Winding Down – A Long Hard Look

Words Come Storming Back – Here at Least!

Having a few sick days behind me, and out of my self-induced coma, I have been thinking too much. It’s almost like those stories you hear about: A person in a coma hears every single word outside but can’t say or do anything. In this case the words were my own, in one of those semi-conscious swirls. More words? More videos? What works? What quit working?

Before that coma, I was doing a deep dive on what my own YouTube analytics and trends have been over the past seventeen years, and it made me realize a lot of things:

• I look like I have been rode hard put up wet, and I’ll admit it’s true!
• I used to sound different and I credit the throat thing for that.
• I used to cover and be more energized about “Texas Reports” which I quit doing. But they were solid and very consistent.
• I’ve known for awhile – this is a “guy’s” YouTube Channel.
• I need to be on the road A LOT more.
• Pond Bass series is a total blast – beats lake bass by a country mile!
• Blue River Oklahoma, close by, and a way way way under-covered story. Way too little time there. Much less the rest of Oklahoma nearby!
• People like my Gear Reviews, and that started me on this year end series that will continue – “The Gape” gear for both of us.
• I remain one of the worst I have ever seen when it comes to self promotion, and if I don’t get better, 2026 will turn ugly quickly with the YouTube changes coming.
• I am ready to revolutionize book reviews using YouTube. Fly fishers still love books, and I never stopped loving them.
• “The Wholistic Fly Fisher©” series will hit HIGH gear in 2026, as I go in for what should be routine maintenance – you’ll see.
• Embedding is my big goal. And I hope to have cooperation/help with that starting in Oklahoma.
• SOME ANALYTICS: My crowd there on the Channel has whittled itself to the 40-80-year-olds.
• As cool as I might think I am, apparently I am most assuredly not – to those under 40-years old. Of course I take solace in the fact guys like Alvin and JT are looking a bit long in the tooth as well!
• North Central Texas is still the worst place in Texas to have a website and YouTube Channel about fly fishing.
• I will forever be AMAZED by people in the industry’s failure to take advantage of the offers for free publicity I have made to them over the years. People at every level of the industry. I give up.

Yeah, pretty lucid dreaming … but if I can fix a few of these things, early on in2026, maybe I have a shot for a few more very good years. I know I can’t fix ugly, but maybe a soft filter sometimes? Bring back the “Texas Reports?” Add “Oklahoma Reports?” I mean Oklahoma is 30-miles up the road, and I drive to water a lot further away – still in Texas! I may have to redefine my style on gear reviews, but the philosophy, considering the f’d economy? It seems solid. I am in the “Wholistic” for the duration, and it’s going to get real personal next year. I am so weak on the Blue River that it hurts my gut. I know all those under 40-year-olds will find this someday, when they HIT 40! Some age out, and some age IN!

Some other “Series” ideas have been rolling around in my head as well. The coming YouTube premium on “time on platform” – over likes and subscriber numbers – means the word “Series” will be popping up in and on every fly fishing channel that wants to succeed, if it hasn’t already started. As of this writing, I am the only Texas fly fishing writer/videographer to have tapped into that term, “SERIES” in relation to fly fishing, but go ahead hide and watch. I am definitely not learning anything new from Texas fly fisher’s YouTube Channels during this downtime, but I am learning a TON FROM THE BASS GUYS (the pros) right now. Pay close attention, and you’ll see those BIG endorsement deals have started melting away – across the board.

NEED TO KNOW BASIS

I am going to leave this up for awhile, because I need to know of all those musings, which would you NEVER want to see or read about again? Which would you rather read about? Which would you rather see? And I will take comments under advisement … and see how it goes! There are a few of those that I will be “sticking to my guns” on.