It all began many years ago, on a bitterly cold winter evening on the Batiscan River in Quebec, Canada.

That night, I had gone ice fishing with my father and one of his friends. There were three of us, and since the regulations at the time allowed each fisherman to use ten tip-ups, we had thirty fishing lines set up across the frozen river.

The temperature was around -4°F (-20°C).

With thirty tip-ups spread over a large area, it was practically impossible to keep an eye on all of them at once. And in such freezing weather, we naturally tended to gather around the fire to keep warm.

But that evening would leave a lasting impression on me and inspire an idea I would never abandon.

Two Sturgeon I Have Never Forgotten

During that fishing trip, two sturgeon swallowed their hooks so deeply that removing them without causing serious injuries became extremely difficult.

In trying to retrieve the hooks, we unfortunately inflicted fatal injuries on both fish.

And yet, we released them back into the river because the law required us to do so.

Imagine that situation for a moment. We were legally obligated to return these fish to their natural habitat, even though the injuries they had suffered left them with virtually no chance of survival.

That contradiction deeply troubled me.

How could we claim to respect these fish by releasing them into the water after causing such devastating injuries?

I began wondering whether there might be a way to prevent something like this from happening again.

The Danger of a Deeply Swallowed Hook

When a fish takes the bait and no one is there to set the hook quickly, it may continue swallowing the bait, pulling the hook deeper into its throat and sometimes all the way into its stomach.

That is when the fisherman faces a difficult choice.

If he attempts to remove the hook, he often has to hold the fish firmly with one hand, placing four fingers along its back and his thumb underneath its belly.

Pulling on the fishing line can tear the fish’s internal tissues and cause irreversible injuries.

There is even a danger to the fisherman. Under the pressure applied to the fish, the sharp point of the hook can penetrate its tissues, pierce through the skin of its belly, and become embedded directly in the hand holding it.

The other option is to cut the line and leave the hook inside the fish, sometimes along with part of the fishing rig, which may contain materials such as lead, steel, stainless steel, or copper.

The fish is then left with these foreign objects inside its body, without any certainty about the consequences. Depending on how deeply the hook is lodged, the materials involved, and the injuries already sustained, the fish may survive, but its survival is far from guaranteed.

And when a fish must be released, whether voluntarily or because fishing regulations require it, these risks become especially important.

What is the point of releasing a fish if we have already inflicted injuries that may ultimately kill it?

To me, this was unnecessary suffering that we should try to prevent.

One Simple Question That Started It All

That night, thinking about those two sturgeon, I asked myself a simple question:

What if an ice fishing tip-up could automatically set the hook the moment a fish takes the bait, even when the fisherman is not nearby?

After all, when we fish with a rod during the summer, what do we do the moment we feel a fish bite?

We immediately set the hook!

So why should ice fishing be any different, especially when our tip-ups may be positioned dozens of yards away?

Why not create a mechanism capable of automatically reproducing that natural movement of a fisherman setting the hook, without having to wait until someone notices a bite and reaches the fishing line?

The goal was simple: react as soon as a fish takes the bait, reducing the risk of the fish swallowing the hook too deeply.

It was not merely about making fishing easier or more comfortable.

Above all, I wanted to solve a problem I had personally experienced.

That is how the idea for my automatic fishing tip-up was born.

From an Idea to a Working Invention… in Just Two Hours!

Once I had the idea, all that remained was to turn it into reality.

And I certainly did not waste any time!

When I returned home after that fishing trip, I immediately got to work.

Just two hours later, my very first automatic fishing tip-up was already working!

The hardest part had not been building the mechanism. It had simply been coming up with the idea.

As we sometimes say back home in Quebec: “When I get an idea in my head, I don’t let the grass grow under my feet!”

In 1999, I had the opportunity to present my invention on television, during hunting and fishing programs broadcast in the Sherbrooke region of Quebec.

During those appearances, I shared the story of that night on the Batiscan River and explained what had inspired me to create this device.

Fortunately, I kept recordings of those programs, and today they remain precious reminders of that time.

Then, in 2001, my patent was granted, marking an important milestone in the history of an invention born from a simple thought on a freezing winter evening.

An Invention I Now Want to Share

Many years have passed since that night on the Batiscan River.

Today, through Golden Discoveries, I want to introduce this invention to other fishing enthusiasts and give them the opportunity to build their own automatic fishing tip-up using my detailed construction plans.

I understand that no mechanism can guarantee a fish will never be injured. Automatic hook-setting does not replace a fisherman’s responsibility to monitor fishing lines or follow proper catch-and-release practices.

But if my invention can help reduce the number of fish that swallow hooks deeply, prevent unnecessary injuries, and encourage more responsible fishing, then all the effort behind its creation will have been worthwhile.

Because, to me, fishing has always been about much more than catching fish.

It is also about enjoying nature and learning to respect it.