Flexible fishing lure tails and appendages
Flexible fishing lure tails and appendages having extending or projecting shoulder surfaces to facilitate a simulated swimming action by the drag and eddy principle of water flow. One or more shoulders are provided in the surfaces of the flexible fishing lure tails to facilitate the swimming action as the lure to which the tail or appendage is attached is retrieved through a water body. This swimming action due to the vibration of the tail and appendage segment and the body of the fishing lure is unique and simulates live lizards, worms, crawfish, grubs, minnows and the like, a primary characteristic that attracts fish. The tail and appendage segments can be removably or permanently fixed to both hard and soft body lures or molded in combination with a lure body of selected length, size, color and plastic composition characteristics to facilitate the desired swimming action and vibration and thus the attraction to game fish of every variety.
This application claims the benefit of prior filed copending U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/299,468, filed Jun. 21, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing lures and more particularly, to soft plastic fishing lures and hard body fishing lures having tail portions and appendages fitted with projecting or extending shoulder segments that create a drag and eddy effect and simulate a swimming action as the lure is retrieved through a water body. This drag and eddy effect causes the tail and appendage portion of the lure to move back and forth and vibrate, which vibrates the body segment; responsive to a selected retrieval speed to attract fish.
One of the most effective lures in taking game fish, including game fish of the fresh water variety such as large mouth and small mouth bass, crappie and the like, as well as salt water varieties, including red fish, speckled trout and other fish, is the plastic lure, which can be molded into substantially any desired size, shape and consistency. Typical of these conventional plastic lures is a tail portion that has a rounded or ribbon shape and is connected to or integrally formed with the body portion at a narrowed area to facilitate a simulated swimming action when the lure is retrieved. These plastic lures are typically used with bare and weighted hooks, jig heads, spinner bait harnesses and other hook arrangements known to those skilled in the art to further facilitate the swimming action and to allow the lure to be fished at a variety of depths and retrieval speed in a water body. The plastic lures can be molded into worm configurations having beads or segments which can then be attached to a jig head, for example, and fished on the bottom of a water body as the lead or metal portion of the jig head causes the entire lure to sink, to facilitate bouncing the lure off the bottom in a swimming or crawling simulation. Typical of these lures are the lures detailed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,982, issued Aug. 8, 1961, to S. A. Murawski; U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,953, issued May 27, 1969, to J. J. Dailey; U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,749, issued Jun. 22, 1971, to Edward R. Dieckmann; U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,774, issued Jul. 31, 1973, to Sherman G. Bryant; U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,882, issued Apr. 29, 1975, to Oscar J. Rask; U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,979, issued May 20, 1975, to William O. Williams, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,455, issued Feb. 21, 1978, to William O. Williams, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,841, dated Apr. 15, 1986, to Joseph C. Gish; U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,012, dated Sep. 26, 1989, to David L. Brenholt; U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,226, dated Feb. 18, 1992, to Norman L. Bazinet; U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,299, dated Mar. 16, 1993, to Robert P. Correll; U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,039, dated Oct. 10, 1995, to Henry F. Pisoni, et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,900, dated Nov. 7, 2000, to John A. Rudolph; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,006, dated Dec. 26, 2000, to Lyle M. Peterson;
It is an object of this invention to provide new and improved flexible fishing lure tails and appendages for various types of fishing lures, which tail portions and appendages are designed to vibrate and simulate a life-like swimming action and generate a vibration and life-like swimming action in the body portion when the lure is retrieved through a water body.
Another object of this invention is to provide new and improved flexible tail portions and appendages for various types of solid and flexible plastic fishing lures, which tail portions and appendages may either be molded integrally with the body portions of the lure or attached to the body portions, and are fitted with shoulder segments or projections to facilitate vibration and a life-like swimming action in both the tail and, by energy transmission, in the body portions, when the lures are retrieved at various speeds through a water body.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved, flexible plastic fishing lure tail and appendage system which is characterized by shoulder projections near the terminal resilient tail portion and appendage segment of the lures, to create a drag and eddy condition when the tail or appendage is attached or molded integrally with a fishing lure body of selected size, shape and design and is retrieved through a water body, to facilitate a life-like swimming motion of the entire fishing lure.
Still another object of this invention is to provide flexible plastic fishing lures, including flexible, resilient and typically forked or blocked tail and appendage portions or segments, that incorporate a raised projection or shoulder to facilitate a tail vibration and an induced body vibration that is proportional to the speed of lure retrieval, and a life-like swimming action through the water based on the drag and eddy principle, as the lure is retrieved through the water body.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved soft, flexible plastic fishing lure tail and appendage design which may be of any desired thickness and typically forked or blocked and incorporated in a plastic lure or a hard body lure of substantially any design, shape and size to simulate a life-like swimming action and facilitate a vibration of the tail and appendage portion as well as the body portion, responsive to retrieval of the lure through the water, the magnitude of which vibration and energy transmission to the body depends upon the tail and appendage design and the speed of retrieval of the lure.
A still further object of this invention is to provide new and improved tail portions of selected thickness and size which can be used on flexible and resilient plastic or hard body artificial lures such as lizards, worms, crawfish, grubs, minnows, tube baits, jig trailers and the like, of any desired size, color, shape and design, which tail portions include a projecting shoulder or edge of selected size on each side of the tail that cause a drag and eddy effect to create a vibration in the tail and body portions of the lure, which vibration simulates a natural swimming action, the intensity and energy of which vibration is transmitted to the lure body and is controlled by the speed of retrieval of the lure through a water body.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for vibrating the tail and body of a fishing lure having at least a flexible tail extending from the body, which method includes providing a shoulder on the tail for vibrating the tail and the body when the lure is retrieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThese and other objects of the invention are provided in new and improved soft plastic or hard body fishing lures and lure tails and appendages of any desired design, size, color and configuration, and a method for inducing vibration in the lure bodies, tails and appendages, the bodies of which fishing lures incorporate flexible and resilient tail portions of selected size and thickness, fitted with projecting shoulders, projections or enlargements of selected size that are typically forked or blocked and which react to water pressure according to the drag and eddy principle and undulate and “swim” through the water during retrieval with a vibration that is imparted from the tail to the body portion, the intensity of which vibration is directly proportional to the speed of retrieval of the lure through the water and the tail design.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
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A forked tail portion 7 is typically integrally molded with the forked tail lure body 5 and extends from the forked tail lure body 5 at a forked tail neck 9 of selected thickness and proportions. A forked tail projection or shoulder 8 extends along both sides of the forked tail portion 7 transverse to the longitudinal axis of the forked tail lure 1. On each side of the forked tail portion 7, the forked tail shoulder 8 defines the boundary between the rear curved margin of a neck extension or appendage 9a of the tail neck 9 and the complementary front curved margin of a concave tail fork 10. The forked tail shoulder 8 extends rearwardly along a pair of fork extension curvatures 11a to define a pair of fork extensions 11, divided at the tail fork 10, as further illustrated in
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It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various tail portions, tail portion combinations and appendages described above with respect to applicant's drawings can be used with variations of either the forked tail portion 7, block tail portion 15, dual forked tail portion 26 and various other combinations described above, to facilitate the objective of effecting a hard body or flexible fishing lure that is able to “swim” through the water and vibrate at various retrieval speeds to closely simulate a “swimming” lizard, worm, crawfish, grub, minnow, tube bait and the like. Furthermore, these lures can be impaled on hooks of various design and attached to jig heads such as the jig head 57 and modified jig head 57a and fitted with a harness, as in the case of the spinner bait lure 49. Various other hook combinations and jig head combinations and the like known to those skilled in the art can be used in connection with the flexible fishing lure tails and appendages of this invention.
It will be further appreciated by those skilled in the art from a consideration of the drawings that the various tail and appendage neck areas can be varied in size and length, along with the size, shape and angle of the respective projecting shoulder pairs to create a vibration of selected proportions in all portions or segments of the lures, at any selected speed of retrieval of the lures through the water body. As described above, this total lure vibration is more pronounced in the thinner the tail or appendage neck and the more pronounced the shoulder projections at a selected retrieval speed. Furthermore, the respective body portions of the lures of this invention to which the tail vibration is imparted, can be constructed of hard plastic, wood, fiberglass and other materials, as well as molded of soft, flexible, resilient plastic materials of suitable composition, according to the knowledge of those skilled in the art. Since the vibration and “swimming” action of these respective tail and appendage assemblies depends upon the drag and eddy principle, that is, the shoulder causing drag in the water and the sloped rear shape or angle of the shoulder creating an eddy behind the tail portion, the shape of the respective neck and shoulder projections is also a factor in controlling the degree of vibration of the tail assembly and thus, the body portions, for any given speed of retrieval.
It has further been found that the forward projecting edges of each of the shoulders described above must be round rather than squared off, in order to create the desired lure “swimming” action. The rear edges of the shoulders for example, at the respective forked extensions may be square, but the forward edge elements of the shoulders should always be rounded.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made in the invention and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A fishing lure comprising a lure body; a flexible tail portion provided on said lure body, said flexible tail portion having opposite tail portion surfaces; and a tail shoulder provided in each of said opposite tail portion surfaces of said flexible tail portion for imparting vibration to said flexible tail portion and said lure body responsive to retrieval of said fishing lure through a water body.
2. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein said flexible tail portion is forked.
3. The fishing lure of claim 1 comprising a caudal fin having opposite caudal fin surfaces extending from said lure body and an anal fin having opposite anal fin surfaces extending from said lure body.
4. The fishing lure of claim 3 wherein said tail portion is forked and said lure body, said tail portion, said caudal fin and said anal fin are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
5. The fishing lure of claim 3 comprising a block tail shoulder provided on each of said caudal fin surfaces and said anal fin surfaces for imparting vibration to said caudal fin, said anal fin and said lure body responsive to said retrieval of said fishing lure through the water body.
6. The fishing lure of claim 5 wherein said flexible tail portion is forked.
7. The fishing lure of claim 6 comprising a pair of streamer fins extending from said lure body.
8. The fishing lure of claim 7 wherein said flexible tail portion is forked and said lure body, said caudal fin, said anal fin, said streamer fins and said flexible tail portion are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
9. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein said tail shoulder comprises a block tail shoulder and said flexible tail portion comprises a flexible block tail portion.
10. The fishing lure of claim 9 wherein said lure body and said flexible block tail portion are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
11. The fishing lure of claim 9 comprising a caudal fin having opposite caudal fin surfaces extending from said lure body and an anal fin having opposite anal fin surfaces extending from said lure body.
12. The fishing lure of claim 11 comprising a block tail shoulder provided on each of said caudal fin surfaces and said anal fin surfaces for imparting vibration to said caudal fin, said anal fin and said lure body responsive to said retrieval of said fishing lure through the water body.
13. The fishing lure of claim 12 comprising a pair of streamer fins extending from said lure body and wherein said lure body, said tail portion, said caudal fin, said anal fin and said streamer fins are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
14. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein said flexible tail portion comprises a multiple shoulder tail portion and said tail shoulder comprises a plurality of multiple shoulder tail portion shoulders.
15. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein said flexible tail portion comprises a slotted tail portion having a pair of slot extensions extending from said flexible tail portion and a tail slot between said pair of slot extensions.
16. The fishing lure of claim 1 wherein said flexible tail portion comprises a grooved tail portion having a tail groove in each of said opposite tail portion surfaces.
17. A fishing lure comprising a lure body; a dual tail portion provided on said lure body, said dual tail portion having a pair of flexible tail portions and said pair of flexible tail portions each having opposite surfaces; and a tail shoulder provided in said opposite surfaces of said pair of flexible tail portions, respectively, for imparting vibration to said pair of flexible tail portions and said lure body responsive to retrieval of said fishing lure through a water body.
18. The fishing lure of claim 17 wherein at least one of said pair of flexible tail portions is forked.
19. The fishing lure of claim 18 wherein said lure body and said pair of flexible tail portions are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
20. The fishing lure of claim 17 comprising a flexible caudal fin extending from said lure body and a flexible anal fin extending from said lure body.
21. The fishing lure of claim 20 comprising a block tail shoulder provided on said flexible caudal fin and a block tail shoulder provided on said flexible anal fin for imparting vibration to said flexible caudal fin, said flexible anal fin and said lure body responsive to said retrieval of said fishing lure through the water body.
22. The fishing lure of claim 17 wherein at least one of said pair of flexible tail portions comprises a block tail portion and said tail shoulder in said block tail portion is a substantially linear block tail shoulder.
23. The fishing lure of claim 22 wherein said lure body and said pair of flexible tail portions are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
24. The fishing lure of claim 17 wherein said dual tail portion comprises a dual horizontal forked tail portion.
25. A fishing lure comprising a lure body; a dual block tail portion provided on said lure body, said dual block tail portion having a pair of block tail portions each having opposite surfaces; and a block tail shoulder having a pair of block tail extensions extending from said opposite surfaces of said pair of block tail portions, respectively, said block tail shoulder disposed perpendicular to an axis of lure retrieval through a water body.
26. The fishing lure of claim 25 comprising a flexible caudal fin extending from said lure body and a flexible anal fin extending from said lure body.
27. The fishing lure of claim 26 comprising a block tail shoulder provided on said flexible caudal fin and a block tail shoulder provided on said flexible anal fin for imparting vibration to said flexible caudal fin, said flexible anal fin and said lure body responsive to said retrieval of said fishing lure through the water body.
28. The fishing lure of claim 27 wherein said lure body and said block tail portions are constructed of flexible, resilient plastic.
29. The fishing lure of claim 25 wherein said block tail shoulder comprises a block tail shoulder taper.
30. A fishing lure comprising a lure body; a forked tail neck extending from said lure body; a forked tail portion extending from said forked tail neck, said forked tail portion having opposite surfaces and a forked tail shoulder provided in each of said opposite surfaces of said forked tail portion for imparting vibration to said forked tail portion and said lure body responsive to retrieval of said fishing lure through a water body.
31. The fishing lure of claim 30 wherein said forked tail portion comprises a pair of fork extensions and comprising a fork extension curvature defined by said forked tail shoulder.
32. A fishing lure comprising a lure body; a block tail portion provided on said lure body, said block tail portion having opposite surfaces; and a linear block tail shoulder provided on each of said opposite surfaces of said block tail portion for imparting vibration to said block tail portion and said lure body responsive to retrieval of said fishing lure through a water body.
33. The fishing lure of claim 32 wherein said block tail shoulder comprises a block tail shoulder taper.
34. A crawfish lure comprising a crawfish lure body; a crawfish lure tail extending from said crawfish lure body; a pair of forked claws extending from said crawfish lure body, each of said pair of forked claws having opposite surfaces; and a claw fork shoulder provided in each of said opposite surfaces for imparting vibration to said forked claws, said crawfish lure body and said crawfish lure tail responsive to retrieval of said crawfish lure through a water body.
35. A segmented worm lure comprising a plurality of adjacent, connected worm segments; a forked tail portion provided at one end of said plurality of adjacent worm segments, said forked tail portion having opposite surfaces and a tail shoulder provided in each of said opposite surfaces; and a pair of fork extensions provided on said forked tail portion for imparting vibration to said forked tail portion and said worm segments responsive to retrieval of said segmented worm lure through a water body.
36. The segmented worm lure of claim 35 wherein said plurality of adjacent worm segments comprises a plurality of adjacent body beads.
37. A method for vibrating the tail and body of a fishing lure having at least a flexible tail extending from the body, comprising the step of providing a shoulder on the tail for vibrating the tail and the body responsive to retrieval of the fishing lure through a water body.
38. The method of claim 37 wherein the body is flexible.
39. The method of claim 37 comprising providing opposite tail surfaces on the tail and wherein the shoulder extends from both of the opposite tail surfaces.
40. The method of claim 39 wherein the body is flexible.
41. A method for inducing vibration in a flexible body portion of a fishing lure having a flexible tail portion with opposite tail surfaces extending from said body portion, comprising the step of providing a shoulder on each of said opposite tail surfaces of said flexible tail portion for vibrating said tail portion and said body portion responsive to retrieval of said fishing lure through a water body.
42. The method of claim 41 wherein said flexible body portion comprises a flexible caudal fin and a flexible anal fin and further comprising the step of inducing vibration in at least one of said caudal fin and said anal fin by providing a shoulder in said at least one of said caudal fin and said anal fin.
43. The method of claim 42 wherein said step of inducing vibration in at least one of said caudal fin and said anal fin comprises the step of inducing vibration in both of said caudal fin and said anal fin by providing said shoulder in each of said caudal fin and said anal fin.
44. A segmented worm lure comprising a plurality of adjacent, connected worm segments; a forked tail portion provided at one end of said plurality of adjacent worm segments, said forked tail portion having opposite surfaces and a tail shoulder provided in each of said opposite surfaces; and a pair of fork extensions provided on said forked tail portion for imparting vibration to said forked tail portion and said worm segments responsive to retrieval of said segmented worm lure through a water body.
45. The segmented worm lure of claim 44 wherein said plurality of adjacent worm segments comprises a plurality of adjacent body beads.
46. The segmented worm lure of claim 44 wherein at least said forked tail portion is constructed of flexible plastic.
47. The segmented worm lure of claim 46 wherein said plurality of adjacent worm segments comprises a plurality of adjacent body beads.
48. The segmented worm lure of claim 44 wherein said tail shoulder comprises a rounded protuberance on said opposite surfaces of said forked tail portion.
49. The segmented worm lure of claim 48 wherein said plurality of adjacent worm segments comprises a plurality of adjacent body beads.
50. The segmented worm lure of claim 48 wherein at least said forked tail portion is constructed of flexible plastic.
51. The segmented worm lure of claim 48 wherein said plurality of adjacent worm segments comprises a plurality of adjacent body beads and at least said forked tail portion is constructed of flexible plastic.
52. A worm lure comprising an elongated worm body; a tail portion provided at one end of said worm body, said tail portion having opposite surfaces; and a tail shoulder provided in each of said opposite surfaces for imparting vibration to said tail portion and said worm body responsive to retrieval of said worm lure through a water body.
53. The worm lure of claim 52 wherein at least said tail portion is constructed of flexible plastic.
54. The worm lure of claim 52 wherein said worm body and said tail portion are constructed of flexible plastic.
55. The worm lure of claim 52 wherein said tail shoulder comprises a rounded protuberance on said opposite surfaces of said tail portion.
56. The worm lure of claim 55 wherein said tail portion and said worm body are constructed of flexible plastic.
57. A method for inducing vibration in a fishing lure having an elongated body and a tail portion having opposite tail portion surfaces extending from one end of the body, comprising the steps of providing a protuberance on each of the opposite tail portion surfaces for vibrating the tail portion and the body of the fishing lure responsive to retrieval of the fishing lure through a water body.
58. The method of claim 57 comprising the step of constructing at least the tail portion of the fishing lure of flexible plastic.
59. The method of claim 57 comprising the step of constructing the body and tail portion of the fishing lure of flexible plastic.
60. The method of claim 57 comprising the step of shaping body segments in the elongated body of the fishing lure.
61. The method of claim 60 comprising the step of constructing at least the tail portion of the fishing lure of flexible plastic.
62. The method of claim 60 comprising the step of constructing the body and tail portion of the fishing lure of flexible plastic.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 16, 2004
Publication Date: Jun 16, 2005
Inventor: Bobby King (Mesa, AZ)
Application Number: 11/014,036