What started as a hobby in Tim “Jack” Jackson’s cellar has grown into a business with far-reaching customers.

Jackson started making ice fishing traps, also known as tip-ups, in his Monmouth basement in 1979, with the help of his four children and his wife, Debbi. 

Jackson, who was raised in a “fishing family,” developed his business model for Jack Traps over years while ice fishing with his father, Phil. Traps he bought as a child fell victim to abusive Maine winters, prompting Jackson to use the knowledge he gained over time to build a more reliable tip-up.

“We are a stickler for quality,” said Jackson, who builds his traps by hand with all Maine-made components. “We tried pieces from overseas, but have gone back to all made in Maine now,”he said.

Penny’s of Penobscot makes the flags, and ash and oak frames are turned by woodworkers in Norway. Metal trippers are made at a local machine shop.

Jackson’s numerous attempts to have L.L. Bean in Freeport sell his traps paid off 15 years ago, and his business skyrocketed. He went from making 500-800 traps per year to “thousands,” Jackson said.

With the exposure from L.L. Bean and Cabela’s, Jackson has gone from peddling  traps from his pickup truck to shipping across New England to the upper Midwest. He said he recently received a call from an overseas retailer about the possibility of selling Jack Traps in its store in Norway.

With increased production, Jackson’s hobby outgrew the basement so he moved the business into an old dairy barn 10 times the size of his cellar. “Debbi was tickled when I got out of the house,” Jackson said.

Despite catering to ice fishermen, Jack Traps is a year-round business. “If you see a car here, we are open,” said Jackson, who has three employees. “If the fish are biting in the spring, we might not be here.”

Production is underway for next winter with almost half the wood for next year’s batch of traps ready for assembly. Traps will be shipped to major stores in October, Jackson said.

Copy the Story Link