Abstract: A release device used within a down rigger fishing assembly for easy attachment to a down rigger cable and efficient release of a fishing line when a fish strikes bait at the end of the line. The device is made of a single body having a groove at one end for mating with a down rigger cable and opposing hooks at either end of the groove for securing the cable with the groove. At an opposite end of the body is a trigger shaped as a bell crank lever pivotally attached to the body and having a pair of arms to hold a fishing line therebetween when the trigger is closed into the body and for releasing the device when the trigger is pivoted outwardly away from the body. A resilient and adjustable catch is provided on the body which holds the trigger in a closed position.

Abstract: An apparatus for equalizing fluctuating torque and storing rotational energy received through a rotating input shaft. The input shaft is connected to a pair of circular drive plates rotatably mounted at opposite ends of an output drum. A plurality of drive shafts equally spaced from each other and the axis of the drum are rotatably mounted between circular end plates of the output drum. A pinion gear fixedly secured to one end of each drive shaft sequentially meshes with an arcuate rack carried by each of the drive plates. The lengths of the arcuate racks are sufficiently short so that the rack meshes with no more than two pinion gears at a time. As each of the drive shafts sequentially rotate, they wind a respective torsion spring which, in turn, rotates a second pinion gear. The second pinion gear meshes with a ring gear extending along the inside surface of the output drum. Ratchet mechanisms prevent unwinding of the torsion springs when the first pinion gears are not meshing with the racks.

Abstract: A flasher is disclosed particularly suited for deep water fishing, which imparts to the bait and hook attached to the downstream end of the flasher a jerking motion resembling a live bait as it is pulled through the water. The flasher has an elongated, non-floatable planar body having a flat center portion, an upwardly curved downstream portion and a downwardly curved upstream portion. An opening in the upstream portion of the body has a flap secured to the downstream side of the opening, the flap extending upwardly at an angle with respect to the body sufficient to cause the flasher to oscillate horizontally about its connection to a fishing line and relative to its direction of pull through the water. A weight may be secured to the upstream portion of the flasher. A shallow dimple also may be placed in the downstream portion of the body to enhance the oscillatory motion of the flasher.