Somehow, in-between work and fi shing,
James also managed to acquire his
honours degree in Agriculture from the
Royal Agricultural College in England –
before his fi nal return to KZN in 2013
where he worked for Lion’s Tackle
and Gear as a sales rep and product
development manager.
James
fi shed
many
successful
competitions using Lowrance units –
with fi shing partner Brian Leppan, he
managed to come 3rd overall for the
Y-Bass series which included several
wins. He also fi shed with Greg Howard
in a Y Bass tournament at Goedetrouw
Dam where they caught a record bag of
16.9kg (at the end of 2013) – which has
only recently been broken.
In 2015 he moved to Botswana where
he joined Howard House Manufacturing.
After some months of training he was
sent to Nambia to open a branch of the
snack food manufacturing company.
2016 was his BIG year. He was crowned
Namibia’s Number One Bass angler
and qualifi ed for the Bass Nation
Championship tournament held in
America at Lake Hartwell in October
2017. He came 8th overall – in a fi eld
of around 109 anglers from all over
the world, including Australia, Japan,
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Italy,
France and Spain…to mention a few! Not
only that – he also bought a Viper bass boat
with a 225hp Mercury Optimax - which is
kitted with a Lowrance HDS 10, HDS 7 Gen
3 Touch, an Elite 9 Ti and an Elite 9 HDI
Chirp unit.
He’s looking to replace his HDS units
with another Elite 9, “Their affordability
allows me to run three great larger
units – instead of upgrading to just one
bigger unit. For the size of screen and
the quality you get for the price – there’s
no unit to compete.”
This year James will fi sh for the Namibian
President’s side (he cannot fi sh for the
national team as a South African) at Lake
Mteri in July. He is currently the country’s
Number Two angler - but he has again
qualifi ed to fi sh in the Bass Nation champs
in November.
James is raving about his recently -
acquired FishReveal software which he
says is very easy to setup and offers great
images and good quality readings. “Fish
reveal is the best update for Lowrance
units, its use of high quality down
imaging for structure and cover paired
with the fi sh fi nding abilities of 2d sonar
make for an amazing picture that is a
must have.”