Arnaud Rizzi Anderson, passion, from music to fishing
Discover the interview of Arnaud Rizzi Anderson, Pro staff Abu Garcia, Berkley and Navicom and major competitor across Europe. Arnaud tells us about his career and his double passion, for fishing of course, but also for music.
Hello Arnaud, firstly, could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi Rodmaps team. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Arnaud Rizzi Anderson, I am 33 years old and I live in Bordeaux. I am a fisherman and a lure competitor from the South West of France.
I have long fished the great lakes of the West such as Carcans Hourtin or Parentis, and also rivers such as the Lot and the Isle. Now I practically only fish abroad.
With one of my best friends, I run a music store in Bordeaux and I am a guitarist in a French rock group called Nolens Volens. Music is a big part of my life. I started playing the guitar at the age of 5, where I joined the preparatory classes at the Antibes conservatory. Then it was in college that I started to take an interest in electric guitar and rock. Thousands of rehearsals, hundreds of gigs later, I'm still hooked. I worked a lot to have my own guitar sound, which I put at the service of my band. I couldn't live without music.
Throughout my life as a fisherman, I have participated in competitions. Whether on the Predators Challenge or, for a few years now, in Holland and Spain.
I am sponsored by companies Abu garcia, Berkley and Navicom. In addition, I am a member of the association Black Bass France since many years.
I often appeared in the excellent Predators magazine.
Where did your passion for fishing come from?
Well just like Alban, no one in my family fishes. When I was little, I lived on the French Riviera, and I asked my parents to take me to the water's edge.
I remember my first fishing rod that we made with my father. A simple piece of bamboo with a string, a plug and a hook. In my memories, I caught small sars and small sea breams using a mixture of bread and kiri.
The mother of a friend of mine at the time had a boat. They regularly invited me for sessions at sea. I was able to catch my first wrasse and my first mackerel.
Then growing up, I got interested in lure fishing.
Since my arrival in Bordeaux at the age of 13, I mainly fish for black bass. It was after a meeting with Patrick Lamarque that everything started. It was he who introduced me to the midst of Bordeaux fishermen. I remember it like it was yesterday.
At the time, I was fishing at the edge of a small lake abundantly loaded with grass. I was hanging on a lot and struggling to fish properly. Then I saw a guy in a nice shirt with some logos on it, a weird fishing rod with the reel on top (at the time I had no idea what a set was casting)… He cast a soft lure in the grass without catching and caught fish after fish. (It seems to me it was a senko from Gary Yamamoto or a Slug). We started the discussion and he kindly offered to give me one of his lures and explain how to use it, as long as I release the fish I was going to catch. This is where it all started.
I was guided by big names in fishing in France like Lionel Grou, David Dubreuil, Ryusuke Hayashi, Tanguy Marlin and Sylvain Legendre. They all taught me a lot and were very generous to me. Considering my young age, it was difficult to have the finances to buy equipment which at the time was scarce in stores. We were starting to see some soft bass lures, some hardbaits ...
I remember harassing David and Lionel every weekend to go fishing… poor people! I was really lucky to grow up with them.
Tanguy, David and Greg Steff wanted to share a flat. I did everything to find them a house to rent near where I live. And it was the case. It was a great time.
Over time, I became interested in pike, then in other predator species. My meeting with Sylvain Legendre was very important to me. He taught me how to fish for pike with Shads on the great alpine lakes. This technique was not as well known as it is now. Moreover, Sylvain was almost the only one to fish on these lakes, and I took advantage of my vacation with my grandmother, in Haute-Savoie, to fish and learn with him.
Every summer, I went on an intensive bass fishing course with Ryusuke Hayashi on the Lot. He taught me a lot and had a lot of patience. It was amazing to have her as a teacher. You can say that I was well surrounded.
What fishing techniques do you practice at the water's edge?
I only fish with lures.
In fact, I try to adapt as much as possible to my fishing destination and the species present. I try to put into practice what I have learned and I observe as much as possible the areas I will be fishing as well as my sounders while sailing if I am on board a boat.
I love fishing for pike in linear with shads, on well-defined spots or in pelagic. Moreover, the current trend is to fish with shads, and unfortunately I think that we forget the hardbaits. A great mistake in my opinion.
What I prefer is fishing for bass. There are so many different ways and techniques to catch it that it makes for an exceedingly interesting fish.
What is your favorite fishing?
As I told you in the previous question, my favorite fishing is black-bass, without hesitation. Since my adolescence, this fish has fascinated me. I had the chance to experience the golden age of bass fishing in Gironde. In every water hole there was some.
I remember many fishing sessions with my friend Bastien Nicolay (who just won the Soner Euro Cup). At the time we took our bikes or, as soon as I had the license, my red twingo and armed with our float-tubes, we crossed the department to capture these green devils. It was fun!
It's a bit old jerk to say that, but it was a good time!
Moreover, we recounted our adventures in the blog of the Bass Ac '. A very nice team of friends which was made up of Fil, Sylvain, Mick, Max, Jérôme and you Nico.
At the moment bass still fascinates me as much, I have as proof my many trips with my friend of always, Matthias Lothy, in Spain or elsewhere.
Can you tell us about your journey?
Thanks to Ryu and Tanguy, I joined Team Lucky Craft at the age of 14.
10 years later, I joined the excellent Biwaa team where I spent two great years.
Then, I joined the Abu Garcia and Berkley team in 2015.
I have also been fortunate to have been sponsoring Navicom for many years.
With Matthias, we have done a lot of competitions, in France or abroad, and won some of them.
France :
Abroad :
2nd place at the Soner Euro Cup 2019
You have been a fishing competitor for many years in France and abroad, can you explain to us what is your passion about the competition?
It's a bit weird… In everyday life, I don't like competition… It's even contrary to my way of life, especially in music.
Knowing who has the longest doesn't interest me ...
However, fishing competition brings me a lot on a human level ...
Share unique moments with friends, see people you only see at these kinds of events or at fairs and meet fishermen from other countries. I will say this is the most rewarding side.
The competition is also a challenge and a lot of organization. You have to think of everything to not miss anything, even if you know that you will end up using only one or two rods and a handful of lures. You have to be very rigorous and make sacrifices.
For example, during the last days of the Soner Euro Cup prefishing, we did not hook the fish. I can tell you it's psychologically complicated. Knowing that there is a bass of 2, or maybe 3 kg, at the end of your line and not to shoe, it was a great test of self-control. But we had to do it and stick to it. It paid off since we finished in second place in this prestigious competition.
Coming back to our team; When I fish with Matthias, something happens… an alchemy. We do not fish the same, but we are ultra complementary, and this, since we met. I don't think I will be competing abroad without our duo.
You who have had the opportunity to fish a lot abroad, what is your view on the management of fishing in France?
This is a complicated question. We could talk about long hours of fisheries management in France.
Quite frankly, I think this is a disaster. As stated Tanguy in his interview, you only have to see the speech of the president of the federation in the last Fishing Club to see that there is really a problem.
It is not for nothing that more and more fishermen are leaving for neighboring countries. Me the first, I admit it!
Yet we have beautiful lakes and beautiful rivers. It's a shame to have such poor management of our fish heritage.
Despite that, there is hope… a lot of AAPPMA and some federations are really moving to change things. There are also associations like Black Bass France or BASS.
There are also the acts of private companies and fishermen ... Like the project Don't drop the bass, initiated by Matthias. Christophe Hugues, Daniel Mestrot, and Matthias are talented artists and they sell their works for a good cause. All the money collected is donated to black-bass on the southern lake of Biscarrosse.
I'm glad my sponsors Abu Garcia and Berkley got their hands dirty by following Matthias and offering a check for 6000 euros. In the USA, companies often finance restocking and this is a first in France. I hope a lot of brands will follow this example! And as Matthias says at the end of the video: “we did it here, we can do it again everywhere”.
Any future projects you would like to tell us about?
Yes, we'll see how the situation evolves, but I would like to go to Brazil next September with my friend Etienne Fleurant in order to realize the dream of catching peacocks bass.
I have already caught a few small specimens in Florida, but I would really like to have a nice fishing trip in Brazil. This fish is a real dream with the violence of its attacks and the power it shows during battles.
A fishing anecdote to tell us during your many sessions?
It is quite recent. Without a doubt, my second place in the Soner Euro Cup with Matthias. We had a wonderful adventure with Bastien and Mike Iaconelli.
We had the chance to spend several days with Ike (Mike Iaconelli) and it was wonderful. He is completely crazy and at the same time endearing. It is super affordable and has been great with everyone.
At no time does he look down on you, I felt like I was with a fishing buddy. He would have had his place on the West Predators Challenge, and especially during the evenings the day before!
Bastien preferred 14 days the month before the competition and Matthias 10. I only arrived at the end, and as I said above, the most difficult thing was not to hook the fish.
Matthias and Bastien have decided not to communicate during the preshing, then to compare our information once the lake is closed (from Tuesday to Saturday morning, start of the competition). We had a “meeting” with Ike on Thursday to prepare our strategy, and by comparing our GPS points, we realized that we had almost nothing in common with Bastien. Not the same fishing areas, not the same depths, not the same lures… In short, it was really the best!
I was impressed with Ike at that time. He listened, he analyzed, asked questions… then he went to prepare his gear. Later, looking at his rods and lures, one had the impression that he had been fishing there for ages… he had got it all! His ability to adapt and put into practice is incredible.
And you would have thought he was coming on vacation ... But not at all.
The first day, we left in the last. Ike reassured us by telling us that he preferred to leave first on the second day to have more time than the others. After 2 hours, we already had the quota of 5 fish. We caught 15 bass during the day. I had a lot of success in chaining the big fish. We were euphoric on the boat.
On the evening of the first day, Matthias and I were 3th with 9.420kg. Ike and Bastien seconds with 9.660. The former were a formidable and regular Polish team every year; the Tomasz brothers. They scored at 10.120kg !! War machines.
Before going to bed, and I can assure you that it is difficult to fall asleep during this kind of competition especially when you are in the top 3, I receive a text from Ike encouraging me… The guy was very motivated !! He wanted to win !!
The second day was a little more complicated… We returned our first keeper at 1pm. Then quickly a small quota. Matthias was overkill… he started to put in 2 or 3 big bass, then on a hunch, he suggested that I go to a very busy spot, in full wind and especially far from our fishing grounds. Banco! He allowed us to change several fish and we will end this second day at 7.480kg.
For the record, Matthias and I each had our day, me the first and he the second. My biggest bass of the first day weighed 2.280kg… and his, the second day, 2.280kg… It was wonderful! (NB: our fishing area was 25 km from the launch, so it was not the same fish)
In the end, Bastien and Ike won, and we will finish second with 1.8kg ahead of the third!
Beyond this prestigious competition, having this kind of experience with two longtime friends was a wonderful moment. And then spending so much time with Ike, it's been great. This guy is great! He told us that it was very positive for him and that he had had a great week with us.
We should meet again this year for a fishing trip in Europe.
A message to pass on to young people who would like to discover the world of fishing today?
Yes. Young people must cling to this beautiful passion. To always respect the fish, and to share as much time as possible with his friends at the water's edge.
Do not hesitate to ask questions, that's how we progress day by day. To remain humble too and to always observe well around you.
Useful links to learn more about Arnaud Rizzi Anderson and fishing in general:
About The Author
Rodmaps
Rodmaps is above all the story of Nicolas and Matthieu, two friends passionate about fishing. Since our childhood, our passion drives us to travel through France and to travel around the world in search of adventure and trophy fish. Through Rodmaps, we want to share our passion for fishing with as many people as possible and make people discover the joys of this sport around us, because yes, fishing is a sport!