Definitely start with the toddlers in mind. Short button casters with a bobber and a live worm. Catch as many sunfish and blue gill as possible under any dock or shallow shoreline. The constant action is a little dopamine dump that they can’t get enough of. This will instill a genuine love for fishing which then sets them up for more advanced species down the road like trout, salmon etc. While catching a nice cutthroat on a dry fly sounds like a fun challenge for us-You’ll bore the hell out of your kids and turn them off to it completely(not all kids). If they’re not having fun, you’re not having fun. This is what my dad taught me first and now this is what I show my 3 year old. Now, he’s grabbing worms barehanded and refuses to let me cast for him or reel.

At first, do the same thing as them. Recommend any cheap spinner rod from any outdoor store. Next bump up to something a little more fun but similar like a Yamamoto/Senko worms and configure them in any of the orders like the pic below. This will help you with a couple things—learn how to action a bait correctly to get a response from fish you’re targeting and work on casting accuracy. Once you get those down, you’ll slowly begin to figure out how to locate fish based on their habitat and then you can branch out to different lures on your own because you’re learning what they’re looking fir in terms of food. Also, download the fishing knot app. It’s free and will literally walk you through every single knot step by step that you’ll need to get started. Patience with the kids is key. One second my kid is reeling in a bass on a worm and the next he’s using his rod as a sword and slashing the water. It’ll buff out.