Elite Series pros Lee Livesay of Longview, Texas, and Matt Robertson of Kuttawa, Ky., were at the weigh-in venue waiting for their time to appear on the Bassmaster LIVE Mix broadcast when they heard that fellow angler Bob Downey’s boat was malfunctioning on the final day of last weekend’s tournament at the St. Lawrence River in Clayton, N.Y.
Livesay and Robertson, who did not make the final-day cut, jumped at the chance to help a fellow competitor. They left to pick up Livesay’s boat, filled it with gas, bought ice and some snacks and launched to go find Downey (pictured), who hails from Detroit Lakes, Minn. Livesay noted that he and Downey are not particularly close friends. In fact, Livesay didn’t even have Downey’s phone number. But as a fellow Elite Series competitor, that’s plenty close enough.
“I’d do that for anybody,” Livesay said. “And anybody would do that for any one of us.”
Swapping boats in the middle of a competition day is not a simple task. Livesay had to delete the waypoints on his Humminbird graphs. Downey had to grab just enough tackle that he needed to finish the day. They had to transfer Downey’s fish into Livesay’s livewells, where cool, iced water awaited them.
“We both had Humminbirds, so that was good,” Livesay said. “We put one of his Humminbirds in my boat.”
Downey’s outboard motor wasn’t completely disabled. It just wouldn’t get his boat up on plane.
“We stayed close just in case either boat had a problem,” Robertson said.
“It didn’t surprise me,” Downey said. “Lee and Matt are awesome dudes, good character guys. It didn’t surprise me at all that they did it, and I’m thankful they did.”
Downey started the day in 2nd place, only 2-15 behind leader and eventual tournament winner Jay Przekurat. But his day had gone south long before his outboard malfunctioned. Downey had been fishing in the St. Lawrence River all week, and he wasn’t able to catch them there Sunday. He finished 10th with a four-day total of 91-07, but he was able to weigh in a limit of fish.
“I had some fish when they got there with Lee’s boat,” Downey said. “I was able to catch some more and get back for the weigh-in. I was happy to have a 17-pound limit and some fish to weigh on Championship Sunday.”
