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Wild Addiction.
That pretty much sums things up for veteran outdoorsman Tim Roller. As a
child, Roller's experiences in the outdoors formed what would not only
become an "addiction", but a way of life. "My
fondest memories growing up were spending summer vacations at a small
lake in northern Michigan where my grandparents had a cottage. I still
remember not being able to sleep at night in anticipation of the next
day's fishing", Roller says. "As I got into my mid to late
teens, I still couldn't get enough of it! Hunting...fishing....I wanted
to do it all. If I didn't know someone that could teach me, I would go
out and learn to do it myself." Being
in the woods and on the water was so natural in fact, Tim decided to
turn it into his profession. "I remember sitting in college wishing
I was on the water or in the woods. I would drive 5 hours
'round trip to fish 2 hours and be back in time for class or work. I
remember thinking during those drives that there had to be a better way
than this". A chance meeting on one of those trips would show Tim
"a better way" and forever change his life's path. "I was
with a really good friend of mine Steelhead fishing one day when we ran
into a friend of his who was doing some work as a fishing
guide. I had never heard of |
a guide before. The thought of
taking people fishing for a job was the greatest thing I had ever heard
of! I was already taking a bunch of my buddies along most of the time so
I would have some company, why not get paid to do it", recalls
Roller. The
rest, as they say, is history. Less than two weeks later, Roller dropped
out of college mid-semester to take a job at a new Orvis fishing lodge
on the Pere Marquette River in northwest Michigan. There he worked in the
fly shop and began guiding. A year later he started his own business, Ultimate
Outfitters, which today, 15+ years later, is an award winning guide
service and one of the most sought after river trips in the Midwest. |
Tim (right) has always found joy in
guiding
and helping others in the outdoors
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Mike Avery and Tim Roller with a
Steelhead
caught while filming for Outdoor Magazine
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As
Ultimate
Outfitters continued to grow and gain national recognition, another
chance encounter would once again change Roller's course. "I sent
an email to Mike Avery offering him a fishing trip. Mike had an outdoor
television show, Outdoor
Magazine, in Michigan and I thought doing a show together would be a
win-win thing for both of us", Roller remembers. "Mike sent a
camera crew up and we filmed a great spring Steelhead show that day. I
had no idea it would go where it did from there."
Soon
that one show turned into another, and another, and another. Mike and
Tim struck up a friendship and started to film a number of shows
together. About that same time, Tim was seeing a need for instructional
type DVD's on the migratory fishing in the Great Lakes region. He was
also becoming quite comfortable and familiar with the cameras from
filming with Avery. Roller partnered up |
| with good friend O.J. Cunningham
to form BugWater
Media, LLC and they immediately began production of a DVD
series. "We
had success with our very first DVD", states Roller. "It
definitely lit a fire in me to do more. I loved the fact that we could
go out and get this incredible footage, edit it together, and offer a
tool for people that were struggling to try and figure things out on
there own. As a guide for so many years, my passion is to be able to
teach others about hunting and fishing, allowing them to go and be
successful on their own. The DVD's allowed me to do that on a much
bigger scale!" Along
the way, Outdoor
Magazine had gone to a national platform. "Mike approached me
about being a part of his first pro-staff", says Roller.
"Needless to say, I was extremely honored and immediately jumped at
the chance. At the time, it seemed like another perfect avenue for me to
teach and show people all of the great things there was to experience in
hunting and fishing." |
It
was under Mike's tutelage that Tim started to see the "in's and
out's" of television production. "I'm the first to admit, Wild
Addiction doesn't even exist without my years spent working with
Mike Avery and the Outdoor
Magazine show", explains Roller. "Mike is a class act. Not
only that, but he's been around in outdoor television just about as long
as anyone. Outdoor
Magazine is one of the longest continuous running shows in outdoor
television history. The fact that I was able to work with, and learn from,
him in that setting was priceless. I'll always consider Mike a close
friend and be forever indebted to him."
The
experience Tim had gained through the DVD series and Outdoor
Magazine now made his ultimate goal of Wild Addiction
a reality. "I still love showing people the absolutely unbelievable
things we're so fortunate to see while hunting and fishing. To be able
to do that on a weekly basis is the fulfillment of a dream." |
Tim Roller filming a late summer Salmon
fishing show on Michigan's Manistee River
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