Birge Dominates ROY Race

Oklahoman wins rookie title, finishes 29th in AOY race

Zack Birge isn’t wasting any time filling out his tournament-fishing resume. The Oklahoman won the 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Championship on Wheeler Lake last fall then joined up on the Walmart FLW Tour for 2015 and went on a season-long tear that earned him the Rookie of the Year award.

Birge, alongside his wife, Kristina, was presented with his ROY trophy this afternoon on the weigh-in stage at the Potomac River tournament, where he finished in 77th place. He finished 29th overall in the AOY standings to best a group of 18 rookies.

There’s not a bait nor technique that Birge can credit for his success. Rather, it’s the opposite. He believes that his willingness to fish with an open mind and to adapt on a moment’s notice with a variety of presentations were the keys to his season.

“I like to run and gun,” says Birge, who adds that he’s most comfortable when power-fishing in shallow water. “I cover a lot of water and fish a lot of spots. I like to play the numbers game and catch as many fish as I can because I know that eventually I’ll catch some better fish.”

Shallow tactics earned Birge a 13th-place finish at the opener on Lake Toho and a sixth-place finish at the clear, deep spotted bass fishery of Lewis Smith, where Birge actually led for a couple of days primarily by throwing a buzzbait around brush in the backs of shallow pockets. Birge had another strong finish of 36th place at stop No. 3 on Beaver Lake to wrap up the first half of the season.

Stop No. 4 on Lake Eufaula was the tournament Birge looked forward to the most because he says the lake set up in such a way that he felt he could win, and because most of his family lives in Alabama and was there to cheer him on.

Eufaula didn’t disappoint. Birge finished in eighth place and found himself in fourth place in the overall Angler of the Year standings with just two events left.

Unfortunately, at the fifth event on Lake Chickamauga, Birge learned his toughest rookie lesson. He failed to stick with the open-minded approach that had earned him so much success to that point, which caused him to struggle on day one. The former FLW College Fishing standout then saw his AOY hopes crumble when he was disqualified on day two for an inadvertent rule violation. Birge ended up finishing in 137th place.  

“I like fishing offshore, but I haven’t dialed in the Tennessee River yet,” Birge says. “I can catch fish offshore, but not the giant stringers you need to compete. In practice at Chickamauga, I stayed deep all three days. I made myself fish deep but never found it. I should have stayed with my strength, which is fishing shallow. Obviously, some big bags were caught shallow, and I probably could’ve had a better finish that way.

“The disqualification really just gave me extra drive,” he adds. “I went to the James River and practiced before the Potomac and basically got my head right.”

Birge had a commanding ROY lead of 142 points going into the finale on the Potomac. He basically just needed to catch a fish, which is required to earn any AOY points in a tournament, to lock it up and accomplished his goal with a two-day total of 21-10.

Regarding the title, Birge says he’s not looking at it as a capstone to a great season. He’s hoping it’s just the next step in a long, successful professional career.

“It’s a stepping stone,” Birge says. “It’s an accomplishment that you only have one shot at winning. You can’t go back and try again. My next goal is to win a Tour event and then Angler of the Year.”

He’ll have to wait out the off-season for another shot at the AOY. However, a Tour-level win could come sooner than that – and it could be a big one.

Birge is double-qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita. He’s considered an early favorite at that event too.

Birge was born in Mayflower, Ark., and lived there for 13 years. He grew up fishing Ouachita and loves summertime tournaments in scorching weather. Plus, there’ll most likely be a shallow bite that the young gun can exploit.

The Cup is lining up so well for Birge that when we asked what he thought the odds were of him having a strong finish at Ouachita, the confident rookie just smirked and gave a simple answer: “Real high.”

Zack Birge 2015 Walmart FLW Tour Finishes

Lake Toho – 13

Lewis Smith Lake – 6

Beaver Lake – 36

Lake Eufaula – 8

Lake Chickamauga – 137

Potomac River – 77

AOY Finish – 29