How does it feel to be 19 and the points leader in Div. 2 of the Bassmaster Opens after the first three events? Ask Alabama’s Fisher Anaya.
“If you told me I’d be leading in points going into the last tournament of the year, I would have said you were lying,” Anaya said. “I thought I could do OK but to be leading is something else.”
Anaya’s performance has been remarkably consistent. He finished ninth at Sam Rayburn in February, 11th at Kentucky Lake in March and 11th at Norfork Lake in April. The final Open event in Div. 2 takes place in August at Leech Lake, Minnesota.
He was introduced to fishing early in life by his father, Ryan.
“I was catching pond bluegill by myself with a Zebco 33 when I was maybe 2 years old,” Anaya said. “My dad and grandpa said I had a God given talent because I could catch fish before I could even talk.”
Although his father did not have a boat, he often competed in team tournaments with friends who did own one. He counted Bassmaster Elite Series standout Gerald Swindle among his closest friends.
Anaya regards these friends as his bass fishing mentors. As a youngster, he occasionally went fun fishing with them between their tournaments.
“Bass fishing was all I ever wanted to do,” Anaya said. “I remember begging to fish tournaments. My dad told me that when I was in seventh grade, he would buy me a boat and we’d start fishing tournaments.”
His father’s word proved true. Anaya came home from school one day and discovered a Phoenix 721 parked in the garage. That’s when they began fishing local team tournaments.
The first tournament advice he received from his father and Swindle was that he must learn how to fish a shaky head, a Ned rig and a drop shot. They stressed these techniques are easy to learn and produce bites from finicky fish across the country.
“From seventh grade on, those baits have been on my boat’s deck everywhere I go,” Anaya said.
While Anaya was in seventh grade, his father would pick him up after working all day, and they would fish close to home at Guntersville or Smith Lake. At Guntersville he learned how to flip, punch grass, fish ledges, deal with the current and more. Smith Lake taught him a variety of clear-water tactics.
High school tournaments took him “all over the place” including Lay, Hartwell and Chickamauga lakes and Florida’s Harris Chain. A high point was finishing third at the 2024 Bassmaster High School National Championship.
From ninth through 12th grade, Anaya was homeschooled by way of computer classes. He would finish his weekly assignments in two days so he could go fishing.
“I fished five to six days a week,” Anaya said. “Having the privilege to spend that much time on the water allowed me to get better at catching bass.”
After high school, Anaya focused on fishing the Bassmaster Opens and local tournaments. He and his father still compete as a team. But since they have only one boat between them, his father lets his son take the reins most of the time.
Anaya fished with confidence in the first three Open tournaments because of his familiarity with catching bass in reservoirs. However, the final event at Leech Lake intimidates him. He has little experience on northern smallmouth waters.
“I fished a tournament on the St. Lawrence last year and bombed,” he said. “It was awful. I drove home silently. No music. Nothing.”
He did call Swindle on the way home for advice on what he did wrong. They have become close friends.
“I’ve spent a lot of hours with that son of a gun Swindle,” Anaya said. “I think he teaches me more bad things than good things. But the good things are something you need to hold onto.”
He is thankful to have sponsors that allow him to chase his fishing dreams. They include Rapala, 13 Fishing, Waterland, Suffix, Freedom Marine, GTO, American Fetcher, TBNation, EVOLV Fishing and Frogg Toggs.
“My goal is to be able to make a living fishing,” Anaya said. “It’s about the only thing I’m good at.”
