I spend a lot of time taking kids hunting and fishing. Living around Birmingham I've got an endless supply of kids that seem like they want to get involved with the outdoors and try to focus on the ones who are fatherless. For no other reason than I've got to pick some of them and those are just the ones I have gravitated towards.

Getting to the point it's easy for a kid to get into fishing as there are a lot of creeks around the Birmingham Area, the Cahaba River, Lake Purdy, etc. Kids get into fishing a little bit and they can ride their bikes or scooters down to the creek or something in most neighborhoods. In some neighborhoods I've created some scooter gangs of kids with fishing poles riding around. I typically give them one of these backpacks or something similar:

Amazon - Fishing Backpack

What I want to do is put together a stack of tackle boxes full of baits ready to deploy to these kids. Typically I wind up with about a 3600 size as that's what fits in these backpacks best. Max is about 2 boxes. I put hooks and weights and swivels in one box.

The question is the other box. I'm not the best fisherman in creeks. I've never been a real good bass fisherman I'm a Striper and Catfish guy.

We are mainly throwing Beetle Spins and little Rooster Tails. That's about all I know for creeks and small bodies of water outside of Worms and Crickets.

What else should I be putting in these tackle boxes? Are there some essential creek baits that y'all can recommend for Alabama waters?

I appreciate the responses. Plan is to get a stack of them ready to deploy instead of going to Academy and just doing them 1 at a time. What we're going to do is take the tackle, use the tackle and the kids take the tackle home with them. Rods I have figured out.

square bill crank baits, small rattle traps, spinnerbaits

I'd def add small crawdad plastics and hellgrammite plastics.

them spots love finesse worms

Dont creek fish much anymore but those small rapala crawfish crankbaits were always good in creeks. As mentioned you cant beat a finesse worm, or a critter craw

Black trick worm
Hula popper
Small whopper plopper
H and H spinnerbait
Crazy shad
If I can’t catch em with them I’m not catching them

I keep a box of 2” and 3” grubs in my truck just for creek fishing. You can catch anything that swims in our creeks on a little grub

Pop-r small size
Different color beetle spin as mentioned. Black, white, orange have been good
Small brushog by zoom

Joes fly is the best creek bait

chatterbait!

That's a great thing you are doing, GK! Congrats!

I have done a good bit of creek fishing in my life and often carried kids. I usually start them out with a 1/8 oz Strike King spinner bait that you can buy at Walmart. They look just like a regular safety pin spinner, but have been downsized. They don't hang up as much as inline spinners or crank baits, and all you gotta do is throw them out and wind them back.

Lots of good lures already mentioned, but one that will make it a lot easier for them to catch fish is 4" Caffeine Shad rigged with a treble hook. Buy a pack of the little hollow plastic sticks they sell for candy, cut them in pieces about a half inch long, and insert them into the head of the bait and let it stick into the hollow section of the belly. Thread the line through the stick and then tie on a treble hook and insert one hook into the belly with the other 2 exposed. Almost every fish that hits will hook himself, so all the kid has to do is cast and retrieve. If the water is deep, insert a nail weight to make it sink faster.

My grandchildren think they are experts when using these 2 baits. Good luck!

Post a pic of that setup PCP.

Listen to this^^^^ PCP will catch a limit out of a puddle in a Walmart parking lot!

I'll try to remember to make one tomorrow.

Didn't we catch something like 4 the last time we went?

Gomer wouldn't think a LS was cheating if he had been on that trip

Rapala minnows are great in creeks, but a lot of hooks to get in a kid. All the small in line spinners, small swimbaits with appropriate size ball head jig. A fun rig that will catch all species is a casting bubble with either a popping bug or a wet fly (like a wooly bugger, a small streamer or a nymph or a tiny maribou jig) is deadly on numbers.

Here you go William.



There's a couple of the hollow candy sticks that need to be cut to length. I usually try to hide them in the bait better than this, but just trying to make it visible. I use a nail to punch the hole in the bait before pushing in the hollow stick.

This was not my idea; I think I read it a while back in an article on the wired to fish sight. He also said to use super glue on the hollow stick, but I haven't had much luck with getting them to last very long. If I need a nail weight, I put it in the side opposite the hook. It's a lot of trouble, but kids and beginners usually struggle with the slack line hook set, and it isn't necessary if you rig it this way.

I like it. I don't throw a fluke as much as I should.


For just fish catching, I really like the Creek Life tungsten jigheads with a small craw on it. Will literally catch anything.

Rapala countdown black back/silver sides in fast currents. Jerk that thing through a current around a logjam or deep pool in a creek and a bass is coming out after it every time. They can’t help it.

Also small square bill shallow diving crankbaits in bluegill or pumpkinseed. I’ve tore the bass up on those for decades wading creeks.

For kids due to hanging up and no boat to retrieve a snagged lure I would suggest staying with all plastic. Show them how to put the barb back in the plastic to make it weedless/snag resistent.