The Tradition of the Beaver Dam Tip-Up
A company that started over 65 years ago in a basement, The Arctic Fisherman LLC, located at 500 E. Burnett Street in the city of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, is celebrating its 45th Anniversary! Back in the late 1930’s, local Beaver Dam ice fisherman Fred Crimion, Albert “Tuck” Kachelski, and George Beers started making homemade parts and began assembling tip-ups in a basement and sold them for beer money. The August Scheurer family operated the company for the next 43 years. Since 2004, the Dennis Carthew family has been carrying on the tradition.

The early versions consisted of mouse trap springs welded to a flag rod and a metal typewriter ribbon spool wound with fishing line. Crimion, Kachelski, and Beers tinkered with ideas, designs, and various prototypes until they refined the tip-up and received a patent in 1950. Then they started selling what is known today as the world’s finest quality hand built tip-up made in America – “The Original” Beaver Dam Tip-Up.

Today, with a dedicated staff of four craftsman working in a very organized fashion in a cramped 4160 square foot facility in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Arctic Fisherman still painstakingly builds each and every Beaver Dam Tip-Up one at a time by hand.

The Arctic Fisherman has always been a family run business and prides itself on the fact that its products are made in America.

We’ve found that the people who buy Beaver Dam Tip-Ups are educated about the sport of ice fishing and aware of the quality, craftsmanship traditions, and fish catching ability this tip-up has.

Unlike most other tip-ups, the Beaver Dam is like your Grandfather’s old watch. It is totally repairable! Every year we receive hundreds of Beaver Dam Tip-Ups that have spent many hours on the ice catching fish which may need a little attention. From a new red flag, to a bent spool or spring that has seen a lot of action, everything can be repaired.

We re-grease hundreds of tip-ups per season as well. The freeze proof lubricant we use is still a family secret and works better than anything else on the market.

To add to your collection, we have laser engraved a quantity of Beaver Dam Tip-ups with our 45th Anniversary logo permanently burned into the base board. Yours for a life time of enjoyment. This tip-up proudly displays the American flag when a trophy fish hits.

Since our 45th Anniversary edition, we have laser engraved many tip-ups, including our Jolly Rogers, from a store branded logo to a very personal wedding date. The possibilities are endless!

P.S. If you are not using a Beaver Dam Tip-Up, you are not serious about ice fishing!