Mr. Tip-Up made by three generations
Business profile
A fin on a wooden tip-up catches the breeze to bob the fishing line and jig up and down. (Mr. Tip-Up via Facebook)
A clip from a video posted 13 years ago shows Mr. Tip-Up inventor Kenneth Laessig, Sr. demonstrating how to set up the solid oak contraption designed for ice anglers. (Courtesy image)
A Mr. Tip-Up model is rigged and ready to catch fish. (Courtesy image)
A fin on a wooden tip-up catches the breeze to bob the fishing line and jig up and down. (Mr. Tip-Up via Facebook)
A clip from a video posted 13 years ago shows Mr. Tip-Up inventor Kenneth Laessig, Sr. demonstrating how to set up the solid oak contraption designed for ice anglers. (Courtesy image)
A Mr. Tip-Up model is rigged and ready to catch fish. (Courtesy image)
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ESCANABA -- A tool for ice anglers, crafted from wood by the same family for three generations, will be displayed and available for purchase at this year’s Ice Fishing and Hunting Expo on Nov. 6 and 7.
In the 1980s, Kenneth R. Laessig, Sr. invented Mr. Tip-Up -- a foldable, adjustable wind tip-up made of oak, with an above-water spool and orange flag that pops up to signal that a fish has grabbed the bait at the end of the line.
Laessig finalized and patented his design and crafted the products in Milwaukee, where he lived. Records for Mr. Tip-Up, Inc. filed with the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Financial Institutions date back to 1993, but it appears he’d already been making and distributing them for several years beforehand.
“He peddled it to different small local fishing stores around the state, and then the neighboring states -- Minnesota and in the U.P.,” said Kennedy Laessig, his granddaughter.
As “MR TIP UP” and the inventor’s signature were stamped on the side of every model, a number of people still have vintage models. Presently, an eBay user in Cooks, Michigan called “Surfer Dudes Finds” is selling an original, slightly-damaged unit for $44.99.
Ken Laessig, Sr. passed away in 2013. But a few years later, his son -- Kenneth Laessig, Jr., Kennedy’s father -- began making the devices again with the help of his own daughter.
“We do every step of the process ourselves, including cutting down a tree. We have a woodmizer that we (use to) create the part, we stain and seal every piece, and then we assemble it by hand,” said Kennedy.
It was around 2021 that Ken. Jr. and Kennedy really started diving headlong into reproducing the sturdy gear and getting the business back in motion. Ken Jr. knew how to build the tip-ups his father designed, but made a few tweaks to the device, so he and Kennedy are now continuing the legacy of Mr. Tip-Up with slightly updated models.
“There are little pieces here and there that are a little different from the original model,” Kennedy said. “We modernized it a little bit, such as -- we put a spot to put an aerator on, which will keep the ice fishing hole from closing.”
But the device slides the same way, can be adjusted for the wind to create an automatic jig and has a small compartment for extra tackle at the base, just as Ken Sr. designed.
Production, marketing and distribution has been developing gradually for the revival of Mr. Tip-Up. Now based in Peshtigo, Ken Jr. and Kennedy are selling the products online at mrtipup.square.site and working to get more stores to carry them.
Wind Rose North Outfitters in Menominee, Michigan is a retailer for Mr. Tip-Up.
“We would really like to like get the word out, get our product out, and hopefully make it to different states that have, like, winters with ice fishing -- Montana, Wyoming, those kind of states, even in Canada a little bit,” Kennedy said. “We want people to know our product.”
Trade shows should help that goal. The business booked a booth at the upcoming U.P. Ice Fishing and Hunting Expo, which will occupy the fairgrounds in Escanaba on Nov. 6 and 7, and then has a couple more lined up after that.
The Laessigs are proud of their product:
“It’s very, very unique with it being wood; there is a lot of wind tip-ups made out of plastic, from like, you know -- big companies. But we’re a small, small business doing everything from ourselves, from the very the tree itself,” said Kennedy.
She said she likes for people to hear Mr. Tip-Up’s story and “to experience how nice it is” in person -- made of solid hard wood and treated with polyurethane, the models are built to last many winters.
“We will see people message on Facebook saying they have an original one from the ’80s that my grandpa first made,” Kennedy noted. “It’s really cool.”