I started deep sea fishing when my Dad bought his boat – a 17.6 ft Yeld Cat in April 2015. Since then we have crammed in as much fishing as we possibly can, in between school, sport and life.
It has been a big learning curve, but there have been some wonderful people along the way that have really gone the extra mile to encourage, teach and share fishing tips – so for this, I am very grateful.
We mostly launch off Pennington on the South Coast. Since the first launch I have been hooked – no pun intended!
I have also fished off Shelley Beach, Warnadoone, Transkei, Cape Vidal and Mozambique. Fishing has become a passion of mine.
Early in 2015, I caught my first John Dory, followed by a Dugarut of 5.5kgs. My first competition win was at Pennington in December 2015 when I caught a smallish Dorado of 7.68kgs. Despite its small size, there were not too many ladies in my section, so that was lucky for me. I caught a nice 14kg Tuna in February this year. My first Wahoo was a smallish one of about 8kgs off Pennington. I caught another 8.1kg Dorado off Mozambique in May 2016
In May this year my Dad, Adrian Dela Hunt and I launched off Pennington and I caught one of my best catches – a 19kg Wahoo & Adrian caught a 32kg Yellow Fin Tuna – it was a good day for fishing. July this year, we were back down in the Transkei and I caught a 15kg Wreck Fish.
In August this year I caught my first Mussel-cracker which was a decent 12.86kg. I have been lucky to have caught a number of other smaller fish too. I have been fortunate enough to go out to sea with well-known and knowledgeable Craig Thomassen from Inside Angling and have had my debut on TV.
I had nominated for Shelley Beach Gamefish Nationals in July 2016, thinking that I may have to wait a year and try again.
I was really happy when they announced the team and I had made it in! I joined the Natal Black U19 team, made up of Seth van den Berg, Bevan Taljaard and myself. Both of them more experienced than me but very supportive.
We earned a respectable 3rd place, winning the bronze medal and our counterparts – Natal White – with Cameron Gemmell, Jenna Boswarva & Luke Nielsen, coming in 1st place – Go Natal!
Bevan Taljaard, Luke Nielsen, Seth van den Berg, Hannah Anderson, Jenna Boswarva & Cameron Gemmell.
My brother, Rorke Anderson and I nominated for the Warnadoone Inter-zonals which will be in September this year and along with a number of other fishermen and women, we will be doing what we love and hoping for some good catches.
The support and encouragement I have had has been overwhelming and I really am grateful to everyone who has been there and helped me. I still have much to learn, but feel my fishing future is bright and I cannot wait to get back out on the water.
