Tim Waltz’s work attire consists of shorts and a T-shirt. Instead of dreary days spent boxed into an office, he commutes to the lake. No briefcase for him — rather a fishing rod.
Waltz is a professional walleye fisherman, and this year has been pretty lucrative so far.
He and his fishing partner, Doug Yohe of Bradford, won Team of the Year on July 21, after their third tournament of the year, on the Lower Niagara River. They compete on the Masters Walleye Circuit, which is primarily sponsored by Cabela’s
“I’ve always been a diehard fisherman, for as long as I can remember,” said Waltz, who also owns his own construction business.
Waltz, 42, is a city native but now lives in Cogan Station with his wife, Beaty.
“I grew up bass fishing here as a kid,” he said. “But, they’re easy to catch, for me, and I got bored.”
Trout presented the same kind of easy fishing, so Waltz turned to walleye.
“I was doing a lot of reading about walleye and I was about 18 years old when I realized that the walleye was one of the hardest fish to catch.
“They’re pretty challenging to fish for. There are so many different ways you can catch them. One day, you’ll catch them on jigs, but the next day that won’t work,” he said. “There’s a different style of fishing always.”
Walleyes are native to central North America and Canada and, in Pennsylvania, they are found naturally in the Allegheny River and Lake Erie watersheds. Thanks to stockings by the state Fish and Boat Commission, walleyes also make their homes in the Susquehanna and Delaware River watersheds.
“I feel kind of like a duck out of a pond,” Waltz said. “I’m one of only two pros in the area who fish for walleyes.”
The professional fishing circuit requires that he travel great distances to tournaments. This year, Waltz has competed in three contests. The first was in April at Lake Erie, where his finished in fourth place and had the most number of points.
In May, he and his partner were at Lake Ontario, where they were five points below the leader. Then, the third contest was on the Lower Niagara River. Despite a fifth-place finish, the pair took in the top team award.
“The tournaments are run by points,” Waltz said. “Points are based on where you finish in the tournament. Whoever has the most points wins Team of the Year.”
For all of this focus on points, he said he is unsure of the total number he has collected this year.
The circuit is split into two divisions — East and West.
“I fish on the East,” he said. “Out of those teams, the top 30 or 40 teams go to the championship for free.”
Waltz and Yohe are in this ranking and so qualify for next year’s championship. Waltz also qualified last year for this year’s tournament and will head to Lake Erie in October.
“The MWC Championship is essentially a year behind,” explained Bonnie Dyson, a public relations representative for Waltz and a walleye angler herself.
In a tournament, anglers may catch no more than five walleye per day per boat. Usually there is a minimum length from 15 to 18 inches, Waltz said.
Each team fishes out of the same boat.
Yohe and Waltz each have their own sponsors but share the benefits with each other. For instance, Yohe’s sponsor is Zippo/Case, which “paid our expenses 100 percent this year,” Waltz said.
They also are sponsored by Robbins Marine, which “cuts the cost of our boat in half,” he said.
In addition to prize money that top teams can win, prizes often are awarded for various reasons. For instance, he won a $5,000 bonus at last October’s championship, and Yohe took a $1,000 bonus last month from Ranger Boats for being the top finishing team that used a Ranger boat.
Waltz won a $1,000 bonus from Toyota by owning one of the company’s model vehicles and by earning the highest finish in the July tournament.
“I would have won it in April if I’d have had a Toyota then,” Waltz ruefully said. “The night before the last tournament, I traded my truck in for a 2007 Toyota Tundra. I wish I’d bought it sooner. It’s a great truck and gets excellent mileage.
“I tow my boat all over North America and put 25,000 to 30,000 miles a year on it,” he said. “I’m new to Toyota (truck ownership), but I’m thrilled with it.”
All that traveling is rough on Waltz’s family life, but he and his wife endure it.
“It’s up and down,” he said. “She supports me, but it’s tough because I’m on the road a lot.
“She (his wife) actually started tournament fishing with me just this year,” Waltz said.
Even when he isn’t on the road fishing for walleye, he loves to spend time fishing locally.
“I don’t fish for walleye here until October,” Waltz said. “Walleye move up the river to a dam until they can’t go any further. Here, they hit the Hepburn Street Dam, then go back down the river and hold there for the winter.”
October through December offers the best fishing locally for walleye and again in February and March.
The species spawns in spring, he said.
Walleye isn’t the only kind of fish that Waltz casts a hook for.
“I actually hold the record for sauger,” he said. “I caught it at the Hepburn Street Dam.”
A sauger is closely related to the walleye and looks very much like a walleye.
One of the differences, Waltz said, is that a walleye has a whitish strip on the bottom of its tail fin.
In addition, the walleye has a “dark spot at the rear edge of the front (spiny) section of its dorsal fin” and the bottom margin of its anal fin is whitish, according to the state Fish and Boat Commission Web site.
Both fish have a glassy eye and are members of the perch family, though the walleye is the biggest member of this family.
“The name ‘walleye’ refers to the fish’s large, milky eye that looks luminous when light is shined on it,” according to the commission. “The eye has a reflecting membrane behind the retina, which causes this effect. The species name ‘vitreum’ means ‘glassy’ and refers to the luminous eye.”
Waltz caught his record sauger on Nov. 11, 2001. It weighed four pounds and was 21 1/4 inches long.
The previous record, from the Allegheny River, had held the top spot for 15 years with a 3-pound, 15-ounce fish.
Saugers may reach five pounds but usually only weigh a pound or so.
Waltz also hits the river for other species of fish.
“Every Wednesday night in Williamsport, they have a bass tournament at the Antlers Club,” he said. “It starts in June and goes through the end of September.”
For three hours, teams fish and are allowed to bring one big bass back to the scale.
This past Wednesday, Waltz felt he had a winner — a nice 3 1/2-pound smallmouth bass.
The big walleyes he’s caught sometimes are seven pounds heavier.
“We have a spot, up around Tioga, and last year we caught a half dozen walleyes ranging from seven to 10 pounds,” Waltz said. “Anyone would agree that a 30-inch walleye, which is usually a 10-pounder, is a trophy. Around here, 25 to 28 inches is a good walleye.”
A decent catch of walleyes might adorn an angler’s wall or his stomach.
“Walleyes are excellent. A lot of people would agree that they probably are the best-eating freshwater fish,” Waltz said. “But, I actually throw them back.”
After a long day of fishing, the extra work of cleaning a mess of fish is not what he looks forward to, he said.
In fact, his record sauger wouldn’t have been recognized as a trophy if a friend hadn’t asked him to keep his catch for a fish dinner, Waltz said.
Even when he isn’t reeling in a lunker for a chance at a big prize, Waltz loves the sport of fishing.
“I love it so much, I can’t pinpoint it,” he said when asked what about fishing has lured him in. “I love being out in the open air and the water. I really love the water.
“I like catching big fish,” he said. “It’s nice to know you did something to outsmart a fish, to make him bite.”
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