By: Capt. Joel Brandenburg
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! My family and I are all healthy and happy. As I’ve stated in some past articles, I fish 300 days a year so I can afford to hunt the other 65. I had some great hunts this season in Georgia and the Midwest. Met some awesome people, stayed at some gorgeous log cabins, lodges, farm houses, and plantations and got to harvested some monster bucks. I love eating venison, but I’m more of a trophy hunter than a meat hunter. Our fishing clients come down to the Florida Keys with many different expectations. Some folks are meat anglers and want to catch a cooler or two of tasty fish. Some come down looking for variety, and it’s not rare for us to catch 10 or 20 different species in a day. We even have a lot of guests who want to spear fish, rod and reel fish, and catch lobster in a single day. Then we have people who want to target a specific fish. They don’t care how many, they don’t care how big, they just want to check that fish off of their bucket list. Then we have others who are trophy anglers, they are looking for a large game fish that they can mount and add to their trophy room. Then there are some that want it all and all I can say is, we’ll do our best. My mama told me, I tell my children, and we teach our grandson the old rhyme “good better best never let it rest till you’re good is better and you’re better is best.” Nowadays with AI and ChatGPT, readers care less and less about what Captains write about. If you want to read about wahoo, you can ask ChatGPT to write you a 600-word article about how to catch wahoo in the Florida Keys and make sure to include techniques and secrets. ChatGPT would write an article 10 times more informative and intriguing than anything I could write, however, the thing I keep reminding myself is that you can’t beat experience, you can’t buy experience as you have to experience it. Therefore, when I write an article, I’m giving you my personal experience from the heart not the computer. This hunting season I shot the biggest buck of my life. I was in a tree stand. The buck came out right under me, right at legal shooting light even though the light was dim and the fog was heavy. I could tell it was a shooter. I used my 30-yard pin by the time he got broadside. Unfortunately, he was only 20 yards away when I shot. My shot was high, and I could tell by my lighted knock that I hit him higher than I wanted to behind the shoulder. My buddies and I searched for him for over nine hours in the daylight. When night came, I called in a thermal drone service. He came out to the farm launched the drone and the direction we thought the buck may be and we found him in five minutes. Just like fishing, it it’s a trophy fish because it’s a fish that’s hard to fool and debiting your hook, then it’s a hard fish to get to the surface and hard to eventually land. What seems funny to me is that I remember the ones that got away much more than I remember the ones that we landed! The getaways literally haunt me. I have nightmares about them. I look at our Marathon monsters as the big five in this order: blue marlin, swordfish, wahoo, swordfish, bull dolphin(slammer mahi). The big five all have one thing in common which is you have to dedicate your time to targeting them. Like sitting in a tree stand for hours waiting for the 12-point buck. Sometimes you can do all the right things and the monster never shows up. Sometimes you can do all the wrong things and you get five different shots at the monster. Here are my recommendations on having the best chance of finding your monster in Marathon.
* Make a full day out of it
* Choose a captain with a proven record, and it doesn’t hurt to check out his/her past tournament wins and placements
* Choose a boat that’s comfortable, safe, has all the latest and greatest electronics and gear
* Be patient, plan your work and work your plan.
* 99% of the day whether you’re hunting or fishing for the monster is just hunting or fishing. When that 1% of the time comes to harvest the fish or animal your personal performance matters. Make the shot count, don’t give the fish slack, don’t drop your rod and don’t reel against the drag. Land the monster first and celebrate second. Don’t celebrate first.
It’s not yours until the body hits the floor. Or in some cases, a leader touch.
* Be where the monsters are. Keep your head on a swivel and expect the unexpected.
*Don’t be afraid of fishing in big waves or bad weather “big waves, big fish” and “If it’s blowing, your still going” as long as you have a vessel that can safely handle poor conditions.
Have a great 2026 year and may it be filled with a lot of excitement and great memories!
— For a charter with Capt. Joel Brandenburg owner/operator of Ana Banana Fishing company in Marathon Florida Keys call or text 305–395-4212 office or 813– 267–4401. Or visit us in person at poncho’s fuel dock located at 1280 Ocean View Ave. Marathon, Florida Keys.