Hi Ben,
I know Che Carson took his son Tre out to jig for Samsons when he was 5. He faired pretty well!

Maybe just 1 adult to look after each child

Not sure about ages as i've never even been jigging myself, but if you decide they are too young, maybe just take them out for a few whiting, skippy or even squid. I'm sure they'll still have a ball. And good on ya for giving some young kids a chance at doing something they may never otherwise have a chance to try!

Took my mates daughter out on Saturday(9 yrs old). Was OK until the boat stopped about 10kms out, then she got sea sick. Had to turn around and take her home. Charter boats will very rarely come in if people are sea sick. It was a flat day but a bit swelly. Might pay to take them out on a trial run first before going to deep. Sea sickness is a awful thing for adults never mine kids.

u strap your rods to the boat as they may let go if they pull to hard and bye bye rod

take them out , give them a shot at the big stuff, first thing would be to check if they get seasick and if they are not sure suggest to them to take a tablet.make sure they have a life jacket on , tie the rod to the boat and another rope from the kids to the boat to be on the safe side

I took my son out 2 years ago to the Rotto aggs when he was 9 in pretty atrocious conditions (should have bailed out at the half way mark) when the NE breeze picked up.

Jigging was no problem as the action is basic and they will soon tell you when they`re on.

I stayed directly behind him and talked him through the fight, sometimes helping with the lift on the foregrip.

I found that with a higher gunneled boat, shorter people cannot get enough uplift during the pump action, therefore not getting much line in on the wind action. Throw in a wild sambo in 115m of water and it makes the job real hard.

Will probably try it again early in the new year.

Ben we have not taken our 6 and 8 yr olds out fishing beyond Rottnest.  The youngest one has on one occasion been sea sick (even with the tablets) when we were fishing around Carnac and Garden island in some fairly ordinary conditions when wind and swell met head on . 

Our 8 year old has become quite terrified if the swell and wind pick up and we have a following sea, he lays on the deck face down and asks if we are there yet.  That is why we tend to stay a bit closer in as it is easier to come home when the conditions deteriorate. 

When we have taken friends on our boat we have always stayed in close and if the weather is warm we stop off at Garden Island for BBQ and footy or cricket on the beach.  The day is not all dedicated fishing but at least we are all out having some fun. 

For us it is not about what the boat and skipper are capable of but more about what is enjoyable and fun for everyone on board.

The pup started young but we set him up with lighter rods and drags. The lighter rods were the trick.

Some worthwhile considerations, thanks guys.

Hadn't given any thought to the seasickness side of things. It's one thing to tell a mate to suck it in princess and wait till it's time to go, it's another to say it to a 10 or 12y.o.

Looks like with a bit of close attention the jig and retrieve should be okay though... just stay close by incase it all gets too much, there's no retreiving your gear from 120m down. Pretty much how I thought it might pan out.

Turns out they can't make it anyway but I'd still like to give them the experience, they're only just getting into fishing and their little brains would blow getting onto one of those fish. Will see how things go in the future and make sure it's a calm day when / if it happens.

Hi.

Yrs ago. When my eldest son was about 9. (He's 43 now)
we went on Pt Noarlunga jetty (SA) for some salmon for bait.
Shoulder to shoulder we were.

The schools used to swing through. Then back again.
You could stand and watch all the rods dipping as school went through.
Some were in the 9 to 12 lb range.

He was standing at rail. three down from me.
One of my boat rods. Penn 500 20lb maxima.
Double hook.

I hooked into a beauty.

Was Cranking it in. "DAAAAAAD".

Looked around.
There was this rod. Kicking away. A body 3\4 way over the rail. Both hands clinging to rod.
Mate hanging onto his left ankle to stop him going any further.

"You want this?" says mate.

"Yea.. Suppose so". Says I.

Li'l B.. Had a double header on there .
One about 8 lb. T'other about size of mine.
I had fun cranking them in.

Glad mate caught him. They were too good to lose.
Great bait fish for Shark and big Kingies.
(Fish. Not kid)

Got his first snapper at 6.

Take 'em out.
They're more entertaining than the tele.
Specially when they catching.

Macka17

Watched a young kid of around 10yrs old jigging out off the Alderman Islands here in NZ for kingies, he hooked a few and landed several up to around 18kg. Did well for a young fulla