High School Student Hooks Success with Fishing YouTube Channel

Hayden Miller's love for fishing began at a very young age. As a toddler, he was already equipped with a fishing pole and was hooked on the activity. 

Today, as a freshman at Coal Ridge High School, he has turned his passion for catching fish into a side gig by creating a YouTube channel called "Hayden Outdoors" (@haydenoutdoorsfishing). The channel is where Hayden shares his fishing adventures and knowledge of fish in Western Colorado.

Hayden’s social media presence started modestly with some photos posted on his Dad’s Facebook account.

“I started catching bigger fish, and my Dad posted on Facebook and it would get a couple hundred likes,” he explained.  “I thought that I could probably make something out of this. So I just decided to make the YouTube channel.”

With just a couple of GoPro cameras and some simple video editing software, Hayden cast his passion for fishing into the YouTube ocean.

Hayden admits that it's relatively easy but rather time-consuming maintaining a YouTube channel. It requires driving to different fishing spots, filming and editing the videos, and dealing with the technical aspects of the process. Despite these challenges, he still enjoys it and considers it a hobby for now. His YouTube channel has 68 videos, and he has over 250 subscribers. 

He has not yet landed a social media empire yet, but he has lured some sponsors, including Tank Fishing Co., Dynamic Lures, and Peter's Custom Trout Worms, which support his passion.

Although he loves fishing for different types of fish, he has a special place in his heart for river browns. 

“I like fishing for river browns because they always just produce like a really good fight and you can go out on the river and fish all day, and only catch two or three fish and be happy with it because they're pretty fun to fish.”

Hayden is thinking about a career in business and believes his adventures in social media marketing will help him in the future, but for right now, he’d rather be next to a body of water with a fishing pole in his hand.

“If I'm out on the water, it's a good day.”

Follow Hayden Outdoors on YouTube at  (https://www.youtube.com/@haydenoutdoorsfishing).