A diving lure or crankbait capable of reaching increased diving depths. The lure includes a diving plate or lip extending forwardly from the front end of the lure body. A forward portion of the lip is upwardly angled in relation to a rearward portion thereof, producing an increased flow of water over the upper surface when the lure is cranked. This increased water flow produces a downward pressure on the lip in front of the pull point, increasing the diving angle and significantly increasing the maximum depth obtainable by the lure.

FIELD OF INVENTION 
This invention relates in general to fishing lures, and relates in 
particular to a crankbait capable of diving to increased depths. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
For catching fish which normally don't strike bait floating on the surface, 
or which usually remain well below the surface, fishermen use lures 
designed to dive beneath the surface. This category of fishing lure 
typically is buoyant and is designed to dive below the surface where the 
lure is pulled or trolled through the water. For example, a fisherman 
first casts out a diving lure, and then pulls in the lure by pulling up or 
"cranking" the tip of the fishing rod. The forward motion of the diving 
lure through the water generates a downward force on the lure, moving the 
lure down beneath the surface as the lure is pulled forwardly. The 
fisherman then lowers the tip of the rod and winds in the slack line, and 
then again cranks up the tip of the rod, further increasing the diving 
depth of the lure. Lures designed for fishing in this manner are called 
"crankbaits". 
Crankbaits known in the prior art usually have a solid lure body supporting 
one or more fish hooks, with a diving plate extending forwardly from the 
front end of the lure body. These diving plates, sometimes called lips or 
bills, are angled downwardly relative to the lure body and water flowing 
over the diving plate exerts a downward diving force on the lure body as 
the lure is pulled or cranked forwardly through the water. 
A crankbait, to be effective, should be capable of diving to desired 
fishing depths, preferably on the order of 20 feet or more. Moreover, the 
crankbait should be capable of diving to its greatest depth quickly, and 
without having to be fast-cranked through the water. Fast-cranking the 
lure brings the bait back to the angler far too quickly, and doesn't keep 
the lure in the effective fishing strike zone long enough to do much good. 
Prior art diving lures tried to accomplish these results with diving 
plates extending at a relatively large downward angle between the plate 
and the longitudinal axis of the lure body. The conventional wisdom was 
that the steeper the diving plate angled downwardly, the greater the 
diving depth resulting from each pull of the lure through the water. Other 
crankbait lure designs of the art include diving plates adjustably 
connected to the lure body, ostensibly to fine-tune the diving operation 
by modifying the overall effective length of the diving plate. One such 
lure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,507. Other examples of prior-art 
diving lures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,518,213; 2,542,447; 3,462,871; 
and 4,445,294. 
Prior-art diving lures have a maximum diving depth bottoming out at about 
nine feet, despite extensive efforts to design lures exceeding that diving 
depth without fast-cranking the lure. This depth limitation of existing 
crankbaits greatly limits the effectiveness of the lure in a variety of 
fishing conditions. Where the water being fished is considerably deeper, 
e.g., 20-30 feet, than the maximum diving depth of existing crankbaits, 
many fish remain several feet below that maximum diving depth and those 
fish will not rise in the water to strike the lure. Moreover, modern 
injection-molded plastic crankbaits lack the natural counterweight effect 
of the metal-lipped crankbaits popular in the prior art. Crankbaits 
capable of diving beneath about nine feet were considered unusual, and the 
20-foot diving depth was considered an absolute barrier for diving lures. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Stated in general terms, deep diving lures according to the present 
invention include a lip or diving plate configured to increase the amount 
of water flowing over the front end of the lip and onto the upper surface 
of the lip. This increased water flow provides a downward force on the lip 
in front of the pull point, that is, the point of attachment to the 
fishing line, so that the downward force of water flowing over the lip 
causes a steeper diving angle each time the lure is pulled or cranked. 
Stated somewhat more specifically, the lip or diving plane has an upper 
surface with a rear portion extending forwardly from the lure body. This 
rear portion of the upper surface preferably has a relatively shallow 
angle of depression in relation to the body of the lure. An eyelet or the 
like is formed in the upper surface of the lip, preferably as near to the 
surface of the lip as possible, providing an attachment point for the 
fishing line. The front portion of the lip is angled upwardly from the 
downwardly-angled rear portion, commencing forwardly of the pull point. 
The front end of the lip is thicker than the rear portion thereof, due to 
the upward angle of the front portion, and the enlarged area of this 
forward end creates a dam which helps spill water up onto the top of the 
upwardly-angled lip as the lure is pulled through the water. This effect 
further increases the force exerted downwardly against the lip in front of 
the pull point, increasing the dive angle of the lure and thereby 
increasing the maximum diving depth of the lure for a given amount of 
forward pull. 
Stated with somewhat greater detail, the lateral width of the lip on the 
present lure is relatively narrow where the lip joins the body of the 
lure. This narrowness preferably is less than the maximum width of the 
lure body behind the front end of the lure, producing a wasp-waist shape 
at the junction of the lure body and the diving lip. This wasp-waist shape 
allows the increased water flow along the upper surface of the lip to flow 
off the lip before reaching the lure body, reducing turbulence acting on 
the lure body and thereby reducing wobble or roll as the lure is pulled 
through the water. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an 
improved deep-diving fishing lure. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a crankbait 
capable of diving to greater depths than heretofore attainable. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved 
diving lure which reaches its maximum depth without being fast-cranked to 
that depth. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved 
crankbait in which the lure body and diving lip can be fabricated from 
integral molded elements. 
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more 
readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Turning first to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown generally at 10 a deep 
diving lure having a lure body 11 and a diving plate or lip 12 extending 
out from the front end 13 of the body. A pair of conventional fish hooks 
14 are attached to the lure body 11. An eyelet 15 is mounted on the upper 
surface 16 of the lip 12, for attaching a fishing line 17 to the lure 10. 
Referring next to FIG. 3, the upper surface 16 of the lip 12 has a 
relatively shallow downward angle relative to the longitudinal extent of 
the lure body 11. This downwardly-angled upper surface of the lip extends 
from the back end 21 of the lip, forwardly to an intermediate location 22 
along the length of the lip. Extending forwardly from the intermediate 
location 22 to the front end 23 of the lip 12, the upper surface of the 
lip is angled upwardly as seen at 24. The upwardly-angled surface 24 and 
the downwardly angled surface 16 of the lip 12 intersect each other along 
a line extending laterally across the width of the lip, this line of 
intersection comprising the intermediate location 22 previously mentioned. 
This intermediate location 22 is located in front of the eyelet 15, which 
establishes the pull point for the lure 10. 
The thickness of the lip 12, as measured between the top surface 16 and the 
underside 28 of the lip, is substantially uniform from the back end 21 to 
the intermediate location 22 of the lip. The underside 28 continues 
forwardly beyond the intermediate location 22 to the front end 23 of the 
lip without interruption. Because the upward forward surface 24 of the lip 
12 is angled upwardly, however, the thickness of the lip increases 
forwardly from the intermediate location 22. This increasing thickness of 
the lip 12 provides a blunt front end 23 which is of enlarged frontal area 
relative to the portion of the lip behind the intermediate location 22. 
The purpose of this enlarged front end 23, and of the upwardly-angled 
forward surface 24, is explained below. 
A longitudinal centerline fin 30 protrudes downwardly from the underside 28 
of the lip 12, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5. This fin 30 extends 
virtually the entire length of the lip 12 in the disclosed embodiment, 
with the downwardly extent of the fin tapering up toward the front end 23 
of the lip as best seen at 31 in FIGS. 3 and 8. The tapered forward end 31 
of the fin 30 helps prevent the lure from becoming stuck on rocks or other 
bottom structure. The longitudinal fin 30 provides lateral stability as 
the lure is pulled through the water, preventing unwanted wobbling action 
and thus helping maintain the desired flow of water over the top surfaces 
of the lip 12. 
The eyelet 15 preferably is located to provide a pull point as near to the 
top surface 16 of the lip 12 as possible. To that end, the eyelet 15 is 
pivotably secured to a eyelet mount 34 anchored within the fin 30, as seen 
in FIG. 3. The upper end of the eyelet mount 34 lies within a shallow 
recess 34 formed in the top surfaces 15 of the lip 12, and the eyelet 15 
at rest preferably fits within the recess. The location of the eyelet 
mount 34 within the recess 35 enables the eyelet to contact the eyelet 
mount at a point approximately flush with the top surface 16 of the lip 
12, when the lure 10 is being pulled or cranked as illustrated in FIG. 1. 
This arrangement of the eyelet and eyelet mount thus places the pull point 
of the lure substantially on the upper surface 16 of the lip 12. 
The operation of the lure 10 is now described. The angler casts the lure 
and then cranks it in the usual manner, pulling the lure forwardly through 
the water. Because the top surface 16 of the lip 12 has a slight downward 
angle relative to the lure body, the movement of the top surface through 
the water initially pulls the lure downwardly beneath the surface, as is 
conventional with any crankbait. However, once the lure 10 becomes 
submerged, forward movement of the lure produces an increased flow of 
water over the front end 23 and downwardly along the upwardly-angled 
forward surface 24 of the lip onto the upper surface 156 of the lip. This 
flow of water impinges on the upper surface of the lip in front of the 
eyelet 15, and thus creates a downward force component acting on the lip 
in front of the pull point. This downward force acting on the lip 12 in 
front of the pull point increases the diving angle of the lure each time 
the angler cranks the fishing line 17, producing a significantly-greater 
diving effect for each forward pull or crank than heretofore obtainable 
with conventional crankbaits. 
The relatively enlarged frontal area or dam at the front end 23 of the lip 
12, as previously mentioned, further increases the flow of water over the 
front end and thus augments the downwardly-directed force increasing the 
diving angle of the lure. 
The lateral width of the lip 12 is narrowest at its back end 21, as best 
seen in FIG. 4, where the lip 12 joins the front end 13 of the lure body 
11. This narrowing of the lip back end produces a necked or "wasp-waist" 
configuration 38 where the lip 12 joins the body. This wasp-waist 
configuration allows the water flowing along the upper surface of the lip 
12 to slip off the lip on the relatively narrow rearwardly-extending edges 
39 of the lip before the water flow reaches the lure body 11, so that 
relatively little of the enhanced water flow can act on the front end 13 
of the lure body and cause the lure body to roll or wobble in the water. 
Wobbling or similar movement of the lure body is undesirable during 
cranking of the lure, because wobble of the body allows the lip 12 to turn 
up on its edges, causing water to slip off the lip and thereby diminishing 
the effect of water pressure that increases the dive angle and drives the 
lure more deeply than attainable heretofore. 
It should now be apparent from the foregoing that diving lures according to 
the present invention have significantly-increased diving characteristics. 
Actual embodiments of lures made according to this invention have reached 
depths of at least 20 feet without being fast-cranked. The relatively 
shallow downward angle of the top surface 16 on the front portion of the 
lip gives the lure improved stability and running characteristics, once 
the lure is cranked to the desired depth. The upwardly-angled forward 
surface 24 and the enlarged frontal area of the lip significantly enhance 
the diving angle as the lure is cranked through the water. The relatively 
narrowed wasp-waist at the back end of the lip 12, where the lip joins the 
lure body 11, shed much of the water flowing along the top surface of the 
lip and thus minimizes rolling or wobbling of the lure body. The present 
design also facilitates the manufacture of molded crankbaits, where the 
lure is formed of two injection-molded halves joined together along the 
longitudinal center line of the lure. The body 11 and lip 12 thus are 
integral with each molded half of the lure, providing a more economical 
fabrication and improved quality of the finished lure. 
It will be understood that the foregoing relates only to a preferred 
embodiment of the present invention, and that numerous changes and 
modifications thereto can be made without departing from the spirit or 
scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.