CA1317210C - Process for laying fishing tackle into a storage means - Google Patents

Abstract

Process for laying Fishing Tackle into a Storage Means.

Abstract.

A process for laying a fishing tackle comprising a line with associated bait-supporting hooks in a tub or similar storage means, involves enveloping a portion of the line and an associ-ated hook with bait fastened thereto and if necessary an adjacent portion of the associated hook-supporting snell, with a cover or mass of material so as to prevent tangling together of the tackle or parts of the latter. After the enveloping the baited line can be laid in a more or less arbitrary manner in a tub or similar storage means, ready for casting. On casting the envelope can if necessary be removed immediately prior to the casting operation itself. Alternatively the envelope can be made of or include a material soluble in water so that the hook and the bait can be released from the envelope at the line and made ready for the fishing operation immediately the water has acted on the enve-lope.

Description

``` 1 131721n Process for laying Fishing Tackle into a Storage Means.

This invention relates to a process for laying fishing tackle which includes a line having bait-supporting hooks, in a storage means.
On baiting into a tub or similar storage means, one must be extra careful with the laying of the fishing tackle. Especially important is the laying of the hooks with bait together with the line and associated snells. If the laying of the bait-supporting hooks is not effected in an accurate manner, there is a danger of one or more hooks catching fast in another hook or in another snell or in the line itself.
IE the subsequent setting of the fishing tackle in the sea, the tackle should be put out uniformly as far as possible so as to be able to make the tackle readyfor optimum fishing.
There is a general problem of effecting baiting of the hooks in an efficient and simple manner and ensuring, at the same time~
that tangling together of the line, snells and hooks by the accidental catching fast of hooks in the tackle is avoided. In~
certain instances, one is able to risk the whole or large portions of the tackle being put out in bunches as a consequence of hooks catching fast in this manner, something which is clearly unsuitable for fishing operations and which creates, furthermore, complications in the subsequent haullng in of the tackle.

"` 2 1317210 Hitherto, attempts have been rnade to solve the problem in several ways.
A manual mode of laying which has been preferred hitherto consists in placing the hooks, with associated bait, side-by-side along the inner walls of the tub or storage container with the points of the hooks directed upwards, separators (newspapers or the like) being placed, in addi-tion, between each layer in height.
A mechanical mode of paying depends upon placing a person just behind the baiting machine for arranging the baited hooks in position in the storage rneans by hand. The capacity of the baiting machine is thereby limited by the capacity of the person who is to place the baited hooks into position.
From Norwegian Patent Specification No. 151,606, fish hook protection is known where the fish hook protector along the one side edge has a holding portion which is fastened to the leg portion of the fish hook with a snap engagement, while the bent point of the fish hook is received in a gap between two parallel flap portions at the opposite side edge of the fish hook pro-tector. The fish hook protector is not suitable for utilisation with a bait-supporting fish hook but only for a fish hook without bait.
From United States Patent Specification No. 2,600,673, a solution is known where an elastically yielding, spherical cover receives shielded therein one or a pair of fish hooks~ Activation of the fish hook or the fish hooks is due to compression of the cover. The cover is no-t suitable for the reception of bait, the bait being expected to prevent compression of the cover.
With the present invention, the aim is a simpler and more reliable handling of the baited hooks. More specifically, the objective is a temporary wrapping or encapsulation of the baited hooks, at the same time as the latter are anchored to the line at specific locations thereon, with the snells stretched out along the line. By this, the aim is to avoid the catching fast of hooks in the tackle, at the same time as provision is made for the positioning of the baited hooks and associated snells in an orderly system relative to the line. The wrapping or encapsu-3 131721~

lation must be designed in such a way that the wrapping orencapsulating operation can be efEected rapidly and accurately and, furthermore, so that the wrapping or encapsulating material can be removed with corresponding rapidity as needed, that is to say immediately before or during the setting of the tackle in the sea.
There is a significant practical problem associated with the laying of fishing lines from boats since the bait on the bait-supporting hooks is eaten by sea birds while the fishing line passes through its laying path between the upper hulwark edge of the boat and the surface of the sea. In many instances, the attack of sea birds can be so troublesome that more than half of the bait-supportlng hooks are put out of operation as a conse-quence of total or partially consumed bait and/or total or partially detached bait. A need has long existed of being able to avoid this disadvantage.
It is also a normal phenomenon of fishing tackle which remains standing in the sea a certain time that the bait and/or the catch (already dead fish) is wholly or partially eaten by plankton (Cirolana S.P.) which is locally designated as 'lavate"
or "sygeate" (more specifically a "wood lice"-like animal~ which is found in different locations in the sea at different height levels but most often along the sea bottom. With the present invention, the aim is to be able to protect the bait for a certain time against attack by plankton before -the fishing operation commences. More specifically, the objective is to be able to limit the time of the active fishing operation of the bait to, for example, some hours prior to the hauling of the fishing tackle but, for example, several hours after the fishing tackle is cast or put out.
By choosing a suitable activator for, say 7 a body of material or cover which encompasses the bait with associated hook, there is the possibility of being able to con~rol the time one wishes the tackle to be allowed to stand in the water or the sea before that material or cover dissolves and the bait is made ready for fishing.

" 131721() A consequence of such a time regulation for making the bait ready for fishing is that one is able to introduce a total]y ne~
work routine during fishing.
With respect to the attack of plankton and other circum-stances, it has been of little advantage that the tackle has remained standin~ for a long time in the sea. In other words, it has hitherto been important that the catch of fish is hauled in the same day as it is caught. In order to avoid catching the fish the preceding day, the point in time of putting out has, hitherto, been shifted as much as possible and putting out has generally been effected at night or in the early dawn so that the tackle is then ready for fishing at daybreak.
By regulating the time of activation of the bait for fishing, the possibility exists of being able to arrange the work of putting out and hauling in in a completely new manner and wlthout problems. There is thus the possibility of being able to put out the tackle at a suitable point in time already in the afternoon or in the evening of the day before fishing is to take place, by having deactivated the hook with associated bait and as a consequence of regulating the time by using a suitable acti-vator, making the tackle ready for fishing first at a suitable point in time the next morning.
This involves being able to determine for oneself a suitable point in time for casting or putting out which is more or less independent of the point in time of hauling in, at the same time as making provision for the commencement of fishing at a suitable point in time relative to the point in time for hauling in. In practice, for example, immediately after having hauled in a previously set tackle with associated catch of fish, a new setting of tackle can be effected with associated inactive hooks with bait, and hauling in of the newly put out fishing tackle can be first performed the following day. In other words, instead of using two different points in time over 24 hours for pu-tting out and hauling in, this work can be rationalised by carrying out the hauling in operation for a preceding catch operation in direct association with the putting out or setting operation for a subsequent catch operation.

1 31 7~ 0 Accordingly, the present invention resides in a process for laying fishing tackle into a storage means wherein said fishing tackle includes a line and a plurality of hooks attached thereto by respective ones of a plurality of snells, said hooks and snells associated therewith being at selected spaced intervals along the line, said process comprising surrounding in succession the bait-supporting hooks at their respective locations along with a portion of the line at such locations with a readily removable enveloping body while the snell for hook being enveloped is stretched out along the line, said hooks appearing as thickened portions of the line, and then laying the line in said storage means in a ~ore or less arbitrary fashion.
Desirably, the snell of each hook is partially surrounded by the enveloping body. Preferably, each snell is stretched out along the line immediately after bait is applied to its hook.
By surrounding each bait-supporting hook separately and, at the same time, fastening the same locally to the line with associated snells stretched out along the line, there is the possibility of handling the tackle in a far simpler manner than hitherto since after the baiting operation and the subsequent wrapping or encapsulating operation, the fishing tackle can be handled in a more arbitrary manner than hitherto. For one thing, the fishing tackle is placed in an arbitrary or casual manner in the storage ~eans. On putting out the tackle later, an unhindered, orderly setting of the bait-supporting hooks as well a~ their respective snells can be ensured.
The process according to the invention involves the possibility of selecting s~veral different types of wrapping or encapsulating materials as nesded. In all ~ ~ ~, , , r~ a instances, the aim is for solutions whareby pollution of the sea can be avoided. In certain cases, a cover can be employed of, for example, crepe, re~atively thin paper or similar sheet material which i9 readily fastened in place and which is correspondingly easy to remove by a ~uitable tear~ng off operation, immediately before casting.
Alternatively, a wrapping or encapsulating material can be employed which, after wetting with water, is readily removable or readily splittable or which, after submersion in water/ can be easily dissolved and/or torn off in water. Various methods can be considered for the removal of such a water-soluble wrapping or encapsulating material before the setting of the tackle in the . , . ~

sea but solu-tions can also be arrived at whereby the wrapping or encapsulating material is first removed when the tackle has been put out in the sea.
Preferably, the enveloping body includes a water-soluble material.
By allowing, according to the invention, the cover or the encapsulating material or portions of the latter to consist o~
water-soluble material, the possibility exists of readily sub-mersing in water or supplying water to the material in another form to make the bait-supporting hooks ready prior to a peeling off operation on board the fishing vessel or during the leading down of the fishing tackle into the sea.
In order that the invention can be more clearly understood, convenient embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a baiting apparatus for baiting a line which is laid in a line tub, and Fig. 2 is a scrap view, on a larger scale, of a baited line with associated wrapping of bait and fish hook together with an associated portion of snell.
Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown, at the left, a guide 10 which carries a fishing line 11 via associated snells 12 and fish hooks 13. At 14, there is schematically illustrated a baiting device known per se where the baiting takes place by drawing the fish hook theretrough and fastening an associated piece of bait lS which accompanies the fish hook out of the baiting device.
~ust to the right of the baiting device, the line 11 is shown in a stretched out condition with a snell 12 hanging freely down-wards from the line and with a piece of bait 15 fastened to the fish hook 13.
Usually the fishing line 11, with bait-supporting hooks on freely hanging snells, is led directly out into -the sea or fed directly to a bait tub 16 via a conveying apparatus 17, for example such as illustrated, that is to say consisting of two guide rolls 17a and 17b arranged vertically above the bait tub.

7 1 31721 ~) Correspondingly, on casting out the line direc-tly into the sea, the conveying apparatus can lead the line with associated snells and bait-supporting hooks directly out in-to the sea.
The bait-supporting hook is received in a wrapping after it has left the baiting device and before the line is p~t out into the sea or fed to a bait tub. As an embodiment, there is shown schematically a packing station 18 and an activator station 19 in the intermediate space between the baiting device 13 and the conveying apparatus 17. In the packing station 18, the bait-supporting hook can be wrapped in a packing 2~ of, for example, alginate material (such as shown in Fig. 2) or of another suit-able material. In the activator station 19, an agent can be sprayed on the packing or applied in another manner ~hich ensures dissolution or other breakdown of the packing after it has come into contact with water.
It is possible to effect the baiting and/or the wrapping manually as well as mechanically.
According to a first embodiment of manually baiting hooks of the tackle, a wrapping of the baited hook is effected together with the line and a small portion of the associated snell just by the hook, with a strip material which is wrapped into position and the end of the strip is thereafter fastened, for example, in the gap between line and snell. The strip material can be made of porous and relatively thin paper. After the wrapping, the line with the wrapped, bait-supporting hook can be fed and placed in an arbitrary or casual fashion in the tub or similar storage means.
During casting or putting out of the tackle, the latter is allowed to pass through an apparatus for cutting off and mechanically drawing off the paper material from the tackle gradually as this passes the apparatus on its way into the sea.
In an alternative solution of manual baiting, there can be used instead of the strip material, a sheet material of crepe paper which is folded or wrapped into place in a similar or corresponding manner to that described above, but which can be "peeled" off, more or less in one piece, from the tackle on passage of a mechanical scraping arrangement.

131721() According to another embodiment of mechanical baiting, there can be effected an encapsula-tion of the bait-supporting hook to-gether with an adjacent portion of the line itself (with the snell extending stretched out along the line) in a readily mouldable mass of material, which can also he easily dissolved in water, for example, a material made of or containing a substan-tial quantity of alginate. The encapsulation can occur in an apparatus which is set up immediately after the baiting device and which moulds the material into place on the tackle in the form of a thickened portion with uniform transitions in ront and behind the bait-supporting hook.
Alternatively, the encapsu~tion can be limited to only comprise parts of the hook, for example, in the region just by the point of the hook, in order to protect thereby, first and foremost, the point of the hook from being accidentally hooked fast and in order to ensure the placing of the bait-supporting hook in a specific position along the line.
During the casting operation itself into the sea, when the tackle is submerged in water, the water-soluble encapsulating material can be dissolved relatively rapidly so tha-t the bait-supporting hook can be released from the local fastening to the line, ready for the fishing operation. Even if residues of the encapsulating material remain behind on the line or the hook or possibly the bait, this means little in practicesince such residues gradually dissolve and disappear into the sea without contamination.
Instead of an encapsulating operation (during use of a mass of material containing alginate or similar water-soluble material), a wrapping operation can also be used in combination with mechanical baiting, for example, based on a cover or sleeve which is pre-cast or pre-shaped in another manner and which is threaded around the bait-supporting hook and adjacent portion of the line. The threading on can, for example, be acco~plished by a snap~like fastening operation.

Claims (8)

1. A process for laying fishing tackle into a storage means wherein said fishing tackle includes a line and a plurality of hooks attached thereto by respective ones of a plurality of snells, said hooks and snells associated therewith being at selected spaced intervals along the line, said process comprising surrounding in succession the bait-supporting hooks at their respective locations along with a portion of the line at such locations with a readily removable enveloping body while the snell for hook being enveloped is stretched out along the line, said hooks appearing as thickened portions of the line, and then laying the line in said storage means in a more or less arbitrary fashion.

2. A process as defined in claim 1, wherein said enveloping body is applied to the hooks successively as the line is being laid into said storage means.

3. A process according to claim 1, wherein the snell of each hook is partially surrounded by the enveloping body.

4. A process according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein each snell is stretched out along the line immediately after bait is applied to its hook.

5. A process according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the enveloping body includes a water-soluble material.

6. A process according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the enveloping body has an increasing periphery about the line, snell and shank of the hook at the one side of the baited hook and a decreasing periphery about the line at the other side of said hook.

7. A process according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the enveloping body is adapted to deactivate the baited hooks for a predetermined first time period after placement in the sea in order to limit the active fishing operation to a predetermined subsequent time period.

8. A process according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the enveloping body is in the form of a cover.