By Henriikka Niemi
Staff Writer
At 2 a.m. in early March 2012, current Coppell High School senior Austin Anderson spent 40 minutes reeling in a 50 pound, six ounce smallmouth buffalo at the Lake Fork Carp & Buffalo Challenge fishing tournament in East Texas.
One week later, Anderson received a call from tournament director Jason Johonnesson that the catch had earned him an International Game Fish Association junior world record, breaking the previous record by over 8 pounds.
Anderson has been fishing since the age of four when his grandfather first introduced him and has achieved on a level beyond amateur fishermen.
“It’s a relaxing activity and I’m also a record chaser, so I’m always trying to push the limits of what has already been achieved in fishing,” Anderson said. “It’s also about exposure of the sport. Carp and buffalo fishing, which is what I do, is kind of underground and they’re not really a big sport fish in the U.S.”
Anderson attends an average of three major tournaments a year and multiple local, smaller tournaments. The next few on his radar are as far away as South Carolina and New York. The exposure that comes from these tournaments has also allowed Anderson to catch the eye of a few sponsors, who signed him after seeing his potential.
“It’s incredible to watch Austin fish because he’s very talented and everything he catches is huge,” senior Leah Tepera said. “He has already accomplished a lot for someone his age and he has a great future in the sport.”
CarpPro magazine has sponsored Anderson for the past three years. He interns, writes product pitches and has even been featured on the cover. Seven issues ago, CarpPro relaunched with a new look and Anderson has been published in each issue to date. Although he is not currently paid, the magazine is in stages of expansion and once it reaches a big enough reader base, CarpPro will move from online publishing to print.
“The kind of fishing he does is totally different from the kind he was first involved in, so he completely did the research and learned on his own,” mother Carey Anderson said. “There is a lot involved as far as locations, time, bait and equipment. Also through the [CarpPro magazine], he’s fine tuned his writing skills and become quite a photographer.”
Anderson plans to pursue a career in a biology and fishing related field, such as wildlife and fisheries management, but is also considering other possibilities as a product rep, tournament director or a continuation of his role at CarpPro.
