It's in My Blood

Turns out, fishing is in my blood.

Like many, I have relatives that love to fish. What's especially cool, though, is that my connection to ice fishing is unique. Why?

I am originally from Beaver Dam, WI. My great uncle, George Beers, also lived in Beaver Dam. If you are a tip-up user, Beaver Dam should ring a bell - or raise a flag.

Per a 2008 article by Brian Paynter in a Madison (WI) newspaper: "Back in the late 1930s, three ice fishermen in the Beaver Dam area - Fred Crinion, Albert "Tuck" Kachelski and George Beers - began assembling their own tip-ups in a basement and selling them for beer money. Early versions consisted of a mouse trap spring on the flag rod and a metal typewriter ribbon spool that held the fishing line. The three tinkered with ideas, designs and prototypes until they refined the tip-up, received a patent in about 1950 and began selling them as a business."

How cool is that??? [hint - VERY cool]

Here's a link to a short video I made for Positively Fishing (as seen in the screenshot above). If you're not already a Positively Fishing subscriber on YouTube, you should be. Get on it.