Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Fishing – Artificial bait
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-12
2002-05-28
Rowan, Kurt (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Fishing
Artificial bait
C043S042240
Reexamination Certificate
active
06393757
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to fishing lures. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flesh-like jacket for encasing and enhancing the action of a crankbait fishing lure.
Fishing is an activity enjoyed by many as a recreational sport or as commercial enterprise. Sport fisherman or recreational anglers still use the time-proven method of dropping a baited hook attached to a piece of line into the water in the hopes of catching a fish. Through modern advances, anglers now have a wide assortment of equipment with which to find and catch fish.
To encourage the fish to bite, the hook may be baited with a tempting morsel of food such as a live bait fish, live worms, roe or other live bait that is part of the natural diet of the fish species sought by the angler. Anglers also may use a fishing lure which is a manufactured artificial bait that mimicks the look and action of the natural bait. Although the dietary choices of most fish can be extremely fickle, part of the attraction of fishing is attempting to discern not only where the fish are located but also the type of bait that the fish are interested in eating. When bait fish are not available to the angler or its use forbidden due to local laws restricting such use, anglers often use fishing lures to catch fish. Fishing lures are used by anglers in both salt water and fresh water.
There is a large variety of soft plastic lures typically made from plastisol and molded into the shape of, by way of example, worms, grubs or similar such shapes. The plastic material may be impregnated with salt or other scents so that the taste of the lure is similar to natural bait. Soft plastic lures are threaded onto a hook, attached to a fishing line and cast out and retrieved or bounced along the bottom to mimic a worm swimming in the water. Although very effective as a bait, fish often inhale soft plastic lures and become internally hooked. Since many anglers practice “catch and release,” it is undesirable to internally hook the fish because such fish often die due to the internal hook set.
In addition to soft plastic lures, other lures, often referred to as “crankbaits” are commonly used. Crankbaits are hard-bodied fishing lures attached to the fishing line, cast out onto the water and then cranked or reeled in by the angler. The motion of the crankbait through the water causes the crankbait to dive beneath the surface of the water or, alternatively, create a disturbance on the surface of the water that mimics an injured minnow or a fleeing fish. When a fish attacks a crankbait it is often hooked in the lip thereby facilitating its subsequent release.
FIG. 1
illustrates a typical prior art crankbait
10
which may be manufactured from wood, metal or hard plastic (such as poly-carbonate plastic) and coated with several layers of colorful finish paint or decals to attract fish by mimicking the coloration of a bait fish. Alternatively, the body may be painted in a color, such as metallic, or brightened by embedding reflective facets (not shown) in a polyurethane coating so that the crankbait is bright and readily discernible in murky water or low light conditions or is otherwise enticing to fish. The finish layers often include painted representations for eyes
12
, fins
14
, scales
16
or gills
18
so as to emulate a natural appearance of common bait fish. It will be appreciated that such features may be duplicated on the side of crankbait
10
not shown in FIG.
1
.
Crankbait
10
may have a diving bill
20
that extends outward and in some cases downward from the head portion of crankbait
10
. A fishing line attachment loop
22
is shown as a part of the diving bill although attachment loop
22
may be located on crankbait
10
in the area generally defined as between the diving bill
20
and the top of the head portion above eye
12
. Diving bill
20
may vary in size with a smaller surface area causing the crankbait
10
to dive to a relatively shallow depth and larger surface area for deeper diving crankbaits. The angle of attachment of diving bill
20
may also vary respect to the longitudinal axis
24
of crankbait
10
with a larger angle resulting in a faster diving crankbait. A fixed, solid dorsal fin
26
is shown extending above the body of crankbait
10
in
FIG. 1
although many crankbaits do not have any such protruding features.
Although not shown, crankbait
10
may have a variety of configurations. For example, the forward-most head portion could be flattened or concave (to represent a bait fish swimming with an open mouth) rather than the generally convex shape as shown in FIG.
1
. In such configurations, diving bill
20
is omitted since such crankbaits are intended to be fished on the surface of the water. In other configurations, diving bill
20
is attached to the head portion of crankbait
10
below axis
24
.
With so much diversity in size, color and shape designed to appeal to one or more species or size of fish, anglers often carry a large number of crankbaits in their tackle boxes. Notwithstanding the diversity, individual anglers will often develop a preference for a preferred crankbait that, they believe, has a high probability of catching fish. Popular freshwater crankbaits are manufactured by Rapala of Vääksy, Finland and by Mirrolure of Largo, Fla. as well as by many other companies throughout the world.
Colorful streamers, noise makers or other novelties can be attached to the crankbait or to the fish line in an attempt to make the crankbaits more attractive to the fish. For example, a propeller (not shown) may be rotatably mounted to the head portion or rear portion of crankbait
10
to create turbulence as the crankbait is pulled through the water. One such crankbait is manufactured by Fred Arbogast and available from Bass Pro Shops located in Springfield, Mo. In still other configurations, crankbait
10
may have a jointed body where a separate rear portion is coupled to the body portion of crankbait
10
by interlocking loops or may have a segmented body such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,875, issued to Righetti.
It is believed that common attributes of a successful crankbait is its coloration, size, appearance and swimming action. With respect to the coloration of a crankbait, one skilled in the art will appreciate that with use, the decals or the painted design of a crankbait often become scratched from collisions with other items in the angler's tackle box, with items under water such as rocks, submerged logs or other such debris or from repeated strikes by fish attracted by the crankbait. The brightness of the painted design may also fade after extended use in water and exposure to sunlight. With continued use, such crankbaits may tend to lose their effectiveness resulting in fewer and fewer strikes over a given period of time because fish tend to avoid crankbaits that appear unattractive or unappealing as food. It is preferable to refurbish a popular crankbait by enhancing the attractiveness of the crankbait rather than abandon its use.
At times, it may be desirable to change the appearance of the crankbait by changing the coloration or adding decorative features. If an angler were fishing with a crankbait painted to look like a sardine but the game-fish are feeding on anchovies, the sardine crankbait would likely be largely ignored and the number of strikes could be few or nonexistent. Thus, the angler may have to remove the sardine crankbait and replace it with a crankbait having the coloration suggestive of an anchovy to increase the number of strikes. However, replacing one crankbait with another similar crankbait differing only in the coloration requires duplication in the number of crankbaits. It would be cheaper, if the angler could reduce the number and variety of crankbaits that must be carried while maintaining the flexibility to quickly and easily change the coloration of the crankbait to match the desired bait fish.
At still other times the water conditions may make it difficult for fish to locate bait because of, for example, dark
Rowan Kurt
Shinners Craig E.
LandOfFree
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