Spinner-type fishing lures

#The present invention relates to fishing lures. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wire frame for spinner-type fishing lures having significant flexibility and shape memory as well as tensile strength.

#This invention relates to improvements in spinner-type fishing lures. Artificial fishing lures are available in a wide variety of types, however, an exceedingly popular type of fishing lure is called the “spinner bait”. This type of fishing lure emphasizes the use of a spinner to increase the attractiveness of the lure to fish. The spinner is normally formed as a substantially separate part of the lure, that is, the typical spinner bait is formed of a wire body having two arms that extend in a V-shape with the fishing line or leader attached to the wire body at the intersection of the two arms. The two arms, usually formed of a single length of stainless steel wire, extend at an acute angle relative to each other. The typical spinner bait has a body secured to one of the arms and a fish hook extending rearwardly from the body. The other arm of the spinner bait has one or more spinners attached to it. The typical spinner bait is designed so that when it is pulled through the water the spinner arm is vertically positioned above the body arm. A fish is attracted to the moving lure by the dramatic effect caused by the rotating, flashing spinners that rotate above the lure body which is fixed to, or is a part of, the frame body arm.

#In recent years spinner baits have become exceedingly popular and have consumed, according to some reports, between 40 to 60% of the fresh water artificial bait market in the United States. The effectiveness of a spinner bait appears to reside in its ability to attract fish to the dressed hook. More specifically, the increased action, vibration, sound and flash produced by a spinner bait, compared to other types of artificial lures, seems to account for the spinner bait's success.

#FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a typical spinner bait illustrating a wire frame having a lower, body arm to which a lure body and a fish hook are attached and an upper, spinner arm to which one or more spinners are attached;

#FIG. 2 is an alternate embodiment of a spinner bait formed of a wire frame with an upper spinner arm and a lower body arm and illustrating in dotted outline, the advantages obtained by the spinner bait of this invention in which the wire frame and the spinners are arranged so as to increase the action of the spinner bait as it moves through water;

#FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the lure body of FIG. 1 illustrating the method of attachment of an eyelet at the end of a fish hook to the outer end of the wire frame body arm;

#The present invention will now 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 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. As noted above, the present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/242,317, filed Feb. 12, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,914, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

#Referring now to the drawings, and in particular, to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical spinner bait. More specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates the basic configuration of a spinner bait, but is not intended to be representative of all of the features commonly found in a spinner bait. FIG. 1 is typical of a spinner bait in that it is formed of a wire frame generally indicated by the numeral 10 that is bent in the form of a V-shape having a bight portion 12, a body arm 14 and a spinner arm 16. Using these three basic characteristics, that is, an integral wire frame having a bight portion, a body arm and a spinner arm, a great variety of spinner baits have been manufactured and are on the market today. The shape of the bight portion 12 can vary considerably.

#Affixed to the body arm 14 is a body 18 commonly formed of a solid, three-dimensional element intended to attract fish by replicating a naturally occurring fish food, such as a minnow. The body 18 can take on almost an unlimited number of different physical appearances and therefore, the body 18, as illustrated in FIG. 1, is merely emblematic of that usually employed on the body arm 14 of a spinner bait.