Abstract:
A fishers lure comprises a body, at least one spine with a tip, a pivot pin about which each spine pivots, a trigger which serves to engage each spine, so when a fish takes the lure, the trigger is disengaged from each spine, permitting each spine to extend outward and engage the fish. The body serves as a shank of a hooking mechanism. The body and spine serve as the hooking mechanism with the tip of the spine forward of the pivot pin resulting in a relatively large hooking mechanism for a given size body.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     U.S. Provisional Application for Patent 60/323,744, filed Sep. 20, 2001, with the same title, “Fishers Lure” which is hereby incorporated by reference. Applicant claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. Par. 119(e)(i). 
    
    
     STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention is a fishing lure. 
     2. Background Information 
     In searching the internet, the following prior art was uncovered: 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 2,576,532 
                 Nov. 27, 1951 
                 Nudell 
               
               
                 5,440,830 
                 Aug. 15, 1995 
                 Smith 
               
               
                 5,564,216 
                 Oct. 15, 1996 
                 McMillan 
               
               
                 5,890,314 
                 Apr. 9, 1999 
                 Peters 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     The above lures have hooks that spring outward when a fish takes the bait. All forces generated by the fish or a fisher tend to force the hooks inwards towards an initial, prior to actuation, position. Also, the hooks must be relatively small as compared to the size of the lure. 
     A fish swallowing any of the above lures suffers the hooks to be engaged sufficiently deep in the throat of the fish that the hooks engage vital organs of the fish, causing irreparable damage to the vital organs of the fish. If the fish is too small to keep, returning it to the water does not result in survival of the fish. 
     Some of the prior art make the claim of being a weed-less lure in that the lure is less apt to snag weeds. 
     As will be seen in the subsequent description, the preferred embodiment of the present invention overcomes these and other shortcomings of existing fishing lures. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention, in the preferred embodiment, is a fishing lure comprising a body, at least one spine, a means of biasing the at least one spine outward, a trigger, pivot pins, buoyancy chambers, and a leader. 
     The body comprises a top half and a bottom half, joined together, in the preferred embodiment, by an adhesive. The top half comprises male protrusions that mate with recesses in the bottom half. 
     In operation, the at least one spine is held retracted by the trigger attached to the leader, said leader being attachable to a fishing line, so that when a fish strikes on said lure, the trigger is detached from the at least one spine so the at least one spine is released to a position where the fish will be caught by the spine. A spring serves as a means of biasing the trigger against the at least one spine. 
     A tension band may be used to bias the at least one spine outward. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a fishers lure, prior to spine release. 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates the fishers lure with spines released. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a top body half of the fishers lure. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a bottom body half with various components in place and spines released. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a leader attached to a trigger. 
         FIGS. 5 and 5A  illustrate the trigger. 
         FIGS. 6 and 6A  illustrate the spine. 
         FIGS. 7 ,  7 A and  7 B are views of a liner insert. 
         FIGS. 8 and 8A  illustrate a leader subassembly. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates the body halves prior to assembly. 
         FIG. 9A  illustrates the body halves mated together. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 1A , the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a fisher lure  1  comprises at least one spine  10 , a body  16 , a liner insert  26 A, and a leader  14 , which, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, is a flexible leader. 
     Outward movement of the at least one spine  10  is indicated by the arrows in FIG.  1 A. 
     The body  16  comprises a body top half  16 A and a body bottom half  16 B, as indicated in  FIGS. 9 and 9A . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  9 :
     a) the body top half  16   a  comprises an aft top chamber  17 , an aft top chamber protrusion  17   a , a main top chamber  18 , a main top chamber protrusion  18   a , forward top chambers  19 , and forward top chamber protrusions  19   a ; and   b) the body bottom half  16   b  comprises an aft bottom chamber  17   b , an aft bottom chamber recess  17   c , a main bottom chamber  18   b , a main bottom chamber recess  18   c , forward bottom chambers  19   b , and forward bottom chamber recesses  19   c.      

     Referring to  FIGS. 9 and 9A , when said body halves  16   a  and  16   b  are joined together to form the body  16 , with a cavity  16   c  to accept the liner insert  26   a  (Ref.  FIGS. 7 ,  7 A and  7 B), said chambers  17  and  17   b  mate together, by way of said protrusion  17   a  forming an air tight seal with said recess  17   c , as do said chambers  18  and  18   b , by way of said protrusion  18   a  forming an air tight seal with said recess  18   c , as do said chambers  19  and  19   b , by way of said protrusions  19   a  forming an air tight seal with said recesses  19   c . The result of the above said air tight seal is that air contained within said chambers  17  and  17   b ,  18  and  18   b ,  19  and  19   b  create buoyancy which is imparted to the body  16  of the fishers lure  1 . 
     Also illustrated in  FIG. 2  are pin apertures  20   c.    
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  6 ,  6 A and  8 , each spine  10  comprises a spine tip  10   a , a pivot opening  10   b , and an elongated body section  10   c . Each pivot opening  10   b  cooperates with one of the pivot pins  20  to pivotally mount one of the spines  10 , each of the spines  10  biased outward from the body  16  (Ref. also  FIG. 1A ) by a tension band  20   b.    
     Also illustrated in  FIG. 3  are the spines  10  which pivot about pivot pins  20 , said spines  10  biased outward from the body  1  (Ref.  FIG. 1A ) by a tension band  20   b.    
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  8 , and  8 A, a leader assembly  14   a  is shown. The leader assembly  14   a  is shown by itself in  FIGS. 8 and 8A , as well as laid in position in the body bottom half  16   b  in FIG.  3 . 
     The leader assembly  14   a  comprises the leader  14 , a liner insert  26   a , a spring  12 , the trigger  22 , spines  10 , pivot pins  20 , a travel limit pin  20   a , and the tension band  20   b.    
     The leader  14  passes through an inlet chamfer  26   c  (Ref.  FIG. 7B ) and an aperture  26   b  (Ref.  FIG. 7A ) of the liner insert  26   a  (Ref. also  FIGS. 7 ,  7 A and  7 B) and attaches to the trigger  22 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 ,  5 A,  8 , and  8 A, the trigger  22  comprises trigger catches  22   a.    
     The trigger  22  further comprises a leader clearance  22   b , as indicated in  FIGS. 5 ,  5 A, and  8 . 
     When the fishers lure  1  is taken by a fish, the fish will pull against the leader  14  which will in turn unseat the trigger  22  which will then release the spines  10  which will then extend outwards, as indicated in FIG.  1 A. The tension band  20   b  serves as a bias means urging the spines  10  outward. The travel limit pin  20   a  serves to limit the outward travel of the spines  10 . 
     After the leader assembly  14   a  is in place in the body bottom half  16   b , said pins  20  and  20   a  serve as locating pins for joining the body top half  16   a  to the body bottom half  16   b.    
     Said pins  20  and  20   a  are rigidly attached to the body  16  when said halves  16   a  and  16   b  are joined together. 
     Said pins  20  serve also as locating pins for the spines  10 . 
     The spring  12 , the pins  20  and  20   a , and the at least one spine  10  are of spring steel in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, as obvious to anyone skilled in the art, other materials would serve the intended purpose, albeit perhaps not as well. 
     The body  16  with extended spines  10 , as shown in  FIG. 1A  serves as a hooking mechanism. The shank of a conventional hook is replaced by the body  16 . 
     The body  16  with extended spines  10  replaces what is known in the trade as the “J” area of the conventional hook. The spines  10  do not retract under pressure, but tend to extend as set in a fish&#39;s mouth. Force on the fishers lure  1 , exerted by a fish engaged by the fishers lure  1 , is transmitted to and through the body  16 , as opposed to force on a conventional hook that tends to be a weak link for prior art lures. 
     Each spine  10  of the fishers lure  1  is less likely to penetrate vital areas of the fish, as compared to the previously mentioned prior art, as each spine  10  is triggered when the fishers lure  1  is in the mouth of the fish. 
     Each spine tip  10   a  (Ref.  FIG. 3 ) is forward of each spine pivot pin  20  of the body  16  (Ref. also FIG.  1 A), said body  16  serving as bait, as opposed to hooks in the previously cited prior art that trail their bodies which serve as bait. As each spine tip  10   a  is forward of the spine pivot pins  20 , a fishers lure  1  serves as a larger hook for a given body  16  serving as bait than does any of the previously cited prior art. 
     The elongated body section  10   c  on each spine  10  connects the pivot opening  10   b  to the spine tip  10   a  so that the spine tip  10   a  is located adjacent to the leader  14 . 
     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the leader  14  is a monofilament fishing line. The tension band  20   b  is an elastic band. A moldable plastic is the preferred material of construction for the body halves  16   a  and  16   b , the liner insert  26   a , and the trigger  22 . Also, other materials will suffice, such as wood, epoxy or various metals like, but not restricted to steel, or aluminum. 
     An advantage of the fishers lure  1  is that it serves as what is known in the trade as a weed-less fishers lure. 
     Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustration of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. 
     It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims in the formal application and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.