Revelations of a Man and His First-Ever Bass Tourney



Donald and his best friend.

"I was a tad nervous arriving, because I didn't know what to expect, where to go, or what to do." That's how Donald Greer described his jitters in the wee hours this past Saturday morning, when he arrived at West Neck Marina to fish his very first-ever bass tournament. As he quickly noted, however, "A nice gentleman met me as I pulled into the parking lot, and while checking my livewell, he directed me to where I had to check in. Before I knew it, I was waiting patiently in the boat basin, ready to get to fishing.

Once the waiting was over and the "go" signal was given, Donald headed straight to Godfrey Creek and had his first bass in the boat after only 20 minutes--a 2-pounder that he caught on a Gary Yamamoto Chikara crankbait. About an hour later, he caught his second bass off a stump in the back of the creek with a Yamamoto Senko. "Then I made a run back up West Neck to just north of the bridge, where I had a hookup with something nice, but it made a run and tangled in something on the bottom," he said. "By the time I got over to it and worked the lure loose, the fish was gone."



The Alumacraft V16 from which Donald fishes.

Donald later made a run farther up West Neck to where it narrows and fished for a couple hours but only managed one strike that quickly spit the hook. Eventually, the bite slowed, the wind picked up, and as he explained, "I didn't have even a tap the last few hours."

In the weeks leading up to the March 22, 2014, Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney, Donald and I swapped a couple of emails, as he worked to ensure he had a functional livewell in his Alumacraft V16. When asked how it had worked this past Saturday, his response was, "It performed flawlessly."

Here's what the livewell setup looks like.

His setup includes a 27-gallon storage bin with a tight-fitting lid, which as Donald noted, "allows me to fill it with about 20 gallons of water without it sloshing out when I'm using the gas motor. I also purchased a livewell-recirculation kit that includes a pump and power head to circulate and aerate the water. I modified it a bit by adding a tee, a ball valve, and a short length of tubing, so that I can open the valve and pump the water back into the river. Some marine sealant and clamps keep everything leak-free.

"To get water into the livewell, I purchased a bilge pump and some tubing. The bilge pump just hangs over the side of the boat (as shown in the previous photo) in the water, which allows me to fill the livewell when I start fishing. I wired up both pumps with toggle switches in an old drill-bit case, with enough wiring to reach the battery, where I wired in a couple battery clamps. To keep the water fresh and cool during the day, I occasionally open the ball valve and pump about a third of the water back into the river. Then I power up the bilge pump and refill the livewell with fresh water." He did this about once every hour on Saturday.

A look inside the livewell.

Donald admits his contraption isn't as efficient as a fully-automated livewell, "but it gets the job done," he asserted. "I'm sure the livewell's black exterior will become a problem in the warmer summer months, so I plan on painting the outside white to keep it from heating up the water as fast."

What was the price tag on his improvised livewell? "Total cost was about $100," said Donald. And given the fact his fish "were kickin' strong at weigh-in time," as he phrased it, I'd say it was money well spent.

Weigh-in was an exciting part of the day for Donald. "I just kind of followed the lead of the other guys, and everything went well," he said. "It was really cool to see that 7-pounder.

"Got to say I also had a little boat envy going on," he added. "Some really nice-looking rigs there. A bigger boat is a goal someday, but my tin boat is what fits the budget right now. It gets me to where I need to go and is very fishable."

In his final reflections on his first-ever bass tourney, Donald said, "I had a great time and definitely will be back again. Now that I have the newby experience out of the way, I can settle in and try to get competitive."

I, for one, look forward to getting to know Donald better this season. In the meantime, I wish him "Tight Lines!" It's nice having you with us this year, my friend.

Background: Donald works for Virginia Beach City Public Schools in the Office of Demographics and Planning as a demographer. As he explains it, "I'm the guy who keeps track of school-attendance zones and 69,000 students."