COLUMN : NEWELL ’ S NOTES
YOU-tube
How bass pros are changing the game for you , the everyday angler
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a freelance writer and photographer , Rob Newell has been reporting on fishing tournaments for 20 years , finding the stories between fish and angler to be a stretched line of heroes , heartache , triumph , torture , inspiration and exasperation .
I
’ ve been watching the proliferation of bass fishing on YouTube for about a decade now . At first , I thought YouTube and professional bass fishing would never mix . It ’ s a great source of entertainment , sure , but when it comes to credible information , it can be underwhelming . The fact is , anybody can be an “ expert ” at anything on YouTube . I can video myself folding a piece of paper in half and title it “ Origami Secrets ” and begin counting my views .
Given that , much of the early bass fishing content on YouTube consisted of casual anglers videoing their recreational fishing trips for fun . There was more emphasis on the follies that come with fishing rather than the catching . There were a handful of anglers producing constructive content in terms of teaching fishing , but those topics often got lost in YouTube ’ s sea of rambling vlogs , unboxings and red arrows pointing to captions like “ see what happens next .”
On the flipside , the primary audience consuming fishing content was looking for videos without an agenda . As a result , the just-fishingfor-fun vibe on the platform caught fire . Since professional fishing for big money is a more serious business , I couldn ’ t see pro anglers and YouTube mingling .
Professional anglers dabbled in the YouTube game early on , but patched-up pros pushing product were not exactly the preferred YouTube “ influencers ” at the time . Also , pros ’ content
22 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2021