CA2047387A1

CA2047387A1 - Fishing lure

Info

Publication number: CA2047387A1
Application number: CA 2047387
Authority: CA
Inventors: Jack R. Gaunt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-07-18
Filing date: 1991-07-18
Publication date: 1993-01-19

Abstract

FISHING LURE
Abstract of the Disclosure An improved fishing lure is disclosed which has an action which is more attractive to fish. The fishing lure of the invention has an elongated main body portion, tapered from a broad scooped nose end to a substantially pointed trailing end. The lure is secured to a fishing line by means of a plurality of holes through which the leader is woven from a location on top of the lure adjacent the nose, downwardly and rearwardly through a nose hole. The leader then passes upwardly through a central hole, remains on top of the lure to a position forward of the tail where it again passes through a hole in the body and terminates in a fish hook. The nose hole is wide enough in diameter to permit lateral freedom of movement of the line within the hole. The action can be varied for a given test line and a given trolling speed by changing the position of the central hole relative to the nose hole. The action can also be varied by varying the diameter of the nose hole.

Description

8~
FIS~ING ~URE

Field of the Invention The invention relates to fishing lures and in particular trolling lures.

Background of the Invention The present applicant is also the inventor of the fishing lure disclosed in Canadian Patent no. 986,306 issued March 30, 1976. That patent discloses a fishing lure having a relatively flat, elongated main body portion, tapered from a broad leading end to a substantially pointed trailing end. The bod-y of the lure includes a scooped nose and a slight twist along its longitudinal axis. The lure i5 secured to a fishing line by means of a plurality of holes through which the leader is woven from a location on top of the lure adjacent the nose, forward of the scoop, down-wardly and rearwardly. The leader then passes upwardly, remains on top of the lure to a position forward of the tail where it again passes through the body and terminates in a fish hook. The attachment, or hole through which the leader passes at the nose of the lure is placed slightly on one side of a line running midway between the sides of the lure.
An advantage of the lure disclosed in Canadian Patent no. 986,306 is that the lure darts and dives in an erratic manner resembling an injured fish which is at-tractive to fish, particularly salmon and trout. The lurehas achieved considerable commercial success, sold under the trade-mark APEX.

Summary of the Invention The present invention provides an improvement on the APEX fishing lure in which the action of the lure can be varied by modifying the diameter of the nose hole. The - 2 - ~0~73~

fishing lure of the invention has an elongated main body portion, tapered from a broad scooped nose end to a sub-stantially pointed trailing end. The lure is secured to a fishing line by means oE a plurality of holes through which the leader is woven from a location on top of the lure adjacent the nose, downwardly and rearwardly through a nose hole. The leader then passes upwardly through a central hole, remains on top of the lure to a position forward of the tail where it again passes through a hole in the body and terminates in a fish hook. The nose hole is wide enough in diameter to permit lateral freedom of movement of the line within the hole. The action can be varied for a given test line and a given trolling speed by changing the position of the central hole relative to the nose hole. The action can also be varied by varying the diameter of the nose hole.

Brief Description of the Drawinqs Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the Prior Art lure;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the lure shown in Fig.
l;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the lure of Fig. 1 taken along lines 3-3;
Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the lure of the present invention;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the lure shown in Fig.
~ with the fishing line removed; and Fig. 6 is an end view of the lure of Fig. 4 taken along lines 6-6 of Fig. 5.

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Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment With reference to Figures 1 through 3, the prior art APEX lure has a main body 2 consisting of a curved piece of molded plastic, such as butyrate, which has curved sides 4 and 6. The leading end has a blunt nose 8. The sides taper outwardly from nose 8 to shoulder 10 and then inwardly to pointed tail 12. The upper surface of the lure, as shown in Figure 3, is concave to provide a scoop nose portion. The entire nose portion is also twisted so that corner 14 is lower than corner 16 when viewed as in Figure 1. The lure is given an attractive appearance by the addition of reflective metallized plastic tape such as that sold under the trade-mark MYLAR, at 32. The lure may be painted in many diffrent finishes, with or without MYLAR, fluorescent or phosphorescent colours, with painting either on clear or pearled plastic.
The prior art lure is secured to the fishing line by means of three holes 20, 22 and 24 located generally along the central axis 21 of the lure. Hole 20 is slightly offset from the central axis 21 and is slightly greater in diam-eter than the diameter of the fishing line 18. The fishing line 18 extends down through hole 20 and then up through hole 22 and then extends along the upper surface of the lure before extending down through hole 24. Holes 22 and 24 are also slightly greater in diameter than the diameter of the fishing line 18. The swivel 28 and hook 3C are secured to the line 18 by knot 26.
With reference to Figures 4 through 6, the lure of the present invention, designated 40, has a main body 42 consisting of a curved piece of molded plastic, such as butyrate, which has curved sides 44 and 46, upper surface 41 and undersurface 43. (Figures 4 and 5 are roughly full scale, illustrating the applicant's 6.25-inch lure. Figure 6 is not to scale.) The leading end has a blunt nose 48.
The sides 44, 46 taper slightly outwardly from nose 48 to shoulder 50 and then inwardly to pointed tail 52. The upper - 4 - 20~

surace of the lure, as shown in Figure 6, is conaave along the entire lure, with a greater concavity towards nose ~8 to provide a scoop nose portion. The nose portion is not necessarily t~isted as in the APEX lure. The lure is again given an attractive appearance by the addition of reflec-tive metallized plastic tape as in the APEX lure, and upper surface 41 will be brightly coloured, and undersurface 43 white to resemble the coloration of a fish.
The lure 40 is again secured to the fishing line by means of three holes located generally along the central axis 51 of the lure. Hole 64 is positioned generally corresponding to hole 24 of the prior APEX lure. Hole 60 in the nose portion is positioned roughly on the central axis of the lure and is considerably greater in diameter than was hole 20. The central axis of cylindrical hole 60 does not run perpendicularly to surface 41. Rather its axis follows a line drawn roughly between tail 52 and the upper edge of nose 48. Consequently, due to the curvature of the lure, the length of hole 60 in the upper surface 41 of the lure is greater than the circular diameter of the hole. Its diameter is at least 3 to 4, and preferably 8 to 10 times greater than the diameter of the fishing line 18. A number of holes 61, 62, 63 may be provided at different locations along the central axis of the lure, corresponding to hole 22 of the prior APEX lure, to allow for leaders of various thicknesses. Holes 61, 62, 63 and 64 are slightly greater in diameter than the diameter of the particular fishing line used.
Again to secure the lure to the line 18, the fishing line 18 extends through hole 60 and then up through one of holes 61, 62, 63 and then extends along the upper surface of the lure before extending down through hole 64.
The swivel 28 and hook 30 are secured to the line 18 by knot 26.
Due to the increased size of nose hole 60 in the present invention, the portion of line 18 extending through hole 60 is free to move up or down between positions A and - 5 - ~ 3~

B in Figure 4 and from side to side between positions C and D in Figure 5. The force to tow the lure i5 aCtllally applied at holes 61, 62 or 63. For example, when the lure darts to the laft in the direction of tow (upwardly in Figure 5), the leader hits against the side of hole 60 in position D. Conversely when the lure darts to the rght (downwardly in Fig. 5) the leader hits against the side of the hole in position C. This hitting of the side of the hole decreases or reverses the darting action in that direction. When the lure dives downwardly in the water, the leader hits against the hole 60 in position A. Conversely when the lure rises the leader hits against the hole 60 in the B position. This will cause the lure to roll in an arceither clockwise or counter-clockwise.
The combir.ation of the free-floating leader hitting the sides of this larger in-line hole enables one to control the action of the lure. A smaller hole 60 will make the action faster. A larger hole 60 will make the action slower and the lure will wander around more covering a greater area.
Therefore, by providing grommets of varying interior diameters which fit firmly in hole 60, the user can vary the action of the lure. The choice of hole diam-eter could also be fixed of course by the manufacturer.
The response of the lure is also affected by the stiffness ancl flexibility of the fishing line which in turn is affected by the rating ("pound test") of the fishing line. The trolling speed of the boat will also affect the action of the lure. The best action for the lure is ob-tained when the line 18 floats freely in hole 60, without bearing against the sides of the aperture, and this charac-teristic can be obtained by varying the location of holes 61, 62 and 63. For heavier test leaders, such as commercial line which is 50 to 150 pound test, the distance between hole 60 and the central hole should be greater, so hole 61 would be chosen for example. Whereas for lighter line, say 10 to 50 pound test, hole 63 will be used. As trolling - 6 - 204'73~

speed is increased, less distance between the central hole and hole 60 is required, so a line which uses hole 61 at low trolling speed would be threaded through hole 62 i~
higher trolling speed was used.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be o construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. In a fishing lure comprising an elongated main body portion having a central longitudinal axis, upper and lower surfaces and tapering from a broad scooped nose end to a substantially pointed tail end, a leader and a hook secured to said leader, said body portion comprising three leader-receiving holes, a first hole adjacent said nose, a second hole closest said tail and a third central hole located between said nose hole and said tail hole, whereby said hook is positioned adjacent and below said tail end and said leader extends upwardly through said second hole, extends along said upper surface of said lure, then extends down through said third hole and forwardly through said first hole, the improvement wherein said nose hole is large enough in diameter to permit freedom of movement of said leader in a direction generally perpendicular to the length of said leader within said nose hole.

2. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein the diameter of said nose hole is at least 3 times greater than the diam-eter of said leader.

3. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein the diameter of said nose hole is at least 8 times greater than the diam-eter of said leader.

4. The fishing lure of claim 1 further comprising means for varying the diameter of said nose hole from a diameter at least 3 times greater than the diameter of said leader.

5. The fishing lure of claim 1 comprising two or more said central holes.

6. In a fishing lure comprising an elongated main body portion having a central longitudinal axis, upper and lower surfaces and tapering from a broad scooped nose end to a substantially pointed tail end, a leader and a hook secured to said leader, said body portion comprising three leader-receiving holes, a first hole adjacent said nose, a second hole closest said tail and a third central hole located between said nose hole and said tail hole, whereby said hook is positioned adjacent and below said tail end and said leader extends upwardly through said second hole, extends along said upper surface of said lure, then extends down through said third hole and forwardly through said first hole, the improvement wherein said nose hole is large enough in diameter to permit freedom of movement of said leader within said nose hole in a lateral direction or up and down direction relative to the towing direction when said lure is under tow in operation.

7. In a fishing lure comprising an elongated main body portion having a central longitudinal axis, upper and lower surfaces and tapering from a broad scooped nose end to a substantially pointed tail end, a leader and a hook secured to said leader, said body portion comprising three leader-receiving holes, a first hole adjacent said nose, a second hole closest said tail and a third central hole located between said nose hole and said tail hole, whereby said hook is positioned adjacent and below said tail end and said leader extends upwardly through said second hole, extends along said upper surface of said lure, then extends down through said third hole and forwardly through said first hole, the improvement wherein said nose hole is large enough in diameter to permit freedom of movement of said leader within said nose hole whereby said leader is able to move from side to side in said nose hole when said lure is under tow in operation and does not bear reltivel constant-ly against any one surface of said nose hole.