Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. – Henry David Thoreau
Well it all started one day when I was daydreaming of going fishing. I was working my design job at home. I was putting words together for a client. Wordsmithing is what we call it in this business. As my mind wandered into how great it would be to be soaking a worm or two, I started working on the rest of my life and working on words pertaining to my experiences.
Daydreaming about fishing is about as good as the real thing. I thought, hmmm…fishing is a state of mind too. The analogies and metaphors abound. Patience. Silence. Contemplation. All great virtues passed down from grandfather to father to father to sons and daughters…Mother to sons too as in my family. The joy of teaching my daughters the virtues and the joy of seeing the first fish they caught has no compare.
Fishing in this state is all I have really known all my life. I haven’t fished many other places. From my grandfather’s tackle box that I marveled at as a child to casting a line or two in the North woods of this great state. Fishing in Wisconsin…nothing like it I supposed. And then it clicked, Fishconsin. I’m a genius I thought…
Then I looked it up and I wasn’t so unique. The term had been used by a few people out there. Including the original holder of the trademark. A family from Illinois who vacationed in the Northwoods since the 1940’s who would make home movies with an opening screen that said “Live From Fishconsin”. I contacted them with a deal to buy the trademark. It fell through.
I passed the idea by friends and family over the years and they all said you better trademark that. I gave away my designs and sold a few shirts here and there, just in case. A few years later I searched again and it was newly available to protect the name. By 2018 it all came together and the certificate for trademark showed up in the mail.
It’s official, Fishconsin is an idea that came to life while daydreaming about fishing, this Wisconsin life, and leisure. I wonder what other things we could come up with while all of us are actually fishing. Let’s cast a line and find out. After a long day of fishing, it may only idea you catch.
Thank you for visiting,
Fish On!
There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot. – Steven Wright
