>> It's just something I've done all my life. >> One look around Jay Gascoigne's man-cave and you see his priorities. >> I don't like crowds. I don't like big cities, you know. This is my answer. >> The question though is, what is he most proud of? >> You get to thinking about it and not everybody has a patent. >> A patent from the federal government for an electric fishing rod. >> My wife says if I had stayed in school I probably could have been an engineer. That's her theory. I just like hunting and fishing too much, I guess. >> What started with the base of a Christmas tree stand, a 2x4, and a motor, has evolved through six prototypes to what's now officially called The Fishing Partner. >> There's no high tech. This isn't rocket science.
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>> It was out here on Stateline Lake in northern Wisconsin-- >> When you're fishing you got a lot of time on your hands. >> --that this product was market tested. >> This sets the trigger and then you turn it on and if a fish bites it, you'll hear a buzzer go off and hopefully a fish will come out, if everything works out right.
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Hey! It's finally got one. Aww, geez. Okay, let's try that again. I just hope we get more fish here. It's a little slow. >> Jay's human fishing partner most days is Wayne Pavelka. >> Sometimes we are the only ones out on the lake here because we don't give up. >> These self-described grumpy old men-- >> Man, what's going on? I don't know. >> --didn't always share the same optimism for their battery-powered companion.
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>> You thought I was nuts, didn't ya? >> I thought he had too much time on his hands. >> But Wayne watched his friend tinker and toy with different plastics and designs. >> Man against machine.
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>> And $16,000 of his own money later-- >> Hey, we got that one. >> --Jay Gascoigne became a patented inventor. >> It's an extra set of hands. It's a lot of fun to play around with while you're jigging. Sometimes it'll out fish you. It's like a little competition. >> But Jay didn't spend years baiting hooks just for more pan fish. >> Hopefully, they'll be handy for somebody to use that can't go out and do the normal, every day type of fishing the we do. >> Somebody like Tim Soens. >> Just a pretty good all around good friend. >> Tim and Jay went through school together in Kenosha, but they bonded more outdoors than indoors. He was an avid fisherman and hunter, and then to be inflicted with a problem like that, that's hard to take. >> Tim's problem was severe arthritis. Jay's original fishing partner simply couldn't hold a rod any more. >> You want to try to make it a little easier for a guy. And I kind of told him that, well, maybe I can help him out with it 'cause I had come up with it but I just didn't perfect it. And then, he had passed away after I got the majority of it really on the road. So I kinda felt bad about that, you know. Never got to enjoy it, but at least he knew I was thinking about him. >> And with each stationary cast today, Jay still is. >> Hopefully it'll help somebody out with the same problems.
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He's on! >> Now, this fishing partner won't catch a trophy fish. >> That's called a pumpkin seed. >> But that's never what this friend had in mind. >> You're not going to catch that 40-pound Muskie with it, but you'll have a good time out with your friends and you can enjoy it. I'm hoping that it can bring somebody some pleasure. >> One little fish after another. >> They got a mother and father around somewhere. >> Jay Gascoigne has a patent on this fish tale as well. >> It makes me happy when a plan comes together.
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