Elastomeric lure for retaining fish attracting articles

#The present invention is related to the field of artificial bait used to catch fish, and more particularly, elastomeric lures for retaining fish attracting articles.

#Anglers frequently use artificial bait or lures as an alternative to live bait. Among other drawbacks, live bait is perishable, can be difficult to attach to a hook prior to casting and can be prone to loss after casting. In contrast, artificial bait has the advantages of an extended shelf life and of being easily and securely attached to a hook. Despite the advantages of artificial bait, live bait is still widely used due to its effectiveness in attracting fish. It is generally believed that the effectiveness of live bait is due to the difficulty of “fooling” fish, which can have sophisticated visual, aural, olfactory, and/or vibratory sensory capabilities. Such acute sensory capabilities enable the fish to detect even minute differences between live and artificial bait. Further, the increase of catch-and-release fishing has resulted in the released fish becoming increasingly wary of bait not closely resembling their typical food.

#Improvements in artificial bait, therefore, have mainly focused on increasing the attractiveness of artificial bait to the fish. Such improvements have included the use of soft elastomers, such as plastisol, that can be shaped to resemble live bait, as well as the use of glitter, illuminants, such as light sticks, metal spoons and spinners, scent packets and rattles. Soft elastomers have the advantage of giving the fish a tactile sensation similar to the flesh of live bait. Glitter, metal spoons, and illuminants create visual stimuli resembling the flash of sunlight on the scales of moving bait fish. Scent packets replicate the smell of prey or food that the fish finds desirable. Rattles mimic the sounds and vibratory patterns of prey, such as the clicking of a crawfish.

#The foregoing and other advantages and features of the invention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished, will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate preferred and exemplary embodiments and which are not necessarily drawn to scale, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is an exploded view illustrating a fish attracting article and a lure body defining an aperture therein for retaining the fish attracting article, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view illustrating the lure body of FIG. 1;

#The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

#Referring to the drawings, and in particular, to FIGS. 1-5, there are shown fishing lures 10, according to three embodiments of the present invention. Each lure 10 includes an elastomeric body 11 defining an aperture 12 therein for holding and retaining at least one fish attracting article 18, such as the rattle 19 illustrated in FIG. 6. Other fish attracting articles 18 include illuminants, such as light sticks or light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”); scent packets or capsules; gas emitters, such as gas emitting, aeration, or effervescent products or devices; or weights. The body 11 can be formed or molded into a variety of configurations in order to customize the lure 10 to the particular bait characteristics of the target fish. For purposes of example only and not limitation, the body 11 can be molded into a fish-like or minnow-like configuration, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2; a salamander-like or lizard-like configuration, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4; a worm-like or squid-like configuration, as illustrated in FIG. 5; a crawfish-like configuration (not shown), a frog-like configuration (not shown), or a tube-like configuration (not shown). Other configurations also are possible and considered to be within the scope of the present invention. In addition to the shape and size of the body 11, the coloring, opacity and texture of the body also can be varied depending on the particular bait characteristics of the target fish.

#According to one embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a body 11 molded into a fish-like or minnow-like configuration can be provided with a head 20 and a tail 21 and can include a pair of eyes 22, which are molded on opposite sides of the head 20. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the coloring of the body 11 can be a “two-tone” pattern in which the topside or dorsal surface 24 has a darker color than the underside or abdomen 23. In other embodiments, the body 11 can be monochromatic or mulitcolored with varying patterns, such as spotted, speckled, mottled, or striped. The body 11 also can be formed of a material having a relatively low opacity. In addition to coloring and opacity, the body 11 can be molded so as to provide any desired texturing. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the topside or dorsal surface 24 has a ribbed texture whereas the underside or abdomen 23 is relatively smooth. Advantageously, the dark patterned dorsal surface 24 of the lure 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 mimics the generally darker scales present on the dorsal surface of many bait fish species. Other types of texturing are also possible. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, an optional hook slot 25 and cavity 25a can be defined in the abdominal surface 23 and interior of the body 11, respectively, so as to conceal from the target fish a hook (not shown) inserted therein. Other features can be included on the fish-like body 11 to increase its realism, such as dorsal and tail fins (not shown).