Pete M. Anderson has fished since he can remember. Weekly trips to waters across upstate New York with his dad and brother eventually led to bass tournaments. And for the next 25 years, he competed in local, state, and regional events on lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and tidal water from New Hampshire to North Carolina, where he currently lives. He found success, including several wins and two Angler of The Year titles with Syracuse, N.Y.-based Salt City Bassmasters, a state tournament win on the Hudson River, earning a spot on a New York State B.A.S.S. Chapter Federation Divisional Team and qualifying for two of FLW’s BFL regionals through the South Carolina division.
From the window of his ninth-floor dorm room at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Anderson could see Lake Champlain. But in the early 1990s, when he was there earning an English degree, it had yet to earn a national reputation as a bass factory. He was late to that party, too, only discovering its potential the summer before his graduation when he cashed a check in a New York State B.A.S.S. Chapter Federation tournament. And that’s probably a good thing. Otherwise, he might still be studying there, going to the launch ramp more often than in class.
Anderson’s schoolwork paid off, sending him on a career that includes more than 20 years at newspapers and magazines. He was a writer, photographer, editor, and manager, to more recently as a freelance writer and regular contributor to BassResource.com since 2014. A member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and New York State Outdoor Writers Association, he spends most of his time writing about fishing and bass tournaments. He has been a credentialed member of the media at several Bassmaster Classics.
Anderson’s fishing adventures aren’t over despite “retiring” from competitive fishing in 2016. He still relentlessly chases bass — pitching jigs for largemouth is his favorite approach — but the time he once spent pre-fishing and traveling for tournaments is invested in new pursuits such as fly fishing and musky hunting. They’ve proven to be abundant waters, where past experiences can be applied and new approaches learned, many of the latter making him and his readers better bass anglers.
Keep up with Anderson’s latest adventures and writing projects online:
Website: petemanderson.com
Facebook: facebook.com/petemanderson
Twitter: twitter.com/pete_m_anderson
Instagram: Instagram.com/pete_m_anderson