Captain Gary A. Anderson
Gary A. Anderson cut his teeth as a tag-a-long in Texas where he was born. He and his father Arthur E. Anderson angled from the Hill Country to Aransas Pass, while working on his thesis. Gary lived in a Ranger cabin at the base of the “Devil’s Tower” in Wyoming. There his Dad taught him the skills to angling with a fly for wild Brown Trout. Being on a Doodlebug crew, he learned how to catch fish throughout the Grand Tetons.
Moving to the Netherlands, Den Haag, from New Orleans Gary learned to speak (Dutch) Netherlands and while attending school in Lieden as well Russian and French. He traveled everywhere on his bicycle. Gary had pipes strapped to the sides as fishing rod holders as he angled daily many a windmill-laden canal. Gary was a fish Knocker in catching Carp, Pike, Zander and Perch, with big pike being his favorite next to vertical jigging for Zander, or Snoekbaars (Glasoog or Glasseye) (Stizostedion lucioperca or Sander lucioperca) a far cousin from the well known Walleye. On the Nord Sea or North Sea from the shore, Gary's Dad would take him out for Sea Trout, Flounder and on the run, Salmon.
Gary moved back to Texas and living in the Aldine/Spring area, he then horned his angling skills in the tributaries of the San Jacinto River and hunted to fish on the lands of where Lake Conroe and Livingston are now. As both lakes began to fill, He fished both energetically. Spending many a day on the waters of Galveston Bay to Aransas Pass and Padre Island on the Mexico side. Catching Flounder, Speckled Trout, Sheepshead, Sand Trout, Croaker, Whiting, Bull Reds and Gafftop. With his uncle David and family he spent summers in Corpus Christy were he worked as first mate with my uncle Jack, a charter Captain offshore, for Amber Jack, Grouper, Kingfish, Red Snapper, Cobia, Dorado, Sailfish, Tuna and Wahoo as well as Bull, Sand, Hammerhead and Tiger sharks.
Angling the Mekong Delta was one of my most perilous adventures. Still being able to speak a little Russian, French and Dutch, he was inducted as an operative and stationed with a U.S. Army Ranger Battalion and other groups from Rock Marines to the Coast Guard. Patrolling various points of the coastline to the Delta he had the opportunity catching many of the local fare. Mackerels to Jack, Lizards to giant catfish are memories etched in his mind along with the carnage that one man can do to another.
Of all the places he has fished, East Africa was but the most exciting. A float trip in a Dhow up the backer wards flowing Nile was a rip to remember! Both the White and Blue Nile were traversed with memories and thoughts of when the British Empire stretched worldwide. Kitchener and General Gordon come to mind as they entered the Sudan and its parched landscape of “The Bush.” The Nile Crocodiles, basking on the banks, slipping down into the waters in hopes of an easy meal as they parted the waters under sail. Between eleven and sixteen feet in length on wondered just what they ate in these muddy flowing waters, Nile Perch, of course? Either catching many a perch in the fifty to seventy pound range was quite easy with cut baits or unbelievably, bass lures. Their journey encountered many a freshwater African fish and much wildlife abound as they sailed Egypt through the Sudan to Ethiopia and back to the meeting of the White Nile in Khartoum, down the river through Uganda and across the lake Victoria onto Kenya shores.
The cold water of the North Atlantic to the North sea broadened Gary's horizons as he worked on many a ocean going vessel with the oil patch, in exploration there of. Catching many a cod to various sharks to pass his time away. Gary also worked as a first mate aboard a Shrimp Trawler off Norway before returning home to become a Commercial Fisherman/Charter Captain in Rockport, Texas. Gary's hunger for more had him move to Leadville, Colorado to become an Outfitter in hunting to camping to angling the Rocky Mountains. Most of his angling expeditions in Colorado took place in South Park.
Gary's wife, tired of the cold and moving around with our three kids, put her foot to the floor and we moved to Venice, Florida in 1997. He ran a charter business out of Snook Haven for a while and after awhile just went fishing to fish, no clients, no anything, just fish! Gary is involved with Make A Wish Foundation, Casting For Kids Foundation, Anglers legacy, RBFF and Take Me Fishing dot org. Gary is also the webmaster to inshoreflorida.com, venicepieranglers.com and nine angling blogs. Gary lives to fish and fishes to live as being disabled, not dead, as angling is his life. It's through his pen, paper and camera. Always remember, “Positive Mentoring through Fishing” and you to can help keep our sport alive.
Somehow, during his escapades of trekking some 32 countries around the world, he managed two college degrees. Photography from Richmond College, now called the American Institute of Foreign Studies, and Creative Writing at University of South Florida gave him his diplomas. Gary also attended RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Gary even did a stint with the Actors Guild while in London, England where he performed, directed and or produced a number of plays on stage. Gary's lovely wife “Cat”, Catherine, three children, two basset hounds and his cat round out his life.
“FISH ON!”
