What would be a good Crappie rig for my 10 year old son to use?

There are a lot of simple rigging choices to get young children started, but it also depends on experience level.  Assuming your son hasn’t been fishing with you since he was five years old and has become an old pro, you might want to try him out on a bobber rig.  These are a great way to get kids started fishing.  Figure out how far you want the bait off the bottom and tie your bobber stop knot on the line at that depth.  Slip on the stop bead, followed by the slip bobber and a hook.  Add a good size split shot a foot or two above that, bait your hook, and throw everything over the side, maintaining enough slack so your son will notice the bobber bouncing when there’s a bite.  If the bobber goes under the water, your son should set the hook and reel it in.

Another option is a crappie rig, which is easy enough.  Attach the rig to your main line and add a ½ ounce casting sinker to the bottom of the rig.  Then attach a minnow or piece of worm to the hooks and drop it over the side.  It will sink to the bottom, at which point you want to take up the slack and have the rig stand up straight.

If you would prefer not to have your son work with live bait, you can also simply stick to casting instead of vertical fishing, using any of a number of plastics that crappie will locate easily.

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