personally I see no need for an age limit. We started em water skiing in my family around 2 years old.... but a chartered trip changes things.
If I were a guide and didn't like kids (which I dont) I'd say 12-13. But if you dont mind kids and the expectation is that few fish will be caught if they bring small kids...
This could be the first and only time a person is exposed to fishing and or boating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Baitwaster

Personally I see no need for an age limit. We started em water skiing in my family around 2 years old.... but a chartered trip changes things.
If I were a guide and didn't like kids (which I dont) I'd say 12-13. But if you dont mind kids and the expectation is that few fish will be caught if they bring small kids...
This could be the first and only time a person is exposed to fishing and or boating.

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I love kids and have coached 4-H Shooting Sports and helped many times with fishing rodeos and such. Those all had age limits of around 9 years old. I had an 11 year old Saturday who caught the 2 best fish of the day as a double and 10 minutes later was laying on the livewell, bored. His parents were great but an hour later I had him and his Mom back at the marina. The rest of us continued the trip.

I know kids all have different personalities but I'm seriously thinking 8 years old for the lower age limit. My family and friends who I know will be responsible can be different. I try to keep the trips geared to the age group but have had 8 year olds hang in there pulling cranks all day and still be excited at the end of the day.

A few 10 year olds would have the ability and want to learn. Dang few. Early teens for the ones that enjoy and want to know more about the outdoors. There
is no age limit on people who don't respect the outdoors. The ones who throw their drink cans and snack wrappers over board, constantly complaining about
heat or cold, constantly on their phone, and the list goes on. Those folks want to make the trip and get it over with so they can get back to the country club and
tell the story about their fishing trip. An all day trip (6 to 8 hrs) I'm gonna say teen age. As far as which ones are idiots, I don't know how you weed them out
without taking them on a trip.

I agree with CrappiePappy, I was going to say 13 also. A family taking a younger person out on a personal craft, as long as it is done safely, is their business. But keeping your charter from potentially becoming a floating daycare would seem prudent. There might possibly be some bank fishing opportunities for families with young ones, but with little fishing knowledge or equipment if you chose to offer them. When boat fishing all day it’s not fair to expect kids behave. That’s why I like their early experiences to be on shore. That way if they get bored and need to run off some energy it’s easy to do. Quite often when they see someone catch fish they’re right back into for awhile.

You may want to consider reserving some days for 1/2 day or evening trips. A lot of catfish and inshore charter guides do that, specifically to allow for more family friendly trips for groups with little ones or people that simply aren’t interested in fishing all day. I would think that part of being a fishing guide (aside from earning a living) would be to share the joy of fishing with others. As an adult, I don’t have a problem fishing for a 6-8 hour stretch if the bite were good, but kids just don’t have the capacity to do anything for that long. But don’t count them completely out, as they are the next generation of sportsmen... and paying customers!


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Charge price for everybody , let them decide . pay up front . Take off water when they can't control the kids . Taught school 32 years and can say with certainty there is no age appropriate way to tell . Some 10 year olds may be way ahead of mom's new boyfriend . As many times I wanted to say something to adults than kids . :twocents