Are your children ready to move beyond bluegills and try their hand at catching largemouth bass on artificial lures? Consider these tips as you establish teaching plans.
-Stay Close to Home -- Avoid long car rides or boat rides, whenever possible, and when the children have had enough, call it a day. Seek a neighborhood pond, a county park lake or some other small body 
of water that you can fish from the banks or fairly close to the ramp. State game-management agencies in several states operate "fishing lakes" that are intensively managed to offer good fishing and very easy access.
-Use Simple Lures -- If bass are fairly shallow and aren't buried in thick cover, shallow- or medium-running crankbaits, like
Rebel Wee-Rs , Cotton Cordell Wiggle ’O's or Bomber Fat Free Guppies make great choices for newcomers because of the simplicity of fishing them. If you expect the fish to be looking up, tie on an Arbogast Jitterbug . The retrieve is as basic as it gets, and if the bass blow up on these baits, your youngsters will be hooked.
-Bring Zellamanders -- When the bass are out away from the banks, try dragging
Carolina-rigged YUM Zellamanders over points. The dragging retrieve is easy to learn, and the Zellamanders work great for finding fish. Keep leaders short for easier casting. If the fish are tight to trees or grass, switch to Texas rig . Newcomers likely will miss some fish on either rig. However, they will learn a tremendous amount by feeling for strikes and will gain great confidence the first time they set the hook solidly into a bass.
-Stick With Familiar Gear -- Don't think that just because you are bass fishing your children will need to master baitcasting outfits. The same rods and reels they have used to catch bluegills or catfish will work fine for throwing bass lures. If your children have done little or no fishing, stick with
spincasting outfits. Also consider doing some practice casting at home so you can focus on picking spots and working lures on the water. It's easy to make casting into a fun back-yard game.
Let Them Fish -- Once you've talked about casts, lure presentations and likely fish-holding areas, step back a little and let your children fish. Tempting as it can be to direct every cast in your desire to see the young anglers succeed, most youngsters will have more fun figuring things out on their own.
-Be Well Prepared -- Remember snacks, drinks, sunscreen, bug spray and a first aid kit.
-Leave Your Rod at Home -- At the very least, keep your rod put away until the children have caught several fish. Snags, fouled lures and lines wrapped around rod tips occur often with newcomers. As importantly, you don't want to be watching your own bait the first time a bass smashes your daughter's topwater lure.
-Remember Your Camera -- Take plenty of pictures to help remember the day, whether or not the fish cooperate.