FISHY VENTURE NETS CHARITY DONATIONS

The fifth-annual Zappa Agency Fishing Tournament (ZAFT) was held at Mille Lacs Lake last week, but this time, the tournament had more on the line than just fishing glory.

Charities from around Steele County were notified that anglers competing at the tournament were hoping to catch some big fish to reel in some even bigger donations to benefit local causes.

“We’ve been going up to Mille Lacs for a few years now and everyone that makes the trip just absolutely loves it. Last year I ran into a client up there, Tom Kohl, and he asked me, ‘Well, why isn’t this a charity event?’ That’s when we knew we had to make it happen,” said Steve Zappa, the tournament’s founder and namesake.

The tournament saw 51 anglers make up 26 teams – with one solo angler – and accounted for 151 caught fish.

Bringing home the big trophy as the tournament’s winning team was the duo of Brett Meger and Scott Summer.

Meger’s string of 12 walleye accounted for 198.25 inches and narrowly beat out Aaron Farnsworth’s 196.25 for first place.

“The tournament came down to what you could almost call a buzzer-beater. With 10 minutes to go, I had a fish on, but I lost it getting it through the hole. Luckily, I caught another one just a minute or so later, and I knew when I saw it that it was big enough to win,” said Meger on his eventful end to the tournament.

According to Meger, he and Summer elected to go as far as possible away from the other anglers as their strategy.

The two fished in the middle of the lake, meanwhile, most other anglers chose to stay closer to either the north or south shores of the lake.

However, Meger and Summer weren’t the only winners from ZAFT.

Local charities including Younglife of Owatonna, Steele County Humane Society, Rachel's Light, Fifth District Eagle’s Cancer Telethon, Hormel Institute for Breast Cancer Research, Owatonna Parks and Recreation Scholarship Fund and Let’s Smile all were chosen as charitable organizations to be represented at the event.

According to Zappa, the tournament’s success this year did not come without its battles.

With a warmer winter than usual, anglers had to be extra cautious about ice conditions, with many electing to go more portable on their setups as opposed to the more standard ice-house setups one might see littering Mille Lacs Lake in a typical year.

That being said, the mix-up created some fun stories.

“How the tournament ended with the phone ringing off the charts until the final few minutes and everyone scrambling around to find good ice for fishing, it really made for a heck of a weekend,” said Zappa. “Any time you run something, and you get five years out of it, you know you’ve got something special. I was worried this year because of the ice, but this thing has taken on such a new meaning for so many of us involved that I think it’s going to continue to thrive. I couldn’t be more proud of this event, my family for their support and help, and for this community.”