If you want to chat about pots and pans with Anthony Hunt, no problem. And if you want to discuss the best recipe for chateaubriand, he’ll accommodate you. But what Anthony Hunt would really like to talk to you about is bass fishing. He’ll talk to you about that all day.
An aspiring angler who hopes to join the Walmart FLW Tour one of these days, Anthony Hunt’s profession is cooking. He’s currently the private chef for a wealthy south Florida mogul, after having been “discovered” following a gig at the Four Seasons Hotel’s Fountain Restaurant in Philadelphia, and a few years as a restaurant kitchen consultant. Hunt is triple-trained as a pastry, baking and executive chef, and knows his way around a kitchen like Mark Rose knows his way around a ledge.
Though Hunt enjoys his work as a gourmet chef, it’s bass fishing that really stirs his blender. He’s as intense about presenting a Damiki Hydra as baking a soufflé that won’t fall, and approaches a day on the lake as he would a session in the kitchen. His track record in FLW Outdoors tournament circuits speaks for his ability. The 34-year-old is one of the more successful co-anglers in the Walmart FLW Open series, and he’s qualified for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup through the 2010 Eastern series.
Hunt’s first fishing memory is of tending a cane pole and watching a bobber while crappie fishing with his grandmother, Clara Hunt, in a Delaware pond near his childhood home. Later, an aunt, Bernice Farlow, took him fishing on a regular basis. The person who really whetted his appetite for bass fishing, however, is the same angler who inspired a lot of youngsters: Chevy pro Larry Nixon.
“I remember flipping through the TV channels and seeing him on a fishing show. He was holding on to a rod and reel bent double and saying ‘oh my gosh, it’s a MONSTER!’” recalls Hunt. “I started watching the show and I thought ‘man, that’s something I want to try.’”
In 2001, Hunt got his chance. Following a job opportunity south, he moved to Florida, joined the Boyton Beach Bassmasters and gradually adjusted to fishing the Sunshine State’s shallow, grassy lakes. It was a far cry from Delaware’s brackish tidewaters and reservoirs, but he gradually adapted.
“I really enjoyed bass fishing and I had some good luck fishing club tournaments. In 2004, I fished my first [Walmart] BFL. It was on Lake Okeechobee and all I caught were three keepers. I got my butt kicked. Still, I learned a lot in that tournament, and it helped me prepare for the next tournament, and so on.”
Apparently Hunt learned his lessons well. He hasn’t missed a check since 2009 and placed second in the standings of the Eastern division of the Walmart FLW Series last year. He never finished below 44th place in the 2010 Opens. Currently he’s third in the 2011 Open standings, with the Potomac River, Lake Champlain and Lake Guntersville events to go.
Next season Hunt plans to switch to a boater, and already has lined up some sponsors — Damiki Fishing Tackle and Ed Hardy Clothes among them. What he hasn’t settled on is a boat sponsor, but he’s working on that, and a lot will depend on how well he does the rest of the Open season.
Hunt doesn’t know how far his fishing ambitions will take him, but for now he’s enjoying the ride and relishing the thought of competing in the Forrest Wood Cup. Hunt is living his personal motto: “Do what makes you feel good, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody.” And if fishing doesn’t work out, he’s always got his culinary talents to fall back on.
