CAPTAIN JOEL’S FISHIN’ HOLES: WHEN WE’RE NOT FISHIN’, WE’RE HUNTIN’


In order to afford to hunt the remaining 65 days of the year, I fish 300 days a year. My daughter Brooke’s birthday is on November 23, just before Thanksgiving, so I always aim to get home by then. Lately, I’ve been hunting in the Midwest throughout the first three weeks of November. I hunt deer in the Midwest. Although my primary goal is to hunt large trophy bucks, I occasionally take a doe for venison to bring home for Thanksgiving dinner.

When we get home, we laze about and watch football before supper. Normally, my son Captain Jojo and I are on fishing charters while the girls are at home preparing. We are enjoying Ritz crackers, pieces of farm-fresh Midwest cheese, and venison summer sausage made by our Amish neighbors while we watch football. In addition, we’ll shatter some stone crab claws and spread newspapers on the table.

I’m a fat Southern dude who prefers fried food. We have been making a unique surf-and-turf feast for our Thanksgiving family dinner in the Florida Keys for years. We enjoy back straps with fried fish, lobster, and all the trimmings, as well as fried venison tenderloins.

The same method is used to prepare the fresh lobster, fish, and venison. Each of the three is sliced into pieces the size of fingers. One pan is used to fry the venison, while another pan is used to fry the fish and lobster. The three meats are fried in a pan with butter after being dipped in milk and scrambled eggs and then in a flour mixture seasoned with Everglades. Key limes and garlic are used to fry the fish and lobster. Red onions and cilantro are cooked with the venison.

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We dip our meat and sauces because our family members are dippers. I enjoy dipping our fish in a homemade cocktail sauce that is made with horseradish, mayonnaise, ketchup, and Key lime. My wife Ana makes a special tartar sauce that the kids and I enjoy. My kid prefers a mustard BBQ sauce in the North Carolina style for the venison. My wife and daughter prefer to dip their venison in Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, whereas I prefer to dip it in ketchup. Everyone enjoys dipping the fried lobster into melted butter that has been seasoned with hot Key lime juice and garlic salt.

Typically, we serve rice, black beans and Venezuelan-style beans, corn on the cob, homemade mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and green beans. We enjoy Georgia pecan pie and/or my wife’s homemade Venezuelan flan and Blue Bell vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Our Florida Keys family has been enjoying this Thanksgiving meal for five generations.

I hunted for a monster deer in the wonderful state of Indiana for 22 days this year. On November 22, I returned home with nothing in the way of cash, but I did bring back a cooler full of meat from a large nanny doe I had taken. This season, I also harvested a couple trophy deer in Sparta, Georgia, so we had a plenty of venison in our freezer for Thanksgiving. This holiday season, we’ve shared a lot of our venison with many of our Keys friends, and I hope they love it as much as we do.Call or text Capt. Joel at 813-267-4401 or Capt. Jojo at 305-879-0564 to schedule a charter with Ana Banana, or go to www.anabananafishing.com.

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