Cameramen Eric Kaffka and Wes Miller prepare their equipment upon arriving near Mark Zona’s homestead in southwestern Michigan.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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This is Mark Zona’s weapon of choice for the latest taping of Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show.”
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona prepares to start the show.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Miller and Kaffka capture Zona as he bounces out of his truck for the show opener.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona explains that he and long-time tournament partner “Vande” made hay on this body of water the day before.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Vande served mostly as camera boat driver but helped remind Zona who caught what and where the day before.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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After a run on the chilly morning, Zona was surprised to hooks into a largemouth, wondering what Mr. Green Jeans was doing there.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Ah, a smallmouth. That’s more what he expected.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona shows off another largemouth. It almost seemed like the catches switched back and forth between the two.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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A small largemouth comes flipping in.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Now here’s one Zona is proud of.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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A steady morning breeze kept a slight chop on the water.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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And kept the fish biting.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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This one makes Zona crow.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Miller gets a close-up of the brown beauty.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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The biggest fish so far has Zona stoked. It is on, he said.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Another comes in and the crew actually lost count.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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This Rage Swimmer in KVD Magic was magic.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Another fish has Miller shooting underwater with a GoPro.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Another largemouth comes in but Zona was most pleased with catching several large smallmouth.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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After the day, Zona headed to his man cave to prepare for Thursday’s Zona Live.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona has long-time friend Kevin VanDam coming from nearby Kalamazoo to fish with him live from 8 a.m. to noon ET on their “Sneaky Lake.”
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona applies the coup de grace with to a jig he was preparing for the KVD live shoot.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona worked on getting five rods, reels and lures ready.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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No. 1 is done.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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It’s been a busy week for Zona. He scouted a number of lakes, not only for the shooting of his show on Wednesday, but also for Zona Live, where he needed great cell service.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona also had another show shoot on Friday and Saturday with his twin sons.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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One of Zona’s friends, Louis, stopped by his man cave to chat about the local tournament scene.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Z shows off a Strike King Redeye Shad with the paint chewed off.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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A Strike King swim jig with a Rage Swimmer trailer is also in his arsenal.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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A Rage Swimmer should elicit big bites.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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Zona’s is big-eyed about his lineup, and he hopes the fish are too.
Photo: Mike Suchan
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