Bring the Bait & the Fish Will Follow, by Capt Joel Brandenberg

The threadfin herring pour into the bay, the spanish mackerel, tarpon and cobia are nipping at their heels and the sharks big and small are eating them all. This time of year, displays the food chain at its finest. The bay awakens! Birds diving, dolphins jumping and sheets of bait blanket acre sections on the surface. Get your grand slams daily.

We are on the water 300 days per year, we love every minute of it, even though it’s hard work and extremely taxing on the body, it’s very rewarding.  In case you are wondering why I usually say “we” rather than “I”, it’s because for almost fifteen years we’ve had an Ana Banana TEAM. I have written for Coastal Angler Magazine for many years and have never written about our TEAM. My #1 teammate is the Companies name sake, my wife Ana. Ana manages Hooks Waterfront Bar and Grill at Little Harbor Resort. She holds down the fort at home and work. She is an incredible wife, mother, daughter, daughter n law, friend, sister, sister n law and manager. Ana is the hardest working woman in show business and has zero enemies.

The next TEAM member is my son Jojo who is 18 years old and just passed his US Coast Guard captains test and requirements and is awaiting his captains License. He will be a 3rd generation captain.  Jojo is my weekend, holiday and summertime first mate and has been for since he was 5 years old. His mother and I are very proud of the man he’s become and know he will be a great Charter captain.

Next is our daughter Brooke. She’s 13 years old and by far the smartest one in the family. She is a camp counselor at Ana Banana Kids Fishing Camp. She loves the outdoors, fishing and hunting. She’s taken several deer and hogs and can out fish most men. She’s not only my first mate in training, but she also aims to become the next Taylor Swift. We are very proud of Brooke.

Our newest TEAM member is Quinlyn Haddon. Quin is a professional first mate who has worked with some of the most top notch known captains both offshore and inshore from Cabo MX to Venice LA to many of Florida’s waters. We first met Quin on a trip with Tim Salisbury owner of a 39-foot Fountain Called United We Stand. Our trip was sponsored by Baby Seanut Fishing Team and Wacky Wrap. We were entertaining the Overstreets and Solomons who are the owners of the famous Georgia Plantation called Gopher Plantation. Tim Salisbury was following Quin’s fishing articles and fish pics on Facebook and we hired her to show us around the oil rigs in the gulf. She did more than show us around, Quin put my wife on her first Blue Marlin and put Bennie Overstreet on the 3rd largest yellowtail snapper in the world which was weighed, witnessed and verified by the Louisiana State Weigh Master.

Without the Ana Banana TEAM, I could not be on the water 300 days per year. We say “we’re not necessarily better fisherman than you, but we are on the water more.