Brad Jannenga

My name is Brad Jannenga and my goal is to create the most extensive online directory of hunting and fishing guides on the Internet.

I spent a good deal of time as a kid hunting and fishing. I have to tell you that those created some of the best memories I have; shore lunches of fresh walleye with my family, afternoons spent chasing rabbits and catching king snakes on the way home from the bus stop in the rolling desert foothills of Arizona. My parents had a great love and admiration for the outdoors and instilled a profound respect for Mother Earth in their kids.

The Jannenga Family circa 1983 - Ontario, Canada

The older I got the faster the modern world chipped away at my time in nature. Sure we still got out and fished now and then, spent a Sunday morning here and there chasing quail with the dogs, but slowly the timeless interaction with nature melted away. I got involved with after school sports, started paying a lot more attention to the girls, and before you know it I was off to college. Granted I maintained a certain level of interaction with the outdoors with the occasional camping trip, but unbeknownst to me my simple love of the outdoors was being colored over by the encroaching dull gray of the 21st century. Fast forward a couple of years and there I was building million dollar computer networks for some of the heaviest hitters in the technology industry. I spent almost a decade in the high tech industry, rode the dotcom coaster through it's early days, and closed many companies down when the layoffs came around. It was challenging and sure the money was good, but deep down it was eating away at my soul. Man is not meant to toil under fluorescent lights, packed into carpet-padded mazes of cubicle walls.

Years later while on a family vacation fishing trip I had a journey back into my childhood fascination with the outdoors. I jumped at the chance to join my Dad on a fly fishing trip to Missouri to hang out with my sister's in-laws. It was on this trip, sitting in the woods with my newly-acquired teenage nephew, that I had a moment of clarity. After several days of yanking monster browns out of Lake Tannycomo the next day we got up early and strolled into the woods for the last few days of the spring turkey season. I realized this was the first time I had hunted in over 15 years. It was pre-dawn and Adam lead me to his secret spot down the hill, across a small but running stream. We set up a decoy and then rustled around looking for a comfortable spot to greet the raising sun, and, hopefully, a big southern Tom.

After about 10 minutes of silence and a few good yelps on the slate call, the woods around us came to life. A deer behind us give an irritated snort when he caught our scent drifting up the morning thermals. We heard the distant gobble of a Jake answering our call, while the morning dew glistened on the leaves around us like broken glass. A cool fresh breeze danced through the trees and brought with it the mixture of a thousand different smells of the forest around me. It was at that moment I made my decision. I was going to break free from my corporate oppressors and spend my days doing what awoke my inner self. I'd trade in my indecipherable router commands for a perfectly-timed doe bleat. I'd sell off my database administration books and use the money for a 8wt. fly rod and a good set of waders.

Upon returning home from this trip I did some extensive research on the Internet and found most of the information about hunting and fishing to be patchy and inconclusive. Sure there are some good individul sites out there but I found nothing comprehensive that's when I had a vision to pull it all together. So after many long nights thinking about how to do this I came up with the concept for GameandFishGuides.com I have set out to create a site that will help you, my users, get into the outdoors.