“Understandably, many folks love the idea of catching a fish, killing it humanely, preparing it properly and feeding it to their families”

One of the aspects I find fascinating about my deep dive into the world of YouTube is taking note of the fishing videos that attract the greatest number of views. They’re not always focussed on the subjects, locations or target species you might expect.

If there’s a stand-out trend I’ve observed among YouTube viewers, it’s a genuine yearning for nitty-gritty, how-to info’ on the sorts of accessible, achievable and often “bread-and-butter” styles of fishing that the majority of us actually do — week in and week out. Sure, it’s nice to daydream about exotic destinations and the glamour species that swim there but the truth is, most of us rarely get to live those dreams.

While we all occasionally dream of exotic locations and glamour species, there are plenty of wonderful prizes on offer closer to home.

The other insatiable hunger is for anything land-based. So much fishing content on YouTube — and social media in general — is produced by anglers in boats or kayaks, yet a lot of very keen fishos simply don’t enjoy regular access to those forms of floating transportation. They’re shore-bound: either by choice, necessity, or both.

Beach fishing is a classic case in point. The vast majority of our nation’s residents live within an hour’s drive of a strip of sand offering access to at least a few fish. So, surf casting is accessible, not too hard, relatively inexpensive, and potentially productive. It has an awful lot going for it. Yet, it also confounds many new chums and hopefuls. Their questions are familiar: Where do I start? How should I rig? What baits are best? How far do I need to cast? What parts of the beach will hold fish? Was that a bite I just felt, or another wave breaking on my line? In short… HELP ME!

Beach fishing is incredibly popular, and YouTube viewers are hungry for more info’ about it.

Address that pain in an easy-to-understand manner, with an approachable, non-judgemental and engaging persona, and YouTube content makers are almost assured of eyeballs, along with those all-important watch-hour numbers. You only need to look at the amazing statistics generated by my mate Roger Osborne on his superlative channel to see just how successful this simple, helpful approach can be… Roger mostly beach fishes, with a little bit of rock and estuary content for variety, and he keeps it engaging and packed with information… and this recipe works. It ain’t rocket science.

Catch and cook content really seems to strike a chord with many viewers.

But throw in just one more vital aspect and everything shifts up another gear. What’s that magic ingredient? Simple. It’s what I like to call the “kill-and-grill” component.

Understandably, many folks love the idea of catching a fish, killing it humanely, preparing it properly and feeding it to their families. That process satisfies a deeply primal, almost visceral, need in a lot of us — one that’s grown more intense as we’ve been further divorced from the realities of obtaining protein for survival by our modern consumer society. Eating something that didn’t come cling-wrapped to a styrofoam tray and wasn’t reared and killed by proxy on our behalf is an increasingly rare experience in 2024. Fishing for a feed scratches that itch.

Simple, accessible land-based fishing with the promise of a healthy feed at the end — who could ask for more?

In the final analysis, I take great solace from knowing that the keys to mastering the YouTube fishing algorithm are fairly basic. For me, they can be summed up in three words: connect, instruct, nurture. The fact that so many people yearn for those core values increases my sense of optimism about at least the medium term future of humanity, even in an age when so much seems scarily uncertain. Scratch most of us beyond the veneer of our modern lives and you’ll still find primitive souls who rejoice in providing sustenance for their tribe… And that’s a good thing.

Tight Lines,