What makes kids happy? Sharks! Wide-eyed kids head to sea on their earliest fishing adventures, sometimes just old enough to turn the handle on the reel, so long as a grown-up is holding the rod and assisting as required.

No question about it, kids can catch all the other kinds of fish and have fun doing it, but nothing compares to the psychological excitement of catching a shark.  

I recall one recent charter trip aboard my boat. WaveWalker when we put kids on sharks. We were fishing just off the side of a low reef extending offshore, and we began hooking pinback sharks.  

Most weighed about five pounds, with a few 10-pounders mixed in.

These were sharks the kids could do battle with and they had a blast catching and releasing about a dozen sharks over a couple of hours before they finally lost interest and went happily back to playing with the anchovies and sardines in the bait tank (a favorite pass time for most kids).
 
When relatives or friends with kids from inland states or counties came to visit some of my regular charter clients, we would often take them out and specifically look for small sharks to catch.

A kid from Kansas, for example, becomes the hero of his or her school when they go back home talking about shark fishing on the West
Coast.
 
They can tell stories about catching several sharks and feel great about it. But the funny part is. the parents get just as excited as the kids. After all, the parents are just bigger kids themselves.  

The smaller shark species just right for kids include smoothhound, pinback, shovelnose (guitarfish), leopard, and sand shark.

These sharks can be found and caught in shallow water and without having to travel hours to get to the best spots.  

When targeting sharks for kids, a good plan is to head out of harbor and fish nearshore kelp beds and reef zones. These species spend much of their time in shallow water (less than 80 feet deep) and tend to forage along the edge of structure such as kelp beds and reefs.
 
Small sharks are great fun to catch. They tend to hang out in schools, which means that when one is hooked, you can usually count on fast-paced action.

Many of these sharks feature white tender flaky meat, which is pretty decent table fare.

My personal preference is to marinate small shark meat in citrus juice, such a tangelo, then barbecue it.