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Torin Hofmann Let me tell you, watching someone else tie a knot in a video does not easily translate into a learned skill. Developing any competence takes a serious chunk of time, repetitive practice, buckets of motivation, and a little ingenuity. Luckily, Torin had all of that.
Torin wants to show Albertans that even if you are new to fishing, there is a great time to be had on the river.
“ It was really addicting. ” While many love YouTube for its entertainment value, Torin successfully turned his time on YouTube into a real-life skill. Better yet, a skill that takes him to Alberta’s outdoors. After convincing a few friends that fishing is way more fun than not fishing, he was inspired to teach as many wannabe anglers as he could.
“ I taught five friends how to fish, but thought I could teach more with YouTube.”
From YouTube to You Fish ► by Budd Erickson If you heard about a kid who sat around watching YouTube videos all day, you might assume they were wasting their time. Much like watching TV or playing video games all day, it’s not great for your physical health, you aren’t learning anything, and it can be socially isolating. But for Torin Hofmann and many others these days, YouTube is a deep pool of new skills and knowledge just waiting to be reeled in. Torin is the modern, self-taught angler inspired by nothing more than his love of the outdoors and an endless library of online fishing videos. He tells me he was never introduced to fishing by a friend or family member. He painstakingly practised his first fishing knots in front of his computer with how-to fishing videos playing on repeat.
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Now, Torin has come full circle. He is the one who stands in front of the camera and offers free lessons on the sport he has fallen in love with.
“ River fishing can be intimidating, so I wanted to make it easier for new anglers.” More specifically, he wanted to make fly fishing and the Bow River more approachable for those just starting out, or anyone who has never fished a river. River fishing can be a tough gig, but also really rewarding. The Bow River is very accessible for anglers in Calgary, but it can be intimating when you start delving into what exactly it takes to fish there. But Torin makes it easy. No matter what your level of experience, his videos are methodical and carefully paced to ensure the audience can follow along. He covers everything from tying your first knot to using satellite imagery to look for promising pools. The lessons he gives can also be applied to any river system.
