Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD
The day my son was born, I used it as an excuse to buy a new fishing rod. I could imagine in five or six years, I’d have it well broken-in and he’d be standing on the back deck reeling in a coho or two with it. That “dream” did come true.
When my first grandchild was born, I bought her a child’s model, Zebco spincaster. Fishing off a boat dock, Anna reeled in her first bluegill with it when she was just 2 ½ years old. She now has a little brother, but I hadn’t yet bought anything “fishy’ for him when I spotted a NextGen 4/0 Medium Tackle Box made by Flambeau Outdoors. Bingo!
Andrew is way too little to fill the box with hooks, bobbers and other fishing gear, but I knew he’d be attracted to the bright blue color of the box, the bright yellow handle and closure knob and have fun opening and closing the top and swinging out the drawers to fill them with other bright plastic toys. I was right about that.
In a couple years we’ll add a few panfish hooks, some red and white bobbers and other panfish tools then head down to the dock. In the meantime, I’ll work on teaching him words like “tackle, reel, bobber and “here fishy, fishy.” That’s one of the jobs grampas are supposed to do.
Toddlers are going to play with some sort of toys, they might as well be fishing oriented toys. One of the jobs Flambeau Outdoors has taken on is to supply products designed to capture the attention of the next generation of anglers. Check out their NexGen Tackle Boxes, Wild Bite Adventure Kits and the Big Mouth Tackle Box Kits at: http://www.flambeauoutdoors.com. All Flambeau products are available at this website, as well as at hundreds of online sources, retailers and big-box stores. (Flambeau makes products for “big” kids and grampas, too.)
FISHING TOYS 