Lights, camera, bass action!

High school freshman from West Monroe gets a taste of what a bass pro’s life is like in video/filming adventures.

At first glance, Mack Green looks and sounds like any regular 14-year-old, high-school student.

Like a lot of young people who love to fish, he dreams of being on the water, in the middle of the competitive action of professional bass tournaments.

But Green’s dream isn’t just to be behind the steering wheel of a big bass rig or up front with his foot on the trolling motor. He’s found a quicker way into the game. For now, his dream is to be behind the controls of his drone, video and still cameras, recording the action on the BASS Elite tour from the bank, a photo boat or the nearest weigh-in.

A freshman at West Monroe High School, Green is living that dream. A humble, well-mannered young man, he has found his way into the middle of big-time bass fishing — not with a rod and reel, but with his camera.

High school freshman Mack Green gets to follow the action in the Guntersville BASS Elite tournament.

Teaming up with a pro

He has teamed up with Chris Zaldain, a BASS Elite pro from Texas, to film Zaldain and help him keep his social-media sites up to date. He has traveled with Zaldain, stayed with his family on the road and followed him in tournaments.

It’s not just a dream come true for Mack, but a huge bonus for Zaldain. Mack was on hand at Lake Guntersville to capture the action as Zaldain finished second in an Elite Series tournament and won $25,000. He not only filmed the action but did a documentary on the travel to the tournament.

“The fishing industry is starving for guys like him, and here he is, killing it as a high schooler,” Zaldain said.

Green has not only impressed tournament anglers, but he has garnered the hard-earned attention of the BASS media folks as well. A video and story about him was posted online on the BASS website.

How many 14-year-olds can say that? Or any fishermen for that matter?

A love of fishing

Green has grown up fishing with his father, Jon, and he loves to be out on the water with a rod in hand. But a few years ago, he developed the desire to learn more about photography and videography. He started picking up more and more equipment and decided that it would be cool to video some of their fishing trips. At first, the purpose was to watch the videos, learn from them and become better anglers.

One benefit of being good with the video camera is a front row “seat” at BASS Elite Series events that Chris Zaldain fishes.

That has developed quickly into an awesome opportunity that has even allowed him to travel to several tournaments, fish with some of the best anglers around his hometown area and even become more excited about his future possibilities as an outdoor videographer.

“I have been fortunate to hook up with some really good people,” Green said. “One day, I got to go out with Tyler Stewart (an FLW bass pro) and do a photo shoot. He’s cool. Then I got with local pro fisherman Todd Risinger and did some video work for him. He fishes a lot of tournaments.”

Zaldain heard about Green and asked him to come to Lake Fork, and film him in the BASS Elite tournament earlier this summer.

Green couldn’t say “Yes!” fast enough.

He filmed Zaldain, helped him with some social-media posts and was off and running. It wasn’t long before Zaldain contacting him again and took Green to Alabama’s Lake Guntersville to film another BASS tournament.

A bright future

“I just can’t explain how cool that was,” Green said. “I mean, they came and got me, took care of my expenses, and I got to go stay out in a boat filming. I even filmed all the way over there. They are really super awesome people. In fact, everybody I’ve met has been really nice. I’ve had a great time.”

A camera isn’t the only thing Mack Green can handle. Here he is with pro angler Tyler Stewart, enjoying a trip on Caney Lake.

There’s a side of Green that wouldn’t mind just loading up and doing this all the time, but there is this little thing called school that he has to take care of first. He loves the filming but knows how important his education is as well. If he starts to forget, his mom, Misty, a school teacher, will remind him. And as far as anybody knows, missing school to shoot videos of a bass tournament probably isn’t an excused absence. At least not at this point.

Green has obviously got a bright future ahead doing what he loves. If he learns enough and wants to pursue it, who knows, he may be in front of the pro bass lenses one day, not behind them. But now he’s focused on the eye side of the lens. And that’s just fine with him.

Lights. Camera. Bass action!

About Kinny Haddox 597 Articles
Kinny Haddox has been writing magazine and newspaper articles about the outdoors in Louisiana for 45 years. He publishes a daily website, lakedarbonnelife.com and is a member of the Louisiana Chapter of the Outdoor Legends Hall of Fame. He and his wife, DiAnne, live in West Monroe.