"Wisconsin Inventor's Dream Becomes Reality"

Printed in the January, 2008 edition of "Company: Business Magazine" in Green Bay, WI. Written primarily by inventor Ben Scherg, a client of Wilhelm Law Service.

ON A COLD LAKE 20 years ago an idea was born. “Frigid temperatures and one missed flag after another seem to get the gears turning” explains Ben Scherg the inventor and manufacturer of an exciting new Ice-Fishing Tip-Up aptly named the Hook-Set Tip-Up.

We had 22 flags and only caught 2 fish. We simply couldn't get to the tip-ups fast enough when the flags went up. As a result, the fish were spitting the hooks before we could get there and we missed one after another. Sometimes that's how it goes when you're ice fishing. When you use tip-ups, you miss a lot of fish. It's just the nature of the beast. A good day might mean catching one out of every three flags that went up. A really good day was one out of two. I was just never satisfied with that and was certain that there had to be a better way to do it.

After that day of missing all those flags, my father, my two brothers and I sat down and started the process of developing a tip-up that automatically sets the hook. We reasoned that if you can set the hook immediately when the fish bites, much like you do with a fishing pole when you're fishing out of a boat in the summertime, you would have the best chance of catching more of the fish. We put our minds to the task of developing this new tip-up, but after countless designs that didn't seem to work, we pretty much gave up. It was frustrating to know that we had a good idea but couldn't figure out how to make it a reality. Knowing that this would be a sure seller if we could figure out how to make it work, I always kept it in the back of my mind. I knew that I would someday have that eureka moment and it would all click.

Nine years later sitting on the icy shores of Lake Mendota while attending UW Madison, I had the idea for the current design of the Hook-Set Tip-Up. My first prototype was exactly opposite of what I am making right now, but the idea was fundamentally the same. The spring was entirely under water and was stretched rather than compressed. That led to a lot of difficulties which we solved by flipping the entire thing on its head. After putting together an initial prototype made out of PVC tubes, a spring from a screen door and lids of salt and pepper shakers, I thought I was ready to talk to people about this new and innovative tip-up. The only problem was I didn't really know where to go from there.

One night watching TV, I saw a commercial for Invention Submission Corporation. They said they help people bring ideas to life, so I took it to them and started the patent process. When I realized how expensive it was, I asked a friend who also loved fishing to join me and soon after, his father joined the fight as well. Out of that partnership BBJ Outdoor Innovations, LLC was formed.

With three minds now on the task of developing the tip-up further, we came up with a number of changes and improvements and finally had a patentable idea. We contacted Wilhelm Law Service out of Appleton and the idea was brought through the entire patent process. In 2003, the first part of the dream became reality and I was awarded a utility patent [6,564,496] for my idea.

Once we had the patent in hand we tried to contact companies that were already in the industry. We hoped they would want to buy it from us. Unfortunately they didn't. Nobody was interested in putting time, effort, engineering and money towards an idea that would in effect help make what they currently produced obsolete. Everyone I talked to was happy with the way things were. Fishermen seemed happy with the mediocre results that they experienced when using conventional tip-ups so the tip-up companies were perfectly happy giving them tip-ups that provided those mediocre results. I knew then and there that if I wanted to see this tip-up in the hands of fishermen all over the frozen states, I was going to have to make it happen myself.

The only real recommendation anyone was willing to give me was to contact sporting goods distribution companies to see if they would be interested in carrying my product. They said this was really the only way that large retailers would be willing to look at it because they weren't going to pay any attention to me as a one product manufacturer. Lucky for me I don't really let nay-sayers get me down. So I called the stores' corporate offices directly and was lucky enough to talk to the right people and get them interested in the Tip-Up. After meeting with the sporting goods buyers directly and showing them my prototypes, they decided to buy from me directly and put them on the shelves of their stores. Presently the Hook-Set Tip-Up is for sale in Pamida, Gander Mountain, Scheel's Sports, Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabelas Stores. It is also available in many smaller bait and tackle shops around the Midwest.

I think I was able to get them interested because this is the one true innovation that you can bring to the standard tip-up. It's not just a different color, size, or shape. It truly does something more than any other tip-up can do. The Hook-Set Tip-Up sets the hook immediately when the fish bites. By doing that, the fish is immediately hooked and can't spit out the bait before you get to your tip-up. Much like when you have a pole in your hand, you are able to respond immediately to the bite and hook the fish at that exact instant. No other tip-up on the market gives you that ability.

This tip-up also provides a very high bite catch ratio (82% during filming for the on-line video), ability to catch and release fish without killing them due to the immediate hook setting action, no false flags, no freeze up and no need for messy lubricants. It has been tested extensively on northern pike and bass and is also recommended for large trout, walleye, salmon and any other hard-striking game fish species.

It is recommended that you use a quick-strike rig to make sure the fish has a hook in its mouth when it bites and that you use braided tip-up line. Other than that, the tip-up does the work for you and will help you catch more fish!

When this process started I wanted to create something that would be easy to use and that worked almost all of the time. I don't know if I even really believed it could be done. Looking at what we have now, I am extremely happy with the quality and success rate of this tip-up. I have no doubt in my mind that Ice Fishermen are going to love it once they give it a try. I'm very proud to finally be able to get this in the hands of hard-water fishermen all over the Midwest.

For more information visit the Hook-Set Tip-Up website at www.hooksettipup.com

Business Magazine can be reached at www.companymag.com

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