GB2350540A

GB2350540A - Angling bait

Info

Publication number: GB2350540A
Application number: GB9912540A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Clive Robert Diedrich
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-05-29
Filing date: 1999-05-29
Publication date: 2000-12-06
Also published as: GB9912540D0

Abstract

An attractor is placed into a chamber 12 in a compressed powder pellet 10 that dissolves or disintegrates upon immersion in water and the chamber is closed by means of a weight 14 attached to the fishing line. When the line is cast into the water, the weight and the attached pellet sink to the bottom of the water and the attractor is released upon disintegration of the pellet. A cover 18 may be attached via an elastic band 20 to the weight 14 to form the chamber 12.

Description

2350540 Angling Bait

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to angling bait.

Background of the invention

In addition to using bait on a hook to catch fish, anglers often also use an attractor to attract fish to the swim. The term "attractor" is used herein to include any form of food or flavour that is used to attract fish, for example, ground bait such as maggots that are thrown into the water near the baited line, hemp seeds or a powder that dissolves or disintegrates in the water to release a smell or flavour.

It is desirable to place the attractor in close proximity to the baited line and with this in mind it has already been proposed to form an attractor as a flavoured compressed powder pellet with a hollow centre. The bait is placed within the centre of the flavour pellet when it is cast into the water. In the water, the flavour pellet disintegrates to release a flavour that attracts fish to the exposed bait. Such a pellet does not give an angler a choice of attractor other than by using a different pellet.

To allow any desired form of attractor to be cast into the water in the vicinity of a baited line, there have also been proposed so-called pods. These are large containers that can be cast using a fishing line and that open on hitting the water to release their contents. As pods discharge their contents at the surface of the water, they are not suitable for situations where the bait is positioned on or near the bottom of the water.

- 2 Object of the invention The present invention seeks to enable any desired form of attractor to be released near a baited line resting at 5 the bottom of the water.

Summary of the invention

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hollow container formed at least in part of a compressed powder that dissolves or disintegrates upon immersion in water and means for securing the container to a weight attached to a fishing line.

Preferably, the container comprises a compressed powder pellet having an internal chamber which may be filled with an attractor, the chamber being initially open at least at one end and being closed during use by the weight attached to the fishing line, the attractor being released into the water upon disintegration of the pellet.

It is difficult to manufacture a pellet that contains a recess that is open at only one end. It is therefore preferred for the compressed powder pellet to be formed with a through bore open at both ends, one end of the bore being closed during use by a cover and the other by the weight attached to the fishing line.

It is preferred for the cover to be attached to the weight by means of a resilient member that serves to hold the cover in position and to clamp the compressed powder pellet between the weight and the cover. Because the cover is attached to the weight, it is not left behind in the water to present a potential hazard to any animal and the force of the resilient member assists in the disintegration of the compressed powder pellet.

An advantage of the invention is that it allows any form of ground bait to be put down near the baited line even powdered ground bait. Conventionally, such bait would need to be mixed with water to form a paste before it could be positioned where desired in the water. By contrast, in the present invention, the hollow container can simply be filled with the powdered ground bait before it is cast into the water.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of placing an attractor near to the end of a baited fishing line, which method comprises loading the attractor into a chamber in a compressed powder pellet that dissolves or disintegrates upon immersion in water, closing the chamber by means of a weight attached to the fishing line and casting the weight and the attached pellet into the water, the attractor being released upon disintegration of the soluble pellet.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a section through a hollow pellet embodying the invention.

The drawing shows a compressed powder pellet 10 moulded with a through bore 12. The through bore 12 is closed at one end by means of a lead weight 14 attached to a fishing line 16 and at the other end by means of a plug or cover 18. The cover 18 is attached to the lead weight 14 by means of an elastic band 20 that extends between eyelets 22 and 24 fitted to the lead weight 14 and the cover 18, respectively.

The compressed powder pellet 10 is formed by techniques similar to those used in making medicine pills as is already known per se from the manufacture of flavour pellets. The material of the pellet, which may itself be flavoured if desired, dissolves or disintegrates when the pellet is immersed in water.

- 4 The lead weight 14 can move relative to the fishing line but a knot or a swivel on the limits the movement of the line so that a length of line carrying a baited hook extends loosely from the weight 14 when the latter falls to 5 the bottom of the water.

In use, the end of the fishing line 16 is threaded through an eyelet 26 on the weight 14 and then knotted around one end of a swivel that it too large to pass through the eyelet 26. Next a short length of fishing line having a baited hook at one end is knotted around the other end of the swivel. In place of a swivel, a knot may be formed in the fishing line 16 to limit the movement of the line relative to the weight 14.

The lead weight 14 is next inserted into the pellet 10 after an elastic band 20 has been slipped over the eyelet 22. _The bore 12 is filled with any desired attractor and the cover 18 is placed over the open end of the bore 12 to form a closed chamber filled with the attractor.

The cover 18 is held in place by first pulling out and stretching the elastic band using a suitable small implement and hooking the elastic band onto the eyelet 24. In this way, the cover 18 is held in place by the elastic band 20. The cover 18 may be formed of any desired material, for example a plastics material and it may be formed with a larger diameter than the through bore 12 to sit outside the pellet instead of acting as a plug within the bore 12.

Once a container for the attractor has been formed in this manner, the bait is cast into the water and the weight 14 drops to the bottom of the water. After immersion in the water, the pellet 10 commences to dissolve or to disintegrate, this process being assisted by the compression of the pellet 10 between the cover 18 and the weight 14 under the action of the elastic band 20. Once the pellet has disintegrated in this manner, the contained attractor is released into the water while the weight 14 continues to hold the line 16 on the bottom of the water.

When the line is pulled out of the water, the weight 14, the elastic band 20 and the cover 18 will remain attached to the line so that no part of the container for the attractor is left in the water to present a hazard to animals.

As the weight and the cover are attached to one another in the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is not essential for the weight to be attached to the line directly. Instead the line may be attached to the cover and only attached to the weight indirectly through the elastic band 20.

Claims

1. A hollow container formed at least in part of a compressed powder that dissolves or disintegrates upon immersion in water and means for securing the container to a weight attached to a fishing line.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container comprises a compressed powder pellet having an internal chamber which may be filled with an attractor, the chamber being initially open at least at one end and being closed during use by the weight attached to the fishing line, the attractor being released into the water upon disintegration of the pellet.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the compressed powder pellet is formed with a through bore open at both ends, one end of the bore being closed during use by a cover and the other by the weight attached to the fishing line.

4. A container as claimed in claim 3, wherein the cover is attached to the weight by means of a resilient member that serves to hold the cover in position and to clamp the compressed powder pellet between the weight and the cover.

5. A method of placing an attractor near to the end of a baited fishing line, which method comprises loading the attractor into a chamber in a compressed powder pellet that dissolves or disintegrates upon immersion in water, closing the chamber by means of a weight attached to the fishing line and casting the weight and the attached pellet into the water, the attractor being released upon disintegration of the pellet.

6. A container for placing an attractor in close proximity to a baited fishing line, constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.