Fishing line floater

A fishing floater is controllably slidable along a fishing line to automatically assure that a fishing hook connected adjacent an end of the line will be located close to the bottom of the water when fishing, regardless of whether the depth of the water is known. The floater includes a guide or frame member with a pair of spaced guides and an eccentrically weighted, buoyant hub which is rotatably connected to the guide member between the spaced guides. The fishing line extends through one of the guideways, around the hub and then through the outer guideway. With a weight attached to an end of the line and a hook spaced a short distance from the weight, gravity causes the weight and line to sink to the bottom, thereby pulling the line through the floater by rotation of the hub with respect to the guide member. When the weight hits the bottom, hub rotation stops. The weighing and/or shape of the hub provides upward tension on the line which, in cooperation with the downward tension of the weight, holds the hook close to the bottom.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a floater used in combination with a fishing 
line. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A conventional fish floater, sometimes referred to as a bobber, normally 
attaches firmly to a fishing line a predetermined distance from the end of 
the fishing line. With a fishing hook secured at or near the end of the 
fishing line, the bobber floats on the surface of the water and holds the 
hook a predetermined distance under the surface. When a fish strikes the 
bait, or the lure, the fish pulls the line downwardly, thereby pulling the 
floater under the surface of the water. Thus, the floater holds the hook a 
desired distance below the water surface and serves as an indicator of a 
strike. 
Many fish seek their food at or near the bottom of the lake, river, stream, 
or pond in which they live. Accordingly, it is desirable to fish with the 
hook placed close to the bottom. For a known depth, this is accomplished 
by attaching the floater to the line a distance from the end which is 
slightly less than the known depth. This assures that the hook will be 
held close to the bottom but will not drag or rest upon the bottom. If the 
fisher fishes in a body of water which has different depths, the floater 
must be detached from the line and then reattached again in the proper 
position each time the fishing location changes. This represents an 
inconvenience to fishermen, particularly when fishing from a boat, where 
winds may cause the boat to drift. 
Moreover, a fisher seldom knows the depth of the body of water in which he 
or she is fishing, either because of unfamiliarity with the body of water 
or the multiple depth variations in relatively larger bodies of water. 
Thus, the fisher does not know where to initially attach the floater. 
Unless the fisher performs at least one depth test, there exists no simple 
and effective way to determine where to attach a floater to a fishing line 
to assure that the hook is close to the bottom. 
It is an objective of this invention to eliminate the need for a fisher to 
know a water depth to effectively locate a fish hook near the bottom. 
It is another objective of the invention to eliminate the need to detach 
and reattach a floater to a fishing line every time fishing occurs at a 
different depth. 
The objectives of this invention are met by a floater which slides along a 
fishing line to adjust automatically to different water depths. 
More particularly, the above stated objectives are met by a floater with a 
two-piece construction which includes a guide or frame member and a 
buoyant, eccentrically weighted hub rotatably connected to the guide 
member. The guide member includes two spaced guideways through which the 
fishing line passes The hub resides between the guideways and includes a 
peripheral depression, or groove, about which the fishing line is wrapped 
once. 
Preferably, the guide member is elongated, and has two tubular portions 
aligned along an axis. The hub is rotatable about a second axis which is 
parallel with the water surface and perpendicular to the first axis. At 
all times, the hub maintains the groove in alignment with the first axis. 
The fishing line extends through the top guideway, once or twice around 
the hub along the peripheral groove and then outwardly through the bottom 
guideway. With tension on the line from either direction, the hub will 
rotate. 
In use, the fishing line is extended through one guideway, wrapped once 
around the hub along the groove and then extended out the bottom guideway. 
A weight, or sinker, is attached to an end of the fishing line, and a hook 
is located adjacent the weight. When placed into the water, either by 
casting or feeding the line, the weight will gradually sink and pull the 
hook and the line downwardly until the weight contacts the bottom. The 
weight will sink gradually because of the eccentric weighing of the hub 
with respect to the axis of rotation. During downward movement, the weight 
pulls the line through the guideways and along the groove of the rotating 
hub. 
When the weight contacts the bottom, the pulling force on the line stops, 
and the hub stops rotating. Immediately thereafter, the weighing and/or 
the buoyancy of the hub causes up to one additional half turn about the 
rotation axis, during which time the line slides along the groove. This 
places a slight upwardly directed force on the line which, in combination 
with the downward force of the weight, holds the line taut with the hook 
located above the bottom. The guide member may be oriented vertically, or 
tilted slightly at an angle. 
When a fish strikes the hook, the initial pulling motion will cause the hub 
to rotate with respect to the guide member. Because of the preferable 
elongated shape of the hub with respect to its axis of rotation, hub 
rotation creates ripples upon the surface of the water to indicate to the 
fisherman that a strike has occurred. Depending upon the force and 
direction of the pulling motion, the guide member may also bob up and down 
on the surface of the water. During light nibbles or slight disturbances, 
the guide member may tilt somewhat. 
This inventive floater may be formed from any buoyant material which is not 
subject to degradation from extended us in water. The hub should be made 
of a material which is nonslidable with respect to nylon fishing line. The 
bottom of the groove may be scored crosswise or roughened to provide the 
right texture. 
This inventive floater provides several advantages over prior floaters. 
First, because this floater is slidably connected to the fishing line, it 
is not necessary for a fisher to know the depth of the water to attach the 
floater to the fishing line at a position which will locate the hook near 
the bottom. The floater allows the weight at the end of the line to find 
the bottom gradually and automatically. Secondly, the combination of 
upward and downward forces holds the line relatively taut, with the hook 
near the bottom. Finally, rotation of the elongated shaped hub creates 
disturbances upon the surface of the water to provide an accurate 
indication of when a strike has occurred, with minimal false alarms. 
These and other features of the invention will be more readily understood 
in view of the following detailed description and the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
FIG. 1A illustrates the principle of a fishing line floater 10 constructed 
according to this invention. FIG. 1 shows a fisher 8 standing on a bank 9. 
The fisher 8 holds a fishing rod 11 which has a fishing line 12 attached 
thereto. The line extends below a surface 14 of the water 15. The floater 
10 is slidably connected to the fishing line 12. A sinker, or weight 16 is 
tied to a bottom end of the fishing line 12. A hook 17 is attached to the 
line 12 above the weight 16 to remain spaced above the bottom surface 19 
of the water 15. FIG. 1 also shows, in phantom, the same line 12 but 
located for fishing at a different depth. 
According to one preferred embodiment, shown in FIG. 1, the floater 10 
includes a guide member 18 with an upper tubular portion 20 and a lower 
tubular portion 21. Preferably, the guide member 18 is elongated and upper 
portion 20 and lower portion 21 are aligned along a longitudinal axis 22. 
Upper portion 20 and lower portion 21 are interconnected by a pair of 
spaced, substantially parallel sides, 24 and 25, which are shown more 
clearly in FIG. 2. A buoyant hub 28 is rotatably connected to guide member 
18 at sides 24 and 25. The hub 28 is rotatable about an axis 30 which is 
perpendicular to longitudinal axis 22. 
The hub 28 is eccentrically weighted with respect to rotational axis 30. To 
provide eccentric weighing, the hub 28 is preferably elongated in shape, 
with an oval, elongated, or egg-shape. Additionally, or alternatively, the 
hub 28 may be spherical in shape, but weighted on one side, or the hub may 
be symmetrical in shape but eccentrically mounted with respect to axis 30. 
The eccentric weighing of the hub 28 assures that, during rotation, the 
moment of inertia about axis 30 is nonuniform. The eccentric weighing 
promotes gradual letting out of the fishing line 12 from the floater 10 as 
the weight 16 sinks toward the bottom 19. 
The eccentric weighing of the hub 28 also provides upwardly directed 
tension to hold the line 12 taut. With one or more fishhooks 17 secured to 
the line 12 adjacent the weight 16, the cooperative interaction of the 
downward force from the weight 16 and the upward force from the eccentric 
weighing of the hub 28 assures that the hooks 17 will remain relatively 
close to the bottom 19. This distance from the hooks 17 to the bottom 19 
is dictated by the distance along the line 12 between the hooks 17 and the 
weight 16. 
The hub 28 includes a depression or groove 32 which extends about axis 30. 
Preferably, this depression 32 is aligned with axis 22. The hub 28 may be 
a single piece construction or it may include a pair of symmetric, 
relatively large spheroids 34 and 35 connected to opposite ends of a spool 
38, with an axle 40 extending through the center of the spheroids 34 and 
35 and the spool 38. At opposite ends, the axle 40 may be connected to 
sides 24 and 25 by screws 44 and 45, respectively, rivets, or any other 
connecting mechanism which permits relative rotational movement about axis 
30. 
The guide member 18 may include an upper bulb 48, which may be either 
hollow or solid. The guide member 18 may also include a weight 49 
connected to lower portion 21. The bulb 48 and the weight 49 cooperate to 
assure that the floater 10 will float on the surface of the water with 
guide member 18 oriented in a substantially vertical position. Guide 
member 18 may be molded as a single piece, or may include additional inner 
tubular pieces 50 and 51 with smooth interior surfaces to facilitate 
sliding of the fishing line 12 through upper portion 20 and lower portion 
21, respectively. 
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fishing line 12 extends through upper 
portion 20, and is seated within the circumferential depression 32 in hub 
28. The line 12 wraps around the hub 28 at least once, preferably no more 
than three or four times, and then extends further downwardly through 
lower portion 21 and out the bottom of the floater 10. The number of wraps 
of the line 12 around hub 28 will depend on the coefficient friction of 
the hub 28 with respect to nylon fishing line 12, or whatever other 
material is used for the line 12. The line 12 should be nonslidable with 
respect to the hub 28 when tension is applied. Tension on the line 12 
should cause rotation of the hub 28, rather than sliding of the line 12 
along the groove 32. One wrap of line 12 around hub 28 should work for 
this purpose, though additional wraps may be necessary. 
While the water 15 is shown in FIG. 2 as some distance from the bottom end 
of the floater 10, it is to be understood that lower portion 21 will be 
submerged under the water 15 when in use. The water surface 14 will 
intersect hub 28. 
Because hub 28 rotates with respect to guide member 18, the position of 
this floater 10 with respect to the fishing line 12 is not fixed, but 
varies according to the tensional forces applied to either end. When the 
line 12 is placed in the water 15, with the weight 16 and the floater 10 
connected thereto, gravitational forces acting upon the weight 16 will 
cause the weight 16 to sink and pull the line 12 downwardly, through the 
upper portion 20, around the hub 28 and through lower portion 21. In 
relative terms, with respect to the weight 16, the floater 10 moves 
upwardly along the fishing line 12. The movement is gradual because the 
eccentric weighing of the hub 28 about axis 30 variably counteracts the 
force of gravity applied to hub 28 about the same axis 30. 
The fishing line 12 continues to pull through the floater 10 until the 
weight 16 contacts the bottom 19. At this point, rotation of the hub 28 
with respect to guide member 18 temporarily stops. Shortly thereafter, due 
to the eccentric weighing, the hub 28 rotates about axis 30 up to one 
additional half turn. If the hub 28 is elongated, the hub 28 will rotate 
to a position wherein the elongation is substantially perpendicular with 
the surface 14. If the hub 28 includes additional weights to provide 
eccentric weighing, the weights will gradually rotate to the lowest 
position possible. As the hub 28 slowly rotates into this position, slack 
is removed from fishing line 12. When finally at rest, the eccentric 
weighing of the hub 28 places some tension on the top of the fishing line 
12. This upward tension, along with the downward tension from the weight 
16, holds line 12 taut and assures that the one or more fishhooks 17 will 
be held close to the bottom 19. 
Thus, this inventive floater 10 eliminates the need for the fisherman to 
know the depth of the water 15 in order to assure that the fishhooks 17 
will be positioned close to the bottom 19. Because this floater 10 is 
movable along the line 12, the fisherman is not required to continually 
disconnect and reconnect an indicating device to the fishing line 12 when 
water depth changes. Finally, because of the preferable, elongated shape 
of the hub 28, when a fish strikes the hook, downward tension on line 12 
will rotate the hub 28 and create surface disturbances on the water 14. 
These surface disturbances provide a fairly sensitive indication that a 
strike has occurred. 
While FIGS. 1 and 2 show one preferred embodiment of the invention, it is 
to be understood that numerous other embodiments may also be possible. For 
instance, it is not necessary that the guide member 18 include elongated, 
tubular members aligned along the same axis. Guide member 18 may simply 
include a pair of spaced holes in a frame which surrounds the hub 28. 
Additionally, it is not necessary that upper portion 20 and lower portion 
21 be aligned along the same axis. In fact, it may be desirable to guide 
the fishing line 12 along an angled pathway to better accommodate wrapping 
around the hub 28 without any entanglement. This feature is shown in the 
floater depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4. The floater 10 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 
has the arms 24 and 25 locate inside hollow spheroids 34 and 35. 
With respect to the hub 28, it is noted that while eccentric weighing is 
considered critical to holding the fishing line 12 in a taut position, 
eccentric weighing does not necessarily require that the hub 28 itself be 
elongated. Hub 28 may be symmetric with respect to its rotational axis, 
but simply with a weight secured to one side thereof. However, with this 
approach, the surface disturbances created by rotation of the hub 28 would 
be of significantly less magnitude. For this reason, the preferable 
embodiments of the invention include eccentric weighing by the use of an 
elongated hub 28, or an elongated hub 28 with an additional weight 
attached to the middle. 
FIG. 5 illustrates another alternative embodiment of the invention. In this 
figure, the guide member 18 and the hub 28 may be shaped to look like an 
animal, such as a dragon fly or insect, or any other shape commonly 
associated with fishing or fishing tackle. 
Having described the invention in the context of illustrated and preferred 
embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that variation may 
be made without departing from the concepts of the invention.