Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Fishing – Artificial bait
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-20
2002-08-13
Rowan, Kurt (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Fishing
Artificial bait
C043S042220, C043S042230, C043S042390
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430867
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lures and other attractive devices for fish and game, and more specifically to a buoyant fishing lure which is directionally controllable by the angler using the lure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sport fishing is a tremendously popular pastime for many people, with new equipment and variations upon such equipment being developed regularly in attempts to maximize the efficiency of attracting and catching various species of fish. Fishing lures are probably the most commonly developed and refined articles of fishing equipment, with various types of lures having been developed which mimic the appearance or action of various types of prey (minnows, insects, etc.), and/or provide various colors, motions, reflectivity, sounds, etc., which are believed to attract various species of fish under various environments and conditions.
One nearly universal attribute of these various fishing lures of the prior art, is that they are laterally symmetrical, with recovery of the lure after casting resulting in the lure returning in an essentially straight line back to the angler, or more precisely to the tip of the angler's fishing rod. While external conditions (e.g., surface wind, tide and/or current, etc.) may affect the path of the lure, these external factors are not controllable by the angler. For example, a lure cast and retrieved across a current flowing from left to right (relative to the angler), will consistently drift toward the angler's right during retrieval of the lure; the angler has no control over this drift.
Some lures provide some lateral movement through the water, relative to the direction of retrieval. Lures simulating “cripple” minnows, for example, may produce some variable lateral movement to the left and right relative to the retrieval path. However, the result is a random, meandering path, with no control over the precise path of the lure being available to the angler.
This can be a major problem in sport fishing for small game fish, as oftentimes such fish are found in areas with snags, weeds, and other obstructions between the angler and the desired location of the lure cast. Conventional lures having an essentially straight return path to the angler, will be drawn through such obstructions and are nearly certain to snag upon the obstructions. As a result, some prime fishing spots are precluded from access to anglers, due to such obstructions and the near certainty of losing the lure.
Also, a study of smaller prey fish, insects, etc. which are common food for smaller game fish (bass, etc.) will show that they generally do not maintain a given direction of travel through or over the water for any appreciable time or distance. An object traveling straight through the water is often dismissed by fish which would otherwise be attracted to the object, due to its unrealistic and artificial travel path.
Accordingly, a need will be seen for a directionally controllable fishing lure which produces a curved or arcuate travel path along the surface of the water, with the direction of curvature being selected by the angler. The present lure is laterally asymmetrical, and includes leader attachment means at opposite ends thereof. Depending upon the end of the lure to which the leader or line is attached, the present lure will turn to either the left or the right. This selective turning action enables an angler to place the lure as desired to retrieve it around obstructions as necessary, and also produces a retrieval path which is more attractive to fish due to its more natural action than that produced by a straight line retrieval.
A discussion of the related art of which the present inventor is aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, is provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,239,956 issued on Sep. 11, 1917 to Willis E. Phinney, titled “Artificial Bait,” describes a lure with a generally vertically oriented leader attachment plate at its forward end. The plate includes a series of leader attachment holes along its upper and lower edges. Depending upon the hole in which the leader is installed, the Phinney lure will dive or rise in the water. However, the plate is laterally angularly offset as well, thus producing some degree of lateral offset for the leader attachment, depending upon the specific attachment hole used. This will cause the Phinney lure to “wabble” (page 2, line 11) when drawn through the water, according to the Phinney disclosure. However, this lateral movement or “wabble,” is not consistent, as is the consistently curved path of the present directionally controllable lure. Moreover, the lateral angular offset of the Phinney leader attachment plate provides a lateral pull in only one direction, and cannot be reversed. The present lure provides two different hydrodynamic faces at opposite ends of the lure, which may be selectively connected to a fishing leader or line for the angler to choose the direction of turn for the lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,394,313 issued on Oct. 18, 1921 to Henry T. Leeper, titled “Artificial Bait,” describes a lure body having forward and rearward ends sloped respectively forwardly and downwardly and rearwardly and downwardly. Leader attachment eyes are provided at the upper and lower ends of each of these sloped ends. Attachment of the leader to one of the given eyes, results in some predetermined diving reaction as the sloped end deflects downwardly in the water. However, the Leeper lure is laterally symmetrical, and no suggestion is made to apply the angled ends to a laterally asymmetrical lure for causing the lure to turn, as provided by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,807,283 issued on May 26, 1931 to Howard J. Dick, titled “Multiple Body Artificial Fish Lure,” describes a lure having a single frame configuration into which a variety of different lure bodies may be placed interchangeably. The forward end of the frame includes a downwardly and forwardly sloped face, which is known to cause a lure to dive downwardly as it is drawn through the water, due to hydrodynamic action. However, the lure of the patent to Dick makes no suggestion of any lateral asymmetry to cause the lure to seek a laterally curved path through the water, let alone any means for the angler to select the direction of the curved path, as provided by the present lure invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,591 issued on May 23, 1939 to V. William Leusch et al., titled “Fishing Lure,” describes a lure having leader or line attachment eyes at each end thereof. One end has a downwardly and forwardly inclined plate, while the opposite end has a downwardly and rearwardly inclined concave face. Both ends cause the lure to dive when drawn through the water with the leader attached thereto. However, Leusch et al. state that the two ends produce different lateral movements, depending upon which is forwardmost when moving through the water. Leusch et al. describe a “lateral shifting or whipping of the rear end of the lure body” (page 2, lines 15-16) and a “lateral darting movement” (page 2, lines 30-31), depending upon which end of the lure to which the line is attached, but the Leusch et al. lure is laterally symmetrical, unlike the present lure, and thus cannot sustain a steady, regular, consistently curved path as can the present lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,270,488 issued on Jan. 20, 1942 to John M. Withey, titled “Fish Bait,” describes a double ended lure having a shallow inverted “V” shape when viewed from the side. Withey states that his lure will dive to a different depth depending upon which end to which the line or leader is attached, as his lure is not symmetrical longitudinally. However, the Withey lure is laterally symmetrical, and no consistent, steady turning motion is provided, as provided by the present lure. Withey only states that the rearward portion of his lure will “swing to and fro horizontally” (page 2, column 1, lines 32-33) as the lure is drawn through the water, in much the same manner as the oscillations described in other pat
Johnston Jon C.
Shaffer Thomas J.
Litman Richard C.
Rowan Kurt
LandOfFree
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