Sometimes it really is love at first sight. Or even first bite. At age 4, Mark Zona, Mercury Pro Team angler and host of Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, caught his first bass on a small lake in southwest Michigan. Bass No. 1 sparked in Zona an immediate passion for fishing and set the course for the rest of his life. And if you ask him about catching that first fish, you’ll discover he’s no less excited about it today than he was 40-odd years ago.
“I’ve talked to my kids at length about it,” Zona said. “I remember everything about that day. I remember the weather. I remember my lure. I remember every single thing. Of all the experiences fishing has given to me and my family, that moment is a memory that can’t be erased. It’s just so ingrained.
“I say this not from a cliché standpoint, but I want the world to feel that.”
At age 9, Zona entered — and won — his first tournament, launching a career spent fishing bass tournaments and selling boats in Indiana. Zona, better known just as Z in fishing circles, became an angling evangelist, preaching on the sport and sharing his passion with as many people as possible while helping to equip others with the gear and knowledge they could use to get on the water and catch fish as well. All was right with the world.
Then in 2004, on a phone call from out of the blue, came an invitation to try out for an ESPN show called Loudmouth Bass. Though he’d been recommended by bass legends Kevin VanDam and Jerry McKinnis, Zona said he was reluctant to take the role. He wasn’t a broadcaster and was quite content in his career. But he made the leap. A tireless angling advocate realized a new outlet for his message, and the sport received a straight-talking, unbiased analyst who hit the airwaves with boundless energy and enthusiasm. The Loudmouth Bass gig led to stints on ESPN’s BassCenter, The Bassmasters, World’s Greatest Fishing Show and Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, which he has hosted for 14 years. Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show airs on the Outdoor Channel, MyOutdoorTV and World Fishing Network.
Zona, 47, and his wife, Karin, live in Sturgis, Mich., and have 20-year-old twin sons, Hunter and Jakob. Fishing has been synonymous with everyday life in the Zona family for so long that the twins have no other point of reference.
“When my children were younger, one of them once asked a very basic, yet very profound question,” Mark said. “We were driving down the road, and he asked, ‘What do people do who don’t fish?’ And I had no answer! The water is my home.”
Mark Zona’s sincere enthusiasm for sharing the sport with people from all walks of life has never diminished, despite the success and notoriety he’s enjoyed.
“I’ve tried to never take fishing for granted,” he said. “I have challenged my kids since they were in their early teens to pass that passion on to somebody that might not otherwise be able to experience it, and they’ve done that.
“I believe the best way to grow the sport of fishing is to do exactly what my father did, the way other mothers and fathers have done across this country: You put a rod in a kid’s hand, and you try to get them to experience that same feeling that I had back when I was 4 years old. I honestly get a bigger charge now out of watching somebody with me catch a big one than I would on my own. I really do.”
To learn more about Mark Zona or Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, visit MarkZona.com, or check out this Mercury Dockline video.