For Cobram's Max Shannon, it's all about the three Fs — fishing, fishing and fishing.
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He simply cannot get enough of it. Just about every weekend, Mr Shannon, 18, packs his rods and tackle and heads off to catch as much as he can.
It's something he's loved doing since he was a little fry.
But it is also something that has evolved into something more.
“When I was young, me and my mates would head out to rivers with GoPros,” he said.
“We didn't really put any thought into it, we just filmed what we were doing.
“But then we started really getting into it and started making proper quality videos.”
Now, Mr Shannon has two YouTube channels with a combined subscriber base of nearly 5000; his videos racking up as many as 40 000 views.
It's something he does in partnership with his cousin Kyle Morrison, friend Shane Bergamin and Trelly's hunting and fishing store in Shepparton where he works.
Having attended primary school at St Joseph's Primary School in Cobram and high school at St Mary of the Angels Secondary College, Mr Shannon is now enjoying a gap year.
But right at the pointy end of things in Year 12 last year, Mr Shannon received a call while he was in class.
“Channel 10's iFish crew called me and I got to take a day off while they filmed an episode with me fishing in it,” he said.
“Because it was in Year 12 it was pretty tough, but they were keen as to do a another episode, so who knows what will happen.”
Asked what he was known for, Mr Shannon unequivocally said it was Murray cod.
“One of the highlights has to be when we were fishing for cod in the skinny water in 2018,” he said.
“In a normal day, you fish for a 10 to 14-hour day and catch maybe one or two.
“We caught 27 cod in one morning.”
Just like fishing, making videos is more than a hobby for Mr Shannon.
He's done odd jobs making videos for various companies, including a local real estate agent, and music videos for a friend from high school.
After his gap year, Mr Shannon said he was looking forward to studying film and television at Deakin University.
“I kind of want to do documentaries; nature documentaries to start off with,” he said.
“I wouldn’t mind getting into proper film making eventually, I guess that's the end game.”
Although the pandemic put an abrupt end to his plans to go snowboarding in the pristine powder snows of Alaska, Japan or Canada during his gap year, Mr Shannon was still enjoying working at Trelly's and being able to fish once again.
To see Mr Shannon's videos, visit his YouTube channels MS Fishing and Official Native Squad.
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