Filming your fishing adventures and publishing them on YouTube for the world to see is the ultimate dream for plenty of anglers out there. Making money, or even a living from that, is an even bigger dream. And while quite a few fishing YouTubers have accomplished that, it’s far from being an easy task!
To become a fishing YouTuber, you’ll need both a burning passion for your hobby, lots of patience, and even more dedication. Aim to produce and publish as many videos as possible and try to make every new video better than the previous one.
I asked a very successful fishing YouTuber for his best tips and compiled them in this little article.
So if you’re an angler with a camera who’s about to start your YouTube adventure, make sure to keep reading!
How Do You Become a YouTube Fisherman?
Hard work and dedication; that’s basically what’s needed to make it as an angler on YouTube if you ask veteran fishing YouTuber Tobias Ekvall, who’s one of the top content creators of the international fishing channel Kanalgratis.
Tobias and I live in the same city, and we occasionally fish our local river together when we find the time.
As I’ve known Tobias and followed his YT career for many years, he was the perfect expert to interview for this article.
He’s been in the YouTube game for over ten years, and his channel, Kanalgratisdotse, which focuses primarily on pike and perch fishing, now has close to 300k subscribers.
Together with his crew, Tobias is a regular content machine, pumping out videos hither and thither, which is precisely what you should be doing if you want to become a fishing YouTuber like him:
You’ll have to work harder than anyone else and be prepared to sacrifice a lot of time and other interests. Don’t expect to succeed right away; it will probably take you years to grow your channel to a decent size. Make as many videos as you can and try to make each new production a little better than the last one!
Every fishing YouTuber I’ve watched or talked to can second this! It takes a lot of time, and your content will have to be really good and unique.
But that doesn’t mean that you’ll have to be a Stephen Spielberg from the get-go!
Virtually all the big fishing YouTubers have started out small once upon a time. Just check out channels like Kanalgratis, Jon B., or BlacktipH and scroll all the way down to their first videos and you’ll see!
They were pretty bad when they first started out, but they stuck to it, produced new content consistently, and developed their skills.
That’s the recipe for success on the Tube!
Can You Make a Living Being a Fishing YouTuber?
While a full-time income is not easily achieved on YouTube, it’s definitely possible, even for us fishers!
Tobias has made the entire journey from fishing YT kiddo to full-timer:
Ten years ago, it was pretty much impossible to make a decent living off YouTube. However, now that fishing magazines are getting fewer and fewer readers, more people read and watch fishing content online, and the number of anglers in the world is ever-increasing, quite a few anglers have managed to make YouTubing their bread and butter.
Of course, it’ll take a lot of work and time before you can make decent money on the Tube, so don’t make a mistake and think that this is a get-rich-quick kind of thing (nothing on the internet is, to be honest)!
For one thing, your channel will need a minimum of 1k subscribers and 4k hours of watch time before it can even get monetized.
For another, the ad revenue you can realistically expect is not that high, which is why it can be a good idea to diversify your income sources.
This will be covered in more depth in the next section of the article, so keep reading if you want to know more!
How Much Does a Fishing YouTuber Make?
On average, a fishing YouTuber receives around $2 to $5 per 1000 views in ad revenue. So, if you’d want to earn the average US full-time income of $3000, your channel would have to get between 600K and 1.5M views per month.
Those are pretty intimidating numbers when you just start out, but as your channel will grow and contain more and more videos over time, such viewer numbers are actually not at all impossible.
That’s because YouTube, much like Google, is a search engine.
Every video will bring in a certain amount of views per month, given that the topics you’ve chosen are being searched by or suggested to the viewers.
And as you will have more and more videos on your channel, your views will hence grow exponentially.
But still, $2 to $5 per 1000 views isn’t all that much, even if you manage to get a few hundred thousand views on your channel.
Additionally, the YouTube algorithm can decide to pick up or drop some or all of your videos at any given time, which means that your numbers will always fluctuate and can never really be counted on.
The best medicine against that is diversification!
Maybe you build up an eCommerce shop alongside your YT channel, like Tobias and his crew has done.
Or perhaps you can land some sponsors or contracts with tackle companies.
Another way is to review and recommend gear on Amazon, for which you can get a commission.
You could also create a unique product or an online fishing course that you could sell via your videos.
The point is, the more you diversify, the more likely it’ll be for you to make a living off YouTube! Never forget that you don’t really own any of your views; YouTube does!
The possibilities are endless, but you’ve got to be creative and think outside the box!
RELATED ARTICLE: If you want to check out some of the fishing YouTubers who make a living from their content creation and online presence, make sure to check out this article on the best and biggest fishing channels on YouTube.
What Equipment Do You Need to Start a Fishing YouTube Channel?
Essentially, all you need to start your channel is a mobile or GoPro and a microphone. Most guys on the Tube have started out with a basic setup like that.
Of course, as your channel and audience grow, you will want to make better and better videos (remember the tip from above), and so I asked Tobias if he had some more advice when it comes to filming equipment:
Filming Equipment
To start making videos, you don’t need the latest technology! It’s perfectly possible to film basic videos with your phone. To film bites and include cool underwater footage (which is very popular on YT, by the way), I recommend getting a GoPro (or two). In other words, a mobile camera and a GoPro with a chest mount are a solid setup to get things going. A microphone that you can connect to your camera can also be a good idea when filming outdoors.
You can check out the filming equipment that Tobias uses for his YouTube videos on Amazon here:
Editing Equipment
The best editing program I can recommend is Premiere Pro, if you can afford and operate it. It’s pretty advanced and not all that easy to learn, but you’ll soon get the hang of it, and it’ll make your videos so much better! If you have a limited budget, you can also start with freeware such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker or shareware such as Magix Movie Maker.
You can take a closer look at the video editing and production software Premiere Pro on Amazon here
How Do You Make a Good YouTube Fishing Video?
So now that you know how to start, what you can earn, and what type of equipment you need, what does it actually take to make a good fishing video for YouTube?
Tobias has three expert tips for you:
- It’s crucial to have a red thread throughout your video! Make sure you know what topic you want to cover and go through every step of your video before going fishing.
- Do something that stands out from the crowd! People want to see innovative content that they haven’t seen before. They want to be entertained and learn something.
- Try to stick to your main topic and don’t include a lot of unnecessary things. Get straight to the point!
How To Become the Best YouTube Fisherman?
As Tobias is such a professional and creative fishing YouTuber, I thought I’d ask him what makes a really, really good YouTube fisherman, just because I wanted to give you that little extra helpful piece of advice for your upcoming YT journey:
On YouTube, it’s imperative to stand out from the crowd! There are a lot of fishing channels and videos out there, so you have to ask yourself the question: why should anyone watch your stuff? It’s all about being creative and thinking outside the box. Always try to create the best possible content on the web. Make movies that you’re passionate about, and never stop improving and developing your skills and techniques!
How to Find a Good Name for Your Fishing YouTube Channel?
To round of this article, I asked Tobias whether the channel name is of any greater importance for success:
Honestly, the channel name is not as important as many people think. It should be easy to remember and somehow related to fishing, but most people click on your videos because of the thumbnail and title, not because of the name of your channel.
Of course, if you plan to create an authentic brand that people recognize and talk about, you shouldn’t pick a name that’s entirely off or has nothing to do with fishing!
And now, start your computer, create your channel, and get filming and fishing! I wish you tight lines and the best of luck with your YouTube adventure!
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Featured image and all other images courtesy of Tobias Ekvall and Kanalgratisdotse