Mr Anderson had always wanted to catch a bluefin tuna off the coast of Dunedin, a fish he calls the pinnacle of the ocean.
It was a long year after losing a monster tuna off his line last June.
But at the start of this month and then last Friday he caught the prized fish — yes, two within two weeks.
‘‘We're building up for it for years and the night that we caught that first one, we caught three sharks and then when we hooked the tuna.
‘‘Dad was standing by the rod and he was like, oh, it's just another shark, you take it,’’ he said.
‘‘I grabbed the rod and started going and I was like, you know, you can barely hang on to the thing. The power of them — I'm a big dude, I'm over 100 kilos and the thing almost pulled me overboard.
‘‘So you get the gimbal belt on and I'm saying to my dad I want the harness, get me the harness and he goes, ‘nah, it's just a shark, you don't need the harness.’
‘‘I put some drag up on it and I'm like, mate, she's fully up, I've got no more to give, get me the harness and then it just buried itself out and just, the unreal power of them.
‘‘They are the pinnacle of the ocean... they're just a ball of muscle.’’
Last Friday he was out again on his dad’s boat, when another tuna was caught, even bigger — weighing in at 125.7kg.
‘‘They're just big, big, big fish. They're all eating barracouta out there at the moment... This one we just caught was just stuffed to the gills of barracouta.’’
It took about an hour the first time and 45 minutes last Friday night to catch,about 40km off the coast.
He brought both fish back to the Tautuku Fishing Club rooms, where they were weighed in, and then cut them up for the community.
He ended up with just one steak. But he was not complaining.
‘‘It was a beautiful, beautiful day and just waving people in to come and try, you know — fresh sashimi straight off the bone with a bit of wasabi and soy sauce.
‘‘You catch a 100kg fish, that's what you should do with it, you know, you should share it.’’
He hoped it could be the start of something big in Dunedin. Other parts of New Zealand had a viable bluefin sport fishing industry.
His father Allan said bluefin tuna had been off the Dunedin coast in good numbers in the 1980s but then there had been a collapse worldwide in the fishery. It had come back in the past two to three years right round the world.
He praised the skills of his son.
‘‘There are so many things that come in to finding a tuna.
‘‘It's like a massive puzzle. Looking at water temperatures and current, colour of water and food and a whole lots of little subtle things.’’
Tautuku Fishing Club past-president Brett Bensemann said the club was formed in 1970 and it was the first time bluefin tuna from the Dunedin coast had been weighed at the club.
