re: 1st Fly Rod for my grandson - Recs

My grandfather taught me. He put a hula-hoop down in his big back yard and made me practice until I could roll a line of any length right into the center of the hoop.

Then, with open water (no snags) behind us and bream beds swirling in front of us, he slowly trolled me up and down the bank over a 100 yard length or so, over and over. In retrospect, it was almost cheating. I've done a lot of similar fishing in the years since, and never done as well.

Be thoughtful about how you are going to introduce him to it, to make it fun and to keep from having to unlearn bad habits/form.

Maybe include how-to and joy-of fly fishing dvds/books, or links to some online content you discover for him.

and make it a big deal. He'll never forget it!