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Using top water with medium heavy rod.

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Andrew Flair uploaded his first video to YouTube at age 15. As video productions go, there wasn't much to it: four rough-cut minutes of Flair-then a freshman at Millard North-standing on the shore of a pond in suburban Omaha, fishing for bass.

Flair, who turned 21 this year, has been fishing the waters in and around Omaha nearly his entire life. "As soon as I could hold a reel I was fishing," he remembers. A love for the sport was passed down from his father, and the first videos Flair uploaded to his YouTube channel, Fishing with Flair, were made primarily for an audience of family and friends. "Just sharing tips," he says. "Not much more than videos of me catching fish then tossing them back."

Quickly, though, Flair was posting fishing videos at a rate of two to three a week. While these early clips left much to be desired in terms of entertainment value, those formative years were, if nothing else, a full-immersion education in video editing and ease before a camera.

The six years that have passed since Flair's first upload are, in internet time, an eternity. As of this writing, Fishing with Flair is gaining new subscribers at a rate of roughly 25 to 30 thousand a month.

What's drawing them? Flair, mainly. After starring in more than 800 episodes, Flair's natural charm and enthusiasm have a way of gluing your eyes to the screen. The content is fun, too. There are the "Barbie Rod Challenge" clips, the big-catch excursions to Mexico, and more. One episode finds Flair in full swamp camo, lying in the reeds of a golf course pond, trying to catch whatever he can while avoiding the eye of the fairway police carting overhead.

As viewership rose over the years, Flair found himself bringing in a modest but regular income from ads placed before his videos.

The moment of truth came the summer after graduation. Flair remembers, "I had just finished high school, was working at Scheels, and was enrolled to start college in the fall. I'd just bought a new truck but didn't really have any other expenses since I still lived with my parents. It was all or nothing, so I just went for it." Flair dropped out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha and has been fishing for a living ever since.

To say that Flair is a professional YouTuber is an oversimplification. More accurately, he is a documentarian, brand manager, fisherman, duck hunter, and burgeoning media mogul with his hand in at least a half dozen business ventures, all of which are connected by a long spool of monofilament line to that original clip of a high school freshman casting for bass one day after school.

While the "work" of regularly passing your days with a line in the water from sunrise to sunset may sound enviable to some, there are a whole host of other labors that are inherent to YouTube fame.

For one, there's the editing, reducing several hours of footage into one digestible 15-minute clip. There is also the attendant Instagramming, Snapchatting, Tweeting, and across-the-board brand sustenance required for life as a professional internet personality. All of which, by the way, must occur on a daily (at minimum) basis for fear of losing follower interest.

One can imagine that a less ambitious 21-year-old might stop here. For Flair, though, YouTube fame is only the launching pad to what has quickly become a multi-armed media machine. In fall 2016, Flair partnered with four other YouTube fishing personalities from across the country-each of them charismatic 20-somethings in their own right, producing fun and informative fishing content. The collective dubbed themselves The Googan Squad-"googan" being a pejorative term for the lowest of lowlife fishermen, an epithet often lobbed at the loud-talking, bank-sitting, fresh-water anglers that more seasoned sportsmen hope to avoid.

The name solidified the young entrepreneurs' image as a band of rogues, while also allowing them to court sponsors with greater clout. "Once we'd joined together under one name, we could approach advertisers and say honestly that we had access to 3.5 million viewers between the five of us," Flair says.

Today, the Googan Squad collectively owns a home in Dallas, Texas, that serves both as corporate office and crash pad for fishing excursions throughout the state.

For Flair, what started as a hobby now includes a signature gear collection, a clothing line, a printing company, a mobile fishing app, and a private coffee label.

On July 3, Flair and his teammates unveiled their biggest endeavor yet, their own line of patented bait and lures, Googan Baits. After heavy cross-platform promotion (the Googan Baits Instagram account boasted over 50 thousand followers before even making a single post) the first run of product sold out in 25 minutes.

With so much momentum at his back, what awaits Flair in the murky waters of the future? "None of this has been done before, so it's tough to tell," he says. "I want to ride this out as long as I can. It will definitely come to an end. All celebrity comes to an end. I'd be fairly shocked if this lasts more than five years."

For now, as long as the fish and followers are biting, Flair will keep baiting the hook.
Find Flair's latest videos on his YouTube channel with the simple handle "Flair," or catch him on Snapchat (aflair430), Facebook (Fishing with Flair), Instagram (Fishing_with_Flair), or Twitter (@fishinwithflair).
This article was printed in the September/October 2018 edition of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

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Andrew Flair uploaded his first video to YouTube at age 15. As video productions go, there wasn't much to it: four rough-cut minutes of Flair-then a freshman at Millard North-standing on the shore of a pond in suburban Omaha, fishing for bass.

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The 7 foot medium heavy rod allows the strength and power to get the hook set on top water blow ups 

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The 7 foot medium heavy rod allows the strength and power to get the hook set on top water blow ups 

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Flairs frogin and flipping stick is the best known bait caster for top water lures

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Flairs frogin and flipping stick is the best known bait caster for top water lures