It Ain't All About Trout

Tingley-Pound Win “Team of the Year” Title



                                                                                                                    Photo Courtesy KAWA Website

Bob Tingley, Coudersport, and Darrin Pound, Allegany, NY, hoist their
trophies at awards ceremonies for the Disabled American Veterans
Tournament en route to being declared “Team of the Year” by the
Kinzua Allegheny Walleye Association, July 15, 2007

Potter County, with no body of water larger than the proverbial “south forty” is not noted for lake fishing.  Yet Bob Tingley, a Coudersport surveyor, and his partner, Darrin Pound, Allegany, New York, have captured this year’s title of “Team of The Year” awarded by the Kinzua Allegheny Walleye Association.  The partnership, competing in the association’s three Team Tournament Trail events, bested 63 other teams completing the circuit with a score of 876 (out of a possible 900) to take top honors and to qualify for the Cabela 2008 National Championship.             The events were The Disabled American Veterans Benefit Tournament (DAV), May 19th and 20th (Allegheny Reservoir) with 89 teams, Cabela’s Qualifier Challenge Tournament (CQC), June 16th and 17th (Allegheny Reservoir) with 66 teams and the KAWA Trails End Tournament (TET), July 14th and 15th on Chautauqua Lake with 22 teams.  The winner of each tournament earns 300 points towards the Team of The Year Award. Over $10,000 was awarded in prize money for these tournaments. It’s one thing to wander out to a local stream to while away an afternoon fishing for trout; quite another to enter a walleye tournament.  According to Tingley to participate in these tournaments requires a “major commitment” of time, money and it might take years of fishing to acquire the skills and know how to compete successfully.  He estimates that between them, he and his partner have over fifty years of fishing time.  Bob has been tournament fishing on Kinzua since 1990 when the first major tournament was held.  He estimates he spends from 50 to 60 days each year on all waters chasing the walleye. The KAWA rules (three pages, single spaced) alone dictate that this is serious fishing.  Start (7:00am) and stop (3:00pm) times are strictly enforced.  A waiver of liability must be signed. All boats must meet all US Coast Guard and state requirements, may be required to have a marine band radio, must have a properly aerated or re-circulating live well, may not contact any other boat during the tournament, and teams are not permitted to exit the boat during tournament hours except in an emergency.  Contestants must wear a floatation device when operating above idle or trolling speed, contestants can be disqualified for breaking any state or national fishing or boating law or for un-sportsmanship conduct, for failing to return on time in the event of being notified via radio about bad weather conditions, for not returning on time to the official check point each day.  Teams may weigh only five fish (minimum length of 15 inches) per day and a 2/10ths deduction (.20 lbs.) is applied for each dead fish.  In short, you’re pretty much out of the tournament for breaking any of the rules. Prizes are awarded based on weight only.  The weight of each fish is calculated to 1/100th pound for each fish brought in.  All 15-inch walleyes, the state minimum length requirement, do not weigh the same.  According to Tingley, this is where experience can be a major factor in determining which fish to keep alive in the live well, and which fish to replace with a newly caught one.  Having caught thousands of walleye, Bob can almost always determine the heavier fish just by looking him over.  The on board beam scales help, but they are not nearly as accurate as the official scale at the end of the day.  Often, a decision will have to be made as to whether a particular fish is “going to make it” through the day in the live well. So there is constant evaluation of trying to determine the heaviest and healthiest fish to keep, before departing for the official check point. So, in addition to fishing skill, a not inconsiderable thing in itself, a walleye tournament is also somewhat of an accountancy exercise.  And a race against the clock.  And, in the fishing day, from 7:00am to 3:00pm, there is always a good chance weather will become a factor.  And with so many acres of water available (12,000 in Kinzua alone) the business of where to fish looms large.  How in the hell does a good team keep all of this stuff sorted out?             Guess what.  Practice, practice, practice!  It goes without saying that in the ten months of walleye season each year, Bob keeps track of the results and mentally records likely looking feeding areas. And each team gets to “practice fish” the day before a tournament and this is when all the prior months experiences can pay off. Another factor, just as important, is technology.  Bob and Darrin have some state of the art hi tech gadgets aboard.  In addition to a good boat and outboard motor (“gets you to your fishing spot faster”), they have invested in a Global Positioning System that enables them to accurately return to the same, likely fishing ground, time after time, in all kinds of weather.  According to Bob, this is probably the best investment they have made. Also on board is an underwater camera.  And a good, trustworthy live well. Not to mention, the best rods, lures and lines obtainable. Technology aside, a good partnership looms large as a decisive ingredient in this kind of competitive fishing. Having the right one can make all the difference.  On top of being accomplished fishermen, the partners have to be able to agree moment to moment, hour by hour, on strategy and the best way to maximize their effort.  This is no place for inflated egos, grandstanding antics, stubborn behavior or prima donnas. In the first or DAV Tournament, he and Darrin were amongst some very good fishermen and the fishing was good.  But they had previously located likely feeding grounds, the GPS enabled them to return, and it paid off as they had enough fish to work over so that they could cull the lighter weight fish.  Everything went according to plan and they came in both days with 5 good fish each day for a total of 14.74 pounds, 0.22 pounds more than the second place team. They had garnered 300 points toward the season championship. The season was off to a good start. Tournament rules permit the substitution of one team member just once during the tournament season.  That “once” occurred in the CQC Tournament. It just so happened that Darrin had previously made a binding promise to another person to accompany him in the CQC event, and Bob had to sit this one out. Darrin and the substitute logged 9 fish at 10.7 pounds to come in 21st overall for the CQC- 280 points for the tournament, 580 accumulated points on the season Leaderboard. But perhaps the substitution had an unintended consequence.  Clearly, they knew that to finish anywhere near the top in the season standings, they would have to put in a very good performance in the last or TET tournament on Chautauqua Lake. So they pre-fished both Thursday and Friday and put the underwater camera to use in locating good fish.  But the weather turned bad on the first day and the good spots didn’t pan out.  The fishing turned bad, just average catches.  With just one and one-half hours to go on the first day they located some very big fish amid three foot waves that required the use of sea anchors to hold their position.  They only had a short time to fish otherwise they would not be able to get back in time for weigh-in and thus be disqualified.  It was here they caught a 4-pounder and immediately headed for home. The second day of the TET proved to be much the same as the first, with the team bringing a tournament limit of five walleyes to the scales, including a whooping 6.5 pound beauty. They were one of only three teams to weigh a five fish limit on both days of the tournament for a total weight of 29.2 pounds and a solid fourth place finish.  They had picked up enough points, 296, to push them to the top of the 2007 Leaderboard and a qualifying spot for the 2008 Cabela National Team Walleye Championship. Lest anyone think the KAWA season award might be a fluke, Bob and Darrin just recently won the walleye competition in the Zippo/Case Bass and Walleye Tournament held at the Allegheny Reservoir on Sunday, October 21.  In this tournament, Tingley and Pound used a new hi tech bait manufactured by Berkley to sort through 12 keeper-sized walleyes and weigh the only limit of the tournament with a total of 8.18 pounds. Will they participate in the Cabela 2008 National Championships? Bob is not sure just yet.  I’d guess, a lot of telephone calls and serious partner-to-partner discussions will take place in the coming weeks. I would also guess, there will be no substitutions! Let’s hope they do. Further Reading: Kinzua Allegheny Walleye Association