PA Weekend Fish Trip Ideas for 5 year old?

[Bamboozle]

...For young kids use a circle hook and a 1/2 of a nightcrawler for bait. They typically don't set the hook. They just start reeling. It's exactly what circle hooks are made for. As for hook size, they are all over the board. Each manufacturer seems to have their own size ideas. Just pick one that looks good to you. If the hook looks a little too big, it's the perfect size.

Ditto on circle hooks for kids...

And adults too!! I've been using them when bait fishing for freshwater fish for a LONG time. I even tie subsurface flies especially for kids on small circle hooks.

Unfortunately for folks without a stockpile (like me 😉), the best circle hook I ever used for freshwater fish is the discontinued Eagle Claw L787G or L787GTFL.

They check all my boxes for freshwater fishing:

Light wire​

Lazar sharpened​

Bait-holder slices​

Nickel plated​

Teflon coated for effortless penetration​

They were available down to a size 12​

And the sizes were close to standard hook sizes so a size 10 or 12 was perfect for panfish​

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If you can't chase down L787G circle hooks (NOS) on the internet, a good alternate is the Eagle Claw L702G which is what I use for flies:

Light wire​

Lazar sharpened​

Black finish​

Available down to a size 12​

And the sizes are close to standard hook sizes so a size 10 or 12 is perfect for panfish​

​

They don't have bait-holder slices so the kids may lose their bait more easily, but sloppy "kid" hooksets probably account for more lost bait than the absence of bait-holder slices.

And since no hookset is needed with a circle hook, it may be a moot point.

 

[Kms]

Ditto on circle hooks for kids...

And adults too!! I've been using them when bait fishing for freshwater fish for a LONG time. I even tie subsurface flies especially for kids on small circle hooks.

I love circles for spin fishing. Mustad circles are very good and readily available.

I’ll add that even with bait holders, “elastic fishing thread” can be very helpful.

 

[Roofin' Trouter]

Gifford Pinchot State Park

 

[Bamboozle]

I love circles for spin fishing. Mustad circles are very good and readily available.

I’ll add that even with bait holders, “elastic fishing thread” can be very helpful.

Does Mustad offer anything as small as a size 10 or 12?

I've used bait thread before, but more often with strip bait versus pieces of night crawlers.

One of the tricks I use when long casts can cause the bait to fly off is a sliding a piece of a soft plastic grub over the hook point and past the barb or mashed down barb.

That little blob of plastic helps a lot to keep the bait from flying off the hook and at least for me is faster than using bait thread.