Abstract:
A fishing lure includes a body, a skirt, a blade and a hook. The body includes a pivotable attachment ‘s’ loop that attaches the blade to the body, the loop is pinned to the body but pivots about the pin in a slot in the body. A fishing line is attached to the blade at a point spaced from the loop, the skirt includes flexible filaments and is attached to the body. The hook is molded into the body and the ‘s’ loop includes an elastic band that biases the loop toward the back of the slot.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    Applicant claims priority under 35 USC 119 to U.S. provisional patent application 61/341,410 filed Mar. 30, 2010 and titled ‘Fishing lure with movable attachment loop’. 
     
    
     STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]    Not Applicable 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0004]    The present invention relates generally to fishing and to fishing lures. 
         [0005]    2. Brief Description of Prior Art 
         [0006]    There have been many changes and improvements in fishing lures over the years. Many lures relate to specific applications and to catching specific fish in specific conditions. 
         [0007]    Generally, lures attempt to attract fish by movement, sound and action that imitate nature or in some way that excites the fish&#39;s interest. U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,336 and patent application 2006/0185220 are two prior art lures that include a multi-filament skirt surrounding a hook. These lures do not include a method of creating noise or a method of creating an erratic motion and flash of light. 
         [0008]    As can be seen, there is a need for an improved lure to attract fish. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    A fishing lure includes a body, a skirt, a blade and a hook. The body includes a pivotable attachment ‘S’ loop that attaches the blade to the body, the ‘S’ loop is pinned to the body but pivots about the pin in a slot in the body. A fishing line is attached to the blade at a point spaced from the loop, the skirt includes flexible filaments and is attached to the body. The hook is molded into the body and the loop includes an elastic band that biases the loop toward the back of the slot. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  shows the lure as it would appear in use, 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  shows details of the lure of  FIG. 1 , 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  shows a top view of detail of the lure of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  shows additional details of the lure of  FIG. 1   
           [0014]      FIG. 5  shows additional details, 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  shows details of the lure skirt of the lure of  FIG. 1 , 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  shows a front view of the lure of  FIG. 1 , 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  shows a cross sectional view of the lure of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a fishing lure  100 . The lure  100  includes a molded lure body  102 , a lure skirt  104 , a hook  108 , a pivotable blade  110  attached to a fishing line  112  and to a movable ‘S’ loop  114 . The lure  100  also includes a decorative eye  105  covering a pin  142  that pivotably attaches ‘S’ loop  114 . 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a pre-assembly view that shows the body  102  and hook  108  which is a molded assembly. The body  102  which can be molded from a heavy material such as lead includes circular depressions  120  for the lure decorative eye  105  and a tail projection  122  at the back of the lure body  102 . The tail projection  122  holds the skirt  104  and a raised area  124  at the end of the tail projection  122  retains the lure skirt  104  once it is fitted to the body  102 . 
         [0020]      FIG. 3  shows a top view of the lure body  102  prior to assembly of the lure. The depressions  120  are shown on opposite sides of a slot  130 . The slot  130  runs along the length of the body  102  and the depressions  120  are near the front end of the slot  130  which runs parallel to the overall length of the body  102  and hook  108 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 4  shows the lure body  102  partially assembled with the pivotable ‘S’ loop  114  attached. The ‘S’ loop  114  is attached by drilling a hole  140  in the eye depressions  120  and fitting a pin  142  through the hole  140  so that the lower loop of ‘S’ loop  114  is pivotably mounted on the pin  142 . This is probably best seen in the cross sectional view of  FIG. 8 . 
         [0022]      FIG. 5  shows the lure  100  almost completely assembled. The blade  110  has been attached to the movable ‘S’ loop  114 . An elastic band  160  can be attached over the tail projection  122  and the ‘S’ loop  114  such that the ‘S’ loop  114  will be biased toward the back on the slot  130 . In  FIG. 5  the skirt  104  has been fitted over the hook  108 . The skirt  104  includes a band  162  at its front, the band  162  is elastic material and the band  162  can be stretched over the tail projection  122  and  124  and will be retained there. The arrows B show that the loop  114  can move forward and backward within the slot  130 , the loop  114  would have an angular range of about 120 degrees between the back and front of slot  130 . The arrows  8  indicate that the blade  110  can move relative to the body  102 . The blade  110  is attached to the S loop  114  and can move with it as well as moving relative to the loop  114 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 6  shows details of the skirt  104  in an exploded view. The skirt  104  includes filaments  170  that can be glued to an elastic tube  172  that has a head portion  174 . The elastic tube  172  includes a central opening  178  large enough to stretch fit over the tail projection  122  and  124  of the body  102 . A second elastic tube  180  fits over the elastic tube  172  and can be adhesively attached. Additional filaments  182  can be adhesively attached between the tubes  172 ,  180 . This arrangement makes some filaments  170  stand out from the lure  100  and others  182  tend to trail behind. 
         [0024]      FIG. 7  shows a front view of the lure  100 . The blade  100  can pivot left or right as shown by the arrows A, about the loop  114 . The blade  100  lower edge  192  adjacent the body  102  can strike the sides of the lure body  102  to create sound. The blade  110  can also pivot forward and backwards about the ‘S’ loop  114  as shown in  FIG. 5 . The blade  110  includes a hole  188  to attach it to the ‘S’ loop  114  and two holes  190  to attach it to the line  112 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 8  shows a cross sectional view of the lure  100  without the skirt  104 . As can be seen the body  102  includes a slot  130  that allows the ‘S’ loop  114  to be pivotably mounted to the pin  142  and most of the loop  114  is concealed within the slot  130 . The ‘S’ loop  114  includes an upper eye and a lower eye  142 . This arrangement allows the loop  114  to pivot along the length of the body  102  and also allows the blade  110  to be mounted very close the body  102  such that the blade  110  will strike the body  102  during use.  FIG. 8  shows that the lower eye  142  is entirely concealed below the surface of the lure body  102  and that the upper eye can be partially concealed.  FIG. 8  also shows that the loop  114  is constructed by forming two interconnected circles in a wire. The interconnected circles can be closed or slightly open. 
         [0026]    In use the lure  100  is attached to a fishing line  112  as shown in  FIG. 1 . As the lure  100  is pulled through the water the blade  110  has freedom of movement about the ‘S’ loop  114 . The blade  110  will tilt forward as it is pulled through the water similar to the position shown in  FIG. 1 . Testing has shown this position is somewhat stable. The lure  100  will take a position and maintain it for several feet but variations caused by the water, skirt and pull will occasionally cause the blade  110  to hit the lure body  102  and make erratic action, the blade  110  will move sharply and strike the side of the lure body  102  creating sound and a flash of light as the blade  110  is made of reflective material. The erratic action of the lure  100  occurs automatically, requiring no special action from the fisherman, such that it will occur no matter how consistently the line  112  is pulled. The band  160  can be added or removed from the lure  100 . When on the lure  100  the band  160  will tend to pull the loop  114  toward the back of the lure  100  opposite the direction of pull applied by line  112 . Thus the harder the fisherman retrieves the line  112  the more the loop  114  is pulled toward the front of the slot  130 . This creates additional instability and action in the blade  110  and body  102  as it is pulled through the water. Without the band  160  the ‘S’ loop  114  will tend to pivot to the front of slot  130  and will have less movement. 
         [0027]    It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the claims in the formal application and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.