“John Kelly, Jr. – Catching Walleyes, Crappie, Trout and Hybrid Striped Bass in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska with Mepps and Mister Twister”

Part 4: How to Teach Children to Catch Trout

Editor’s Note: John Kelly, Jr., from Denver, Colorado, a tournament walleye fisherman, works with the recreation department at Mount Elbert-Bellow Recreation Center where he teaches fishing classes to children from March through late June. Not only does he teach children to fish and catch bass and bluegills on a 10-acre pond behind the center, but once a year Colorado’s Department of Conservation stocks rainbow trout for the children to catch. Mepps and Mister Twister are proud to have a man like John Kelly, Jr., as part of their fishing team because he helps to ensure the future of fishing for us all.

Question: You said the Fish and Game Department stocks trout in the rec-center pond where you teach kids to fish. What kind and what size trout are being stocked in this pond?

Kelly: Twelve- to 14-inch rainbow trout. We use the Mister Twister Exude Corn Niblet and the Mister Twister Exude Roe to fish for these trout. The Roe look like salmon eggs, and with that Exude scent in them, the trout really eat them up. Too, the Mister Twister Corn Niblet with the Exude formula included cause the trout to bite. The good thing about these baits is that the kids can pull out these baits, bait their own hooks, cast them out in the pond and catch trout. These baits make trout fishing easy and highly productive for the young people I teach in my fishing class.

Our kids like the pink, orange and rocket-red colored Roe. They call them “fireballs.” They catch numbers of trout on these. When you’re teaching children, the main ingredient that teaches them is action. Children like to catch fish, not simply fish. With the Exude Corn Niblet and Roe, the children really catch fish. The kids are allowed to catch two-trout apiece to take home for dinner. Since I know how deadly the Corn Niblet and Exude Roe are, I not only teach kids to use these baits and allow them to catch trout using these baits at school, but I fish with these baits also.