Three weeks ago on the shores of Mille Lacs Lake, Elite Series anglers walked across the weigh-in stage for the final time this season. On that day, we saw the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year champion be crowned, a local hero steal the show, and witnessed one of the highest three-day cumulative weights from a smallmouth fishery in B.A.S.S. tournament history. As the dust settled and anglers got in their trucks to head home for the offseason, one question came to their minds: What next?
We caught up with Mark Zona to discuss fishing, hunting, and what the word “offseason” really means to guys like him, who are on tour eight months of the year.
With the Elite Series season coming to a close a few weeks ago, what is the first thing on your offseason to-do list?
(Laughs) I don’t have an offseason. When the Elite Series stops, I instantly go into shooting “Zona Show” mode. In fact, I’m in my truck for the next 13 days. I got in the truck this morning heading toward an event on Lake Huron. Hopefully, we catch a bunch of smallmouth there and then I get to go tape two “Zona Shows” up in Minnesota. And after all that, I should have a little bit of daylight, three to four days, to get into the woods when I get home.
You’re all fishing, all the time during the spring and summer months. Is there a moment every year when a switch goes off in your head telling you its time to get back into the woods?
I’ll be honest with you, man: I purposely schedule “Zona Shows” in the beginning of October. I don’t like being in the woods when it’s 60 degrees and mosquitos. Really, I want to be out there the third week of October to Halloween. The beginning of October has always been smallmouth, ever since I was a teenager. I know the best bow hunting period is that last week of October and the first of November. The problem is, a really good hunting day is also a really good smallmouth day and I start to get a little stir crazy. I start to think, “I don’t know if I should be doing this or if I should to be doing that.” That’s why I’m trying to get my fill of smallmouth fishing the next couple weeks, while working, and then slowly concentrate on time in the woods.
But I don’t go in the woods to shoot a trophy. Hunting for me is going into the woods to try to decompress from the past five months that I’ve been on the road.
With so much of your time devoted to fishing during the lead-up to hunting season, how do you prepare for success in the fall? When do you hang stands? How much do you rely on past experience?
We moved stands all last weekend, but with limited time this year to prepare, I hope what we learned last year will pay off for us this year. I think a lot of real preparation comes from past experiences. A lot of successes in hunting and fishing come from years prior. You can have a year or season of failure in hunting, but if you learn from it — the deers’ behavior and patterns — and apply it to this season, you can be successful.
What fishing knowledge or skills translate well to the woods? Are there any tips you’ve picked up from outdoor professionals over the years that you rely on during hunting season?
To me, bass fishing and deer hunting are so parallel. I have made the connection on the Bassmaster television show so many times. It’s about learning where they feed and a trail in between. When you learn point A and point B on a bass or a deer, and you learn where to be between those points, you are going to have activity. A big smallmouth is no different than a big deer. He has a very specific route and yearly pattern. But, that route is generally not the most active route. A big smallmouth generally doesn’t hang out with a lot of 3-pound smallmouth and a big deer generally doesn’t hang out with two dozen other deer.
When it comes to adversity, we have a tendency as fishermen and hunters to start running all over the lake, or say, “Man I gotta change 10 tree stands.” Generally, we are not that far off the route. Little slight adjustments can make for the best results.
You have two boys who love to fish and hunt. For all the young fathers and prospective dads out there, how did you instill your love for the outdoors in Jakob and Hunter?
You know, I never pushed it on them. They’ve just always been around it. When I don’t work, I fish. When I don’t work, I hunt. They’re either going to come along or they aren’t. I never wanted to force feed them with it. When we would go fishing when they were little babies, when it was done it was done. When we would go in the woods, when it was done it was done. I also never wanted to make it too easy on them. I never wanted to take them when it was 100-fish days or the deer were just running through the woods like crazy. I wanted my kids to always appreciate really good days of fishing and hunting, but also to respect and understand bad days. Because to me that is what a good fisherman or a hunter is: Someone who can appreciate the good days and learn from the bad.
After years of doing it together, I think they understand it now. I mean my dad taught me a lot of about fishing, but I learned how to hunt and fish mostly from trial and error. I didn’t have a mentor saying, “You need to do this right here.” It’s great to have that, and I’ve been there for my kids in fishing and hunting, but I didn’t hold their hand. I taught them the ethics of fishing and hunting, but I wanted them to fail on their own, and to succeed on their own. That’s what I’ve tried to instill in fishing, hunting, and life to my children — nothing in life is given, you’ve got to work for results.
Aside from your boys and other family, who else is showing up at your deer camp? Buddies? Any Elite Series pros?
I don’t want this to sound the wrong way, but hunting season is family time. I have local buddies I hang out with, and things can get a little rowdy the night before a hunt. But I guess no, I’m not one of those “deer campers.” I did share a camp with Greg Hackney for a week, and it was fantastic. If Hackney and I lived closer, we would hunt every day together, no doubt.
A lot of families and deer camps have some pretty strange traditions. Does your family have any rituals or superstitions during hunting season?
We do have one firm rule in the family. You cannot shoot a doe on the first morning of gun season, no matter what. I’m not gonna lie: My kids have very, very itchy trigger fingers. But it’s a family law. If you shoot a doe, you are done forever — well maybe just for the season.
But I’ll tell you, the night before opening day of gun season is so special. There’s the anxiety of the hunt, talking a little bit of trash to each other in a good way. It’s everything that’s right, and it has nothing to do with taking an animal or catching a giant fish.
You and Tommy had an exciting year commenting on Bassmaster LIVE. If there were ever a Buckhunter to Duckhunter LIVE, who would make good commentators?
For Buckhunter LIVE, I would absolutely want Greg Hackney. I know several professional hunters, but he is as close to a professional hunter who does not do it but could do it. And not only that, but he is an extremely entertaining human being.
Duckhunter would be one of two people. Either Steve Bowman, of Bassmaster.com, or James Overstreet, the photographer for Bassmaster.com. I have never duck hunted in my entire life, but they always tell me how good they are. So I’d love to see if they truly know what the heck they are talking about.
Ok, last one. Rank the following in order of your excitement level leading up to each: the whitetail rut, the smallmouth spawn, Christmas morning, a night out on the town with Carhartt pros Jordan & Matt Lee.
Oh gosh. I’m going to get in trouble for this. I’d say smallmouth spawn first, the rut two, then a night out with Jordan & Matt. How do I put Christmas last?! Let’s put in a disclaimer: Naturally I have to say Christmas morning is number one or else my wife would literally take my head off if she reads this. So, unofficially, Christmas could either be fourth or very close to first.