If you follow professional bass fishing, you likely know that Mark Zona is “retiring” from his position as host of Bassmaster LIVE.
On one hand I’m happy for him. It’s something he’s talked about for a couple of years. He’s wanted to free up more time to work on his highly rated Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show and expand his online presence.
On the other hand, I’m sad because there is only one Zona, a man I’ve known for years. I consider him a brother who brought an insightful, yet unique and humorous style to fishing commentary.
Our relationship goes back to the mid 1990s. We were fishing a Bassmaster Invitational Start Tournament on the St. Lawrence River, and he certainly wasn’t the Zona we have grown to know and love. He still had that high energy and witty personality, but he was wearing wire-rim glasses and long, slicked-back hair. He looked like a trendy, young Italian man with a deep, booming voice that one day would guide him to his stellar television career.
We were staying in a dumpy, cheap motel because we were both counting pennies as wannabe pro anglers. Yet, the demonstrative Midwesterner and this soft-spoken South Carolina boy hit it off and became good friends.
It’s something we’ll never forget. Every time B.A.S.S. has an event at St. Lawrence, we reminisce about those early days as a couple of struggling anglers.
What a lot of people don’t realize about Zona is the dude has been a darn good angler his entire life. He was a major force on several circuits, going on a streak of three or four consecutive second-place finishes in his pursuit of his passion to become a full-time pro.
Instead of winning about $120,000 in those events he won about $40,000. It was frustrating for him, yet had he won more money, his career may have taken a different direction. We wouldn’t have known him as the great TV talent he has become for B.A.S.S.
However, it was that pursuit of a pro career that made him so endearing to the public and pro anglers. He can relate to the struggles of trying to being a pro angler as well as the nuances of finding and catching bass.
He readily admits to being a knucklehead in those early days, and that meeting his wife, Karin, whom he jokingly refers to as “The Scorpion,” helped him take a more stable path. I saw him bear down with his fishing and do other jobs. And then, the premature birth of twin boys moved him from being a young man to a man.
When B.A.S.S. was looking for a spokesman to add to its online and TV presence, they heard from me and many others that Zona was the perfect guy.
Jerry McKinnis met with him once and hired him almost instantly. Pairing him with veteran Tommy Sanders, they became the perfect duo for TV fishing commentary.
Yes, it’s been years since we met in a dumpy motel in Clayton, N.Y., but we’ve created a brotherly bond in and out of fishing.
Quite fittingly, he will be officially inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in late September, and Natalie and I will be sitting alongside him, his family and close friends during ceremonies.
As we all have discovered, there are twists and turns in life that may not seem fair but often prove to provide a better outcome.
Mark Zona found his. Thank you Mark and Karin for all you’ve done for professional bass angling. You’ll be missed, but never forgotten.
