Northern California fishing legend Cal Kellogg catches a keeper with pivot to video

Most anglers in Northern California who plumb around YouTube for how-to videos have heard this cheery greeting: "Howdy guys, it's Cal Kellogg!" A guy who got his love of fishing from his Sierra stream-fishing father, Cal is to Northern California freshwater trout and salmon fishing what Guy Fieri is to diners, drive-ins and dives. Cal was a writer and co-owner of the once popular – if oddly named – Fish Sniffer magazine. For 17 years, he wrote and edited what was, at that time, one of the most-read fishing publications in Northern California. As the demand for print media waned – thanks to the rise of digital platforms – Cal sold his interest in Fish Sniffer and pivoted to the online realm. His YouTube channel has amassed more than 35,000 followers since starting several years ago, and features literally hundreds of instructional videos. From the basics of shore angling to summertime deepwater fishing with downriggers, Cal has a video. And they're well-made; Cal's teaching background is evident as he explains basic or advanced techniques clearly and simply. Granted, Cal, a Foresthill resident, also has (or had, more on that later) his own line of tackle that he marketed with his videos, but the selling rarely overtakes the teaching. There are literally thousands of how-to fishing channels on YouTube now, but for fisheries and techniques that are Northern California specific, Cal is a big fish in a pretty good-sized pond. Where'd you grow up? I was born in Oakland and grew up in the Bay Area. I went to school at Cal State Hayward, which is now Cal State East Bay. I moved to the foothills in the later '90s, got a job, got married, then went to grad school at Sac State and ended up becoming a special ed teacher. How did you go from teaching to outdoor writing? I started writing for an editor named Burt Carey, the longtime editor of California Game and Fish magazine. I had about a hundred articles and saw an ad in Fish Sniffer for an associate editor. My wife encouraged me to apply, and I said, 'That doesn't pay any money.' And I was right – it was about a $58,000 pay cut, (but) that was my job for about 17 years. About halfway through my tenure, I became one of the owners, and I fished everywhere, for everything, all over the west. When did you recognize that video was something you wanted to get into? Well, one, I'd been on Angler West television (a syndicated show that features a variety of West Coast fisheries and fishing techniques). But, I was out on the Delta with a guy and we were talking business. I asked him where he saw the industry going, because you could see print was waning. And he said, 'Video, video, video.' Learn how to make video, learn how to do your articles, but do them in a video format. When did you start your video channel? I wanna say maybe 10 years ago but, I wasn't real serious when I first started. When did you realize it was starting to gain traction? When I finally hit a thousand subscribers and started to get paid a little bit. And that takes time and consistency, and it also takes a leap of faith, because you've got a full-time job, you know? What really made my subscribers go and hit 10,000 was when I started posting every single day. And it was a lot of basic instruction – just a three- to 10-minute video every day. I give you props for continuing to change with the times. That's not an easy thing to do. Oh God no, it's horrible. And speaking of change, you recently transitioned from your original account, "Fish, Hunt, Shoot Productions" to a new account, "Catch America." What's that about? They have some digital aspirations that I can't disclose right now, but it's things that have never been done in the fishing world right now. They needed somewhere to start and they wanted an established YouTube channel. At that point, I had 31,000 subscribers. They wanted a tackle company. They bought (my) company … and hired me to work for them as a private contractor. Since then, they've acquired more companies, really utilized advertising, and they (now have) about 130,000 subscribers. What's the best advice you can give to a parent or grandparent who doesn't have much experience fishing but has a kid in their life they'd like to introduce to the sport? You've got to set them up for success. It can't be about you. It has to be about them. If they don't want to go fishing at 4 in the morning, go fishing at 10. If they don't want to touch a worm, you can't force them; you've got to put it on there yourself. The most important fish in California is a 12-inch stocked rainbow trout, because that's the first fish a lot of anglers ever catch, and that's the one that gets them hooked on fishing. What's a good sort of "starter lake"? It's really hard to beat a fall or spring day bank fishing for trout at a heavily stocked lake. In our region, it could be Collins (in Yuba County). In the Bay Area, it could be Lake Chabot. It could be Lake Amador or Lake Pardee (both in Amador county), a lake where you can put on a ball of Power Bait and the Power Bait does the rest. You can put it in the water and there's a real good chance you're going to catch a fish. And most of the places I just named are all pretty pleasant settings. Your videos are about catching fish, so there's a lot of catching. Don't you ever get skunked?? Absolutely. If you don't get skunked, you have zero credibility. The articles I would write at Fish Sniffer that got the biggest reader response (were) when I went out on my fancy sponsored boat, with all my fancy stuff, and (would) get skunked hard. People can identify with that because it happens to everybody. The editor of the Fish Sniffer used to tell me, we are not elite and we don't keep secrets. I've stayed true to that my whole career. OK, last question: What's your craziest fishing story? My dad used to drop me off at Berkeley Marina when he went to work as a construction guy. I'd get on a boat and he'd pick me up after work; can't get in any trouble if you're in the middle of the ocean, right? So, I'm 14 years old and I'm jigging and whatever it is, it's massive. And I'm fighting it forever. And it (turns out to be) a 65-pound pacific octopus. We got it on board and it turns to Jell-O and starts squirting ink everywhere. And they're asking if I want to keep it, and it's looking at me with that big octopus eye and there's no way I'm keeping this guy. So three of us just kind of peel it off the deck and move it to the side and it just slowly slides back down the side of the boat, turns back into an octopus and off it went! You can find Cal Kellogg's current and archived videos with a search on YouTube for "Catch America."