TROLLING BAIT SHIFTING COLOUR

APPAT ARTIFICIEL CAMELEONESQUE POUR LA PECHE A LA TRAINE

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE


An artificial trolling bait, such as a wiggler,
spinner, spoon or ice-fishing bait, made of transparent
material is provided with a colour shifting property to
enhance its fish attracting qualities. A colour-imparting
object such as coloured paper, metal, and the like is
placed between or behind an array of prisms mounted in-
teriorly of the bait. The prisms are positioned at various
predetermined angles and in various configurations to
improve the colour shifting property.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN
EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED
AS FOLLOWS:
1. A trolling bait having colour shifting
properties comprised by:
a body of transparent material having walls
defining a closed cavity therein and defining an exterior
surface and an interior surface of said body, a major
portion of the exterior surface of the body being smoothly
contoured and free of light reflecting surface indentations
or excressences,
an object having a selected colour positioned
within the cavity and spaced from the interior surface of
the body, and
light reflecting members formed in the interior
surface of said body and which are defined by prismatic
indentations, said prismatic indentations being arranged
in separate groups with their axis of reflection substan-
tially perpendicular to the adjacent mutually presented
exterior surface of said body, the indentations of each
group being arranged at an angle which differs from the
angle of the indentations of each other group.

Description

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The present invention relates to a colour-shifting
trolling bait, such as a wiggler, spinner, spoon or ice-
fishing bait, made of plastic, glass or an equivalent
material and, more particularly, to such a bait in which the
colour shifting property has been achieved using prisms and
a coloured object.
Various kinds of trolling baits of the foregoing
type, utilizing the light reflection phenomenon, are known.
Some examples thereof are those baits disclosed inFinnish
Patent No. 43,246 and in U,S~ Patents No. 3,631,625 and
3,879,883, although these baits are encumbered by the draw-
back of a poor reflection effect in obscure and murky waters
and particularly under dark conditions.
The principal object of the present invention is
to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art, thereby
improving the fish attracting qualities of my bait even
under unfavourable conditions.
The problems of the prior art may be substantially
overcome and the foregoing object achieved by recourse to my
invention which is a trolling bait having colour-shifting
properties comprised by, a body of transparent material
having walls defining a closed cavity therein and defining
an exterior surface and an interior surface of the body, a
major portion of the exterior surface of the body being
smoothly contoured and free of light reflecting surface in-
dentations or excressences, an object having a selected
colour positioned within the cavity and spaced from the in-
terior surface of the body, and light reflecting members
formed in the interior surface of the body and which are
defined by prismatic indentations, the prismatic indentations

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being arranged in separate groups with tneir axis of
reflection substantially perpendi¢ular to the adjacent
mutually presented exterior surface of the body, the in-
dentations of each group being arranged at an angle which
differs from the angle of the indentations of each other
group.
The invention will now be more particularly de~
scribed with reference to embodiments thereof shown, by
way of example, in the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a side view of a spinner embodying
the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a side view of a spoon bait embodying
the present invention;
Fig. 3 is a side view of a wiggling type lure
embodying the present invention;
Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the lure of Fig. 3;
and
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the lure of
Fig. 3 taken along the line A-A.
In the embodiments depicted in Figs. 1 and 2, a
plurality of light-refracting prisms 2 have been affixed to
'~ an exterior surface lof thebait. The prisms 2 may be of
various sizes and are fitted at various predetermined angles
and in various predetermined configurations in order to
enhance and change a colour-shifting action of the bait.
In Figs. 3-5 of the drawing there is shown an al-
ternative form of trolling bait having colour-shifting pro-
perties, the trolling bait being comprised by a body of a
transparent material having walls which define a closed cavity
within the body, the walls defining exterior and interior


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surfaces of the body.
As is more clearly shown in Fig. ~, the exterior
surface of the body is smoothly contoured and free of light
reflecting surface indentations or excressences. Also, as
shown more clearly in Fig. 5 of the drawings, an object 4
having a selected colour is positioned within the cavity and
is disposed in spaced relation with the interior surface of
the body.
While the exterior surface of the body is smoothly
1~ contoured and free of liyht reflecting surface indentations
or excressences, the interior surface thereof has formed there-
in a plurality of separate groups of light reflecting members,
which are arranged with the axis of reflection of the respec-
tive light reflecting members substantially perpendicular to
the adjacent mutually presented exterior surface of the body.
In this way, depending upon the angle at which the trolling
bait is viewed, either the light reflecting members serve to
reflect incident light in the event that viewing is substan-
tially along the axis of reflection of the indentations, or,
in the event that the viewing is at an angle to the axis of
reflection, the coloured object position within the trolling
bait will then become visible, thus imparting a colour shift
between that of the transparent body material and the colour
of the coloured object contained within the body.
In order to enhance the fish attracting qualities
of the aforesaid wiggling type lure, even under unfavourable
conditions, i.e., at dusk, in darkness and in turbid waters,
the lure is fitted in a cavity 3 with either an incandescent
lamp (not shown), a phosphorescent ob~ect, or equivalent
light source.




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It will be apparent to those skilled in the art
that the described embodiments of the invention may be sub-
stantially varied to meet specialized requirements without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention dis-
closed. These embodiments should not, therefore, be taken
as limiting but rather as exemplary structures of the in-
vention which is defined by the claims appended hereto.




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