Abstract:
A soft body lure design having a hard head which allows an internal rattle to create a much louder sound and maintain the balance of the lure and will also weigh more allowing the lure to be cast much farther

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/357,313 filed Jun. 30, 2016 entitled RATTLING SOFT BODY LURE. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention relates to fishing lures and more particularly to lures that mimic an animate object in shape and also contain a rattle chamber to provide attractant noise to the target fish. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Fisherman that are fishing in vegetation such as lily pads need to have a bait that is weedless, can be cast greater distance than any other rubber lure currently on the market, and has a rattle so the fish can locate the lure in heavy cover. All other soft bodied fishing lures do not emit much sound with the rattle inserted into the soft body. Furthermore, inserting a rattle into a soft body lure can also cause the balance of the product to be compromised. 
         [0004]    I have solved these problems with a design having a hard head which allows the rattle to emit a much louder sound and maintain the balance of the lure and will also weigh more allowing the lure to be cast much farther. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    Referring to the drawings which are appended hereto and which form a portion of this disclosure, it may be seen that: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  is perspective view of my improved rattling lure; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a front elevation view of the lure; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a rear elevation view of the lure; 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a side elevational view of the lure; 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is an opposite side elevational view of the lure; 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is a top plan view of the lure; 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  is a bottom plan view of the lure; 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view of my improved rattling lure; and, 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the improved rattling lure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    One or more of the above objects can be achieved, at least in part, by providing a lure having the appearance of an animate object such as a frog or mouse that can be cast by a fisherman onto a set of floating pads such as lily pads in a body of water, or into the space between such pads. The fisherman then works the lure through and across the pads in hope that a large fish will attack the lure. 
         [0016]    To accomplish this I have designed a lure  10  with a hard head  20  and a soft rubber body  40  with a rattle within the hard head  20 . Specifically, the hard plastic or polycarbonate head  20  contains a free moving tungsten weight  21  within an internal chamber. The weight  21  is susceptible to inertial impact with the inside of the chamber thus creating a loud sound when hitting the side walls of the chamber  22  as the lure is worked over and through the pads. 
         [0017]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 7  it may be seen that the soft body of the lure resembles a frog, however the body could easily resemble a mouse or even a small bird. 
         [0018]    Another feature is designed to allow the hook to be assembled after the head and body is assembled and decorated. Referring to  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9 , note that the head  20  forms a hard plastic rattle chamber  22  with a custom wire-form  23  molded therein such that a pull-eye  24  extends from the front  26  of the molded head and a hook capture extends from the rear  28  of the molded head. The hook capture is in the nature of a J loop  29  closed by a spring steel hinge  31  that deflects when installing the hook and after the hook is installed the spring steel hinge  31  locks behind the hook as the hook nests in the J loop  29 . The eyelet  32  of the hook  30  may be engaged with the J loop  29  with the shank(s)  33  of the hook extending through the soft body  40 . 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIGS. 1, 3, 6 and 7 , it will be noted that the hook  30  itself is a preferably double shank spread barb hook with the shanks passing on either side of a tail weight  41  which is used to balance the lure  10  for tracking purposes. The weight  41  has a portion  42  molded inside the soft body and a V shaped feature  43  designed on a portion extending outside the body  40  to fit between the shanks  33  to facilitate the hook  30  staying in a good relative location to maximize the opportunity to hook up a fish when it strikes the lure. The body  40  may also be designed with vents  46  and  47  which enable water which may get into the lure body  40  to be expelled and which also allow the body to collapse when a strike occurs so that the hook  30  may more readily engage the fish. 
         [0020]    The combination of the weight of the head, the body and the weights  21  and  41  give the lure added heft such that it can be cast further than the prior art lures of this type. The rubber material of the body  40  should be sufficiently resilient to withstand long distance casting impacts by deforming on impact and returning to its anatomical shape, however it may be necessary to include strategically placed gussets inside the body to assist with maintaining the body shape. 
         [0021]    As seen in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , the hard head  20  is molded in two pieces and the weight  21  or rattle inserted into the chamber. The head  20  is affixed to the soft body  40  with a rubber adhesive so the seal between the head and body will not leak. Likewise, rubber sleeves  48  may be formed internally of body  40  to provide a seal where the hook shanks pass through the body wall. These sleeves  48  also serve as gussets which assist in maintaining the body shape by closely engaging the hook shanks and maintaining the relative position of the hooks in the body. 
         [0022]    While in the foregoing specification this invention has been described in relation to certain embodiments thereof, and many details have been put forth for the purpose of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is susceptible to additional embodiments and that certain of the details described herein can be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of the invention.