In Florida, fishing is a year-long life style. It’s competitive, has its up and downs and injuries are just a part of the game. Our Despina Barton shines the light on the new avenues anglers are going to stay ahead of the game and how one particular fisherman in Brevard County is transcending the sport:
- 29-year old Space Coast fisherman builds following on YouTube Channel
- Gives tips on fishing locations, bait to use and what's biting
- Uses GoPro to take viewers on weekly adventures
Joey Antonelli takes you on an adventure every time you click on one of his videos.
“Tarpon is what I love. It’s the biggest rush –you hook a 100lb fish you can kiss an hour good bye,” Antonelli said of his battle with a Tarpon.
The 29-year old Satellite High School grad was always drawn to the water growing up.
“I was born in Palm Bay, but I grew up and we use to take vacations to the Indialantic when I was little,” Antonelli explained. “We’d be on the beach catching whiting and Pompano. I’ve done it my whole life, my dad fished my grandpa fished.”
The obsession is now turning into a lucrative business for Antonelli.
“I looked back and my first YouTube video was in 2006. I just did it for fun. I started diving, doing a lot of filming when I dived –I like that a lot. It’s really a unique perspective,” Antonelli said of first starting out.
He now generates around $1200 a month from YouTube ad’s he runs inside his videos on his page. He supplements his income by commercially fishing the space coast.
In the course of following his passion he has become an expert. One that his 22,000 subscribers go to on a weekly basis to find out—what’s biting? What bait to use? And the hot spots to fish?
His audience and exposure has grown in the last year, with some videos drawing over a half million views. His tools are pretty straight forward.
“Basically I want something as simple as possible –because I don’t want it to interfere with my fishing. It’s just a Go Pro 5 and it’s mounted on a hat,” he explained.
Antonelli considers several factors when posting videos. One of them is, he does not want to exploit any one fishing spot.
“If you have this jetty full of 100 people I am definitely not going to be having as much fun or catching what I want if it was just me and a few other friends,” Antonelli added.
Ultimately he wants his YouTube channel to turn into a full-time job. He understands there is a large audience that wants to know what he does—to go ahead and make sure that their next fishing trip is a successful one.
“That’s my goal, then I am not out there chasing around, trying to catch dollar fishing I can go out there and do fun fishing.”
Until then, he’ll continue to be the guy at the pier and on the beach casting out a line and always offering a helping hand to his family of fisherman.