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safety · beginner · 4 min

fishing with kids: safe, simple and fun

How to take a child fishing without scares: life jacket and supervision, hook and spine safety, gear that won't tangle, how to keep the fun going, and what the law says about licenses for minors.

safety first: the water

Drowning is fast and silent: someone who is drowning almost never waves or shouts. In Brazil, drownings are more common in fresh water, in rivers, lakes and reservoirs, exactly where people fish.

  1. Agree beforehand who the adult is that watches each child. While watching, that adult does not fish.
  2. Small child and anyone who doesn't swim well: a life jacket of the right size, worn and buckled, including on the bank and the pier.
  3. Choose a low, flat, firm bank, with no current, no slick rock and no high bank.
  4. Set a clear limit ('no further than this') and keep the child behind it.
  5. Line tangled in the water is not chased: cut it.
  6. If someone falls in, don't jump in without a float. Throw something that floats (life jacket, closed empty bottle, cooler), extend a rod or a branch and call 193.

tips

  • An arm float does not protect: it can burst or slip off. A life jacket is the safety equipment.
  • In a boat, a life jacket for everyone, in child size for the children. Check the Navy's requirements for your boat with the Port Captaincy.

common mistakes

  • Looking at the phone 'just for a minute' with a child at the water's edge.
  • Trusting that the child 'knows how to swim' in a river or a reservoir.

hook, sinker and spine

Most injuries in fishing with children come from the hook and the fish's spines. Almost all of them can be avoided.

tips

  • Crush the hook barb with pliers: it comes out of the fish easily and, if it pricks someone, it does not hold either.
  • Before each cast, everyone stands behind the person casting. Teach the child to look behind.
  • Sunglasses or protective glasses prevent a hook in the eye.
  • The adult removes the hook from the fish, with pliers.
  • Fish that hurt: mandi and catfish have stings in their fins; tilapia has spines in the dorsal fin; trahira and piranha bite. Hold them with a cloth or leave it to the adult.
  • Embedded hook, sting or cut: see the first-aid guide and carry a basic kit.

common mistakes

  • Leaving a rigged rod lying on the ground, with the hook loose.

simple gear

For a child, less is more: light gear, short or without a reel, easy to use.

tips

  • Cane pole 3 to 4 m (bamboo or telescopic) with 0.20 mm line and a small hook (No. 12 to 14): it has no reel to tangle, and it is perfect for lambari from the bank.
  • For older children, a short rod (1.5 to 1.8 m) with a small spinning reel. The push-button reel with a closed cover is the easiest: press, cast and release.
  • A colorful, very visible float: watching the float go under is half the fun.
  • Set everything up at home and bring spare lines ready.
  • Easy baits: worm, ready-made dough and green corn.

common mistakes

  • Giving the child the adult's heavy rod.

how to keep it fun

The first fishing trip decides whether the child will want to come back. The goal is to catch fish, even small ones, and leave wanting more.

tips

  • Choose a place with lots of small fish: lambari from the bank or tilapia at a pond.
  • A pond helps: restroom, shade, snack bar and almost guaranteed fish.
  • Let the child do it: baiting the hook, reeling in, holding the fish with wet hands, releasing it.
  • Celebrate every fish and take a quick photo, with the fish close to the water.
  • Take breaks: a snack, water, looking for worms, watching birds.
  • Small challenges: first fish, biggest fish, more fish released.
  • Teach the rules as part of the game: measure the fish, release the small one, leave no trash.
  • Leave before the child gets tired. Better to go home early and happy than late and in tears.

common mistakes

  • Planning the day around the adult's fishing.

sun, heat, lightning and critters

A child feels the heat and the sun before the adult, and says so afterward.

tips

  • Hat, light long-sleeved clothing, sunscreen and plenty of water. Avoid the strong midday sun.
  • Insect repellent and closed shoes at the edge of the bush.
  • Watch where you sit and where the child moves: ant nests, wasp nests and snakes like the edge of the bush and rocks.
  • Heard thunder? Everyone leaves the water's edge and goes to a car or a closed building.
  • In the app's forecast, choose a day with no alert for storms, gales or strong heat.

license and rules for minors

The federal rule exempts from the license anyone who fishes only with a handline or a simple cane pole (a rod without a reel), with no commercial purpose, and that applies at any age. With a rod and reel, the federal rule has no specific exemption for minors. Some states have their own rule for minors, including on bag limits: check your state's rules on the app's rules page.

tips

  • Bring the child's ID document.
  • The minimum size, bag limit and closed season also apply to the fish the child catches.

checklist

Check off what's ready. Saved on this device.

sources and references

  1. scientific Szpilman, D. Afogamento na infância: epidemiologia, tratamento e prevenção (artigo de revisão, 2005)Sobrasa file. In Brazil, drowning is more common in fresh water (rivers, lakes, reservoirs); the victim does not wave or shout; an arm float is not safety; more than 80% of beach drownings happen in the valas; help without becoming a second victim. Data from 2005.
  2. technical Sobrasa — Sociedade Brasileira de Salvamento AquáticoDrowning prevention campaigns and materials.
  3. official Instrução Normativa MPA nº 5, de 13 de junho de 2012 (registro e licença do pescador amador)Text reproduced by NormasBrasil. Art. 5, sole paragraph: exemption from registration and license for anyone using only a handline or simple cane pole, with no commercial purpose. Art. 6, sole paragraph: fee exemption. There is no specific rule for minors.
  4. official NORMAM-211/DPC — Normas da Autoridade Marítima para atividades de esporte e recreio (Portaria DPC/DGN/MB nº 200/2026)The Navy's website blocked automatic reading in this revision: we did not verify the text of the item on life jackets. Confirm it with the Port Captaincy.

keep reading

technical

first fishing trip: from zero to the water's edge

For anyone who has never fished: license, where to go, a cheap kit that works, how to rig a bobber line, how to bait the hook and what to do when the fish bites.

technical

fishing pond and pay lake: how it works and how to catch fish

How the charging works, the rules you will find, the lake fish (tilapia, tambacu, pacu), dough and feed, three rigs, the best times, and the etiquette for fishing without trouble with your neighbor.

safety

water safety

Life vest, navigation plan, lightning, wind and waves, hypothermia, dehydration, first-aid kit and the paperwork the Navy requires.

safety

first aid while fishing

What to do about a hook stuck in the skin, stingray and catfish stings, piranha bites, line cuts, sunburn, heat exhaustion and drowning. It doesn't replace a first-aid course or medical care.