Zahra fluke?
Co-angler comes off waiting list, wins first EverStart at Lake Erie
HAMBURG, N.Y. – Lou Zahra, a 42-year-old agronomist from Warrensburg, N.Y., fishing in his first-ever EverStart Series event, came off the waiting list to win the Co-angler Division in Northern Division competition at Lake Erie. He caught 29 pounds, 8 ounces of bass in the final round and collected $5,000 for the victory.
“I am at a loss for words,” he said. “It’s just unbelievable. This is my first EverStart tournament. I was on the waiting list and I got the call. When I left the house to come here, my wife said, `Don’t come home without a check.'”
While somewhat fortuitous, Zahra’s win, in reality, was no fluke. A seasoned tournament angler, when you look at his weights this week it shows that Zahra out-fished his pro partners all four days of the tournament. He credited his pro partners for putting him on good fish throughout the week, and the reason for his solid numbers was that he executed almost flawlessly.
“I only lost one fish all week, and that was today,” said Zahra, who caught his fish on a drop-shot with a 4-inch finesse worm throughout the tourney. “I had a limit by 10:30 this morning, but it was a long day after that. Yesterday and today, I only culled one fish.”
The winner fished with pro Mike Desforges Saturday, who led on day one. While he only caught six keeper smallmouths, Zahra put together a huge limit – 17 pounds, 3 ounces – from the back of Desforges boat when it counted. He bounced back from eighth place Friday to win Saturday.
“My biggest fish had to be close to 5 pounds,” Zahra said. “We were fishing in about 30 to 40 feet (of water). It was just a deep bite off ridges. When the bait came over the ridges, we got bit.”
Jeff Harris of Grand Blanc, Mich., finished in second place on the co-angler side with a final-round total of 28 pounds, 11 ounces. He earned $4,000.
Andrew Bray of Clinton Township, Mich., caught the heaviest co-angler limit Saturday – 17 pounds, 5 ounces – and finished the tournament in third place with a final-round total of 28-8.
Semifinal-round leader James Richardson Jr. of Cincinnati dropped to fourth place and collected $2,500 with a final total weight of 28 pounds, 3 ounces.
Mike Kozell of Depew, N.Y., finished fifth and earned $2,000 with a final total of 25 pounds, 15 ounces.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 co-angler finishers at EverStart Lake Erie are Mark McNeil of Ledyard, Conn., with a final-round weight of 24 pounds even (6th place, $1,900); Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, Mich., with 20-15 (7th, $1,800); Dave Goodwin of Batavia, Ill., with 18-2 (8th, $1,700); Jess Caraballo of Danbury, Conn., with 17-2 (9th, $1,600); and Jeff Zeisner of Arva, Ontario, with 11-11 (10th, $1,500).
Standings update
With one tournament left to fish, Scott Keefe of Hinesburg, Vt., has a narrow lead in the Northern Division co-angler standings with 534 points. Larry Evans of South Point, Ohio, is close behind with 531 points.
Coming up
The next EverStart Series event is a Northern Division contest at Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh, N.Y., Sept. 22-25. It is the fourth and final Northern tournament of the season, and is the final EverStart regular-season event of the year.