FISHING BAIT

Technical Field

This invention relates generally to bait which is useful in fishing, particularly commercial fishing, and more particularly concerns fishing bait which includes a casing element which in turn contains material attractive to fish.

Background Art

In commercial fishing, the commonly used bait is fish such as herring, octopus, salmon, pollock, codfish, and hake, as well as other fish. The bait fish is typically cut into relatively small portions by hand or with the use of bait cutters, placed on hooks by hand or through the use of automatic baiters, and then set in the water. However, this process, which is typical throughout the industry, has several dis¬ tinct disadvantages. It is labor intensive, and typi¬ cally results in a significant amount of waste, up to forty percent (40%) of the original weight of the fish used for the bait. Further, the bait portions are typi¬ cally nonuniform in size and configuration, often lead¬ ing to improper hooking, as well as overbaiting and underbaiting. Still further, and perhaps most signifi¬ cant, such bait has a relatively short useful life on the hook. All of the above disadvantages add to the cost of commercial fishing, and limit productivity.

The art has been characterized by relatively small advances, such as the use of power equipment in cutting the bait and maintaining the temperature of

the bait relatively low during handling in order to reduce spoilage and increase its useful life. This is perhaps partially because the art has not been charac¬ terized by significant research or development. In fact the bait itself and the process described above which is currently used by most commercial fishermen, is very similar to that which has been used for a very long time.

The present invention is a manufactured bait which significantly reduces and/or solves the above described disadvantages and/or problems of conventional bait.

Disclosure of the Invention

Accordingly, the invention is a fishing bait which includes a casing element , which is adapted to internally carry material which is attractive to fish, wherein the casing element is constructed to permit gradual escape of some of the attractive material when the bait is in the water and further adapted to receive a fishing hook.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic view showing a length of casing and a separate portion of ground fish, com¬ prising one embodiment of the fishing bait of the pres¬ ent invention.

Figure 2 is a partially cut-away view of a bait portion embodying the principles of the present invention.

Figure 3 shows one possible placement of a fishing hook for the bait shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 shows an alternative to the arrange¬ ment of Figure 3.

Best Mode For Carrying Out The Invention

The present invention is a bait which is useful for all bait fishing, but is most practical for commercial fishermen who use a large number of baited hooks. A single bait portion of the present invention is shown in schematic, partially cut-away, form in Fig¬ ure 2. The bait portion 10 comprises an outer casing 11 which, because of its porosity, or following punc¬ ture thereof, permits gradual escape or leaching of inner material 13, which is contained within the casing and which is attractive to fish, when the bait 10 is in the water. The respective ends of each bait portion 10 are closed by two metal clips 15 and 17.

In the embodiment shown, casing 11 comprises a tightly woven cotton or polyester fabric. The cas¬ ing is in the form of a sleeve and is readily commer¬ cially available. Both the cotton and/or the polyester fabrics, being woven and- thus porous, would permit some quantity of oil from the ground fish and also some of the ground fish itself to leach out into the surround¬ ing water, thus attracting fish to the bait and hence the hook. The casing has a tight enough weave to pre¬ vent a substantial portion of the ground fish from escaping. Both cotton and polyester are also strong enough to withstand the action of fish, as well as predators, attacking the bait, without tearing or breaking apart. In the embodiment shown, cotton is preferred, because it has the desirable structural characteristics pointed out above, and is more bio- degradeable compared to polyester or other fabrics .

In the embodiment shown, the casing is sleeve-like in configuration and thus contains no lon¬ gitudinal seams, which makes it somewhat easier to use and the resulting bait less labor intensive than using a flat piece of fabric and stitching it to provide a sleeve-like configuration for the casing. The metal

clips 15 and 17 are conventional and secure the two ends 19 and 21 of casing 11 in a conventional fashion. Typically, the clips 15 and 17 are approximately 1/4" long and tightly close off each end of the casing .

It should be understood that casing 11 could comprise materials beside cotton and/or polyester, including plastics, and metal or plastic screen mate¬ rial. The material could even be non-porous in certain circumstances, although in that event the casing would have to be punctured in some manner prior to the bait being set, so as to still permit slow escape of a small portion of the inner material and/or the oils thereof into the water. Solid plastic casings could be utilized, as long as they have sufficient strength to withstand the action of attacking fish and other marine predators, without tearing or breaking apart, which would otherwise result in the inner material spilling out into the surrounding water, thereby de¬ stroying the usefulness of the bait.

• Although the embodiment shown uses metal clips to secure the two ends of the casing, other means or techniques could be used, such as by tying the casing itself, using string or wire to tie the ends, by heat sealing, or some other similar means.

In the embodiment shown, the casing 11 is tightly stuffed with ground fish such as herring, octopus, salmon, hake or any other fish. However, the inner material could be vegetable or other matter which is attractive to fish or which is treated to be attrac¬ tive to fish. The inner material, i.e. fish, is ground to permit use of the entire fish, thereby substantially eliminating any waste, a significant improvement over conventional methods. The grinding is fairly uniform and also fairly fine, so that fish oils, and semi-liq¬ uid portions of the ground fish, can move through the casing 11 into the surrounding water after the gear

has been set. Materials other than fish could be used if attractive to fish. Also, filler material can be used with the ground fish to decrease the expense of the bait. Still further, material inherently unattrac¬ tive to fish could be made attractive by saturating such material with fish oil, etc.

The bait shown in Figure 2 can be readily made in various sizes, depending upon the particular fish to be caught. In fishing for halibut, for in¬ stance, the bait will typically be 1 - 1 1/4" in diame¬ ter and 4" long, while in fishing for black cod, a bait portion approximately 1/2" in diameter and 1 1/2" long is used. Both of the above sizes can be easily made using the principles of the present invention. Other sizes can be conveniently made as well. The weight of a bait portion will vary, but halibut bait will typically be approximately 4 ounces.

In the process for making the bait, conven¬ tional meat grinding and sausage stuffing machines are used. The fish or other material used for the inner material or stuffing is first ground to a relatively fine consistency, as explained above. The grinding of the stuffing material, while not essential to the in¬ vention, is desirable, since it permits ease of stuff¬ ing as well as a better leaching of the fish oil, etc. through the casing to the surrounding water.

The fish to be ground is typically slightly thawed from a frozen state, which permits ease of grinding. The ground fish is kept close to freezing during stuffing, to increase ease of handling, to avoid loss of material and maintain quality. The casing 11 will usually be cut initially into lengths of approxi¬ mately 30 feet, although other lengths could be used, and then is stuffed by means of a conventional sausage stuffing machine which inserts the ground fish fairly

tightly into the cotton casing, as shown figuratively in Figure 1. The machine pumps the fish into the cas¬ ing, so that handwork is kept to a minimum.

The length of stuffed casing is then applied to another portion of the machine or another machine which automatically applies the clips to the ends of each portion of bait. This could be done by automatic¬ ally advancing, clipping and severing the length of casing into individual bait portions, or the stuffed casing could be advanced by hand, clipped by machine and then severed by hand. All of the above machines are commercially available from a wide variety of sources. The machines can be controlled to provide a wide variety of sizes, as explained above. The result¬ ing bait, however, will have the advantage of substan¬ tial uniformity of size and configuration.

The bait of the present invention can be attached to fishing hooks either b __hand or with an conventional automatic baiter. Referring to Figure 3, the hook 23 is typically inserted in the vicinity of one end 25 of the finished bait portion 27, near the metal clip 29, which is a secure position for the hook. Alternatively, a loop could be formed at one end of the bait portion, or, referring particularly to Figure 4, a gro met 31 can be inserted at one end 33 of a bait portion 35 to provide a fixed opening for insertion of a hook 37.

With automatic baiters, a large number of bait portions are lined up and the hooks are then passed by the bait portions. The hooks grab the bait and then the gear is cast overboard and set, in water which may vary from quite shallow to extremely deep (700 fathoms) and greater. The use of the present invention is certainly not limited to a particular depth or to catch particular fish. The invention does result in a significant increase in proper baiting.

either when the baiting is accomplished by hand or with an automatic baiter, of which many are commercially available, primarily because of the uniform size and configuration of the bait portions.

The fishing gear includes long lines, and hundreds if not thousands of gangions and hooks secured thereto. The casing of the bait has sufficient stren¬ gth that the bait remains on the hook during the set¬ ting of the gear. Further, as explained above, the casing can withstand the action of predators such as shrimp, crab, starfish,and sand fleas, as well as fish, without breaking apart. Tests have indicated that the useful life of the present bait is several times that of conventional bait.

Thus, a fish bait has been described which makes use of ground fish or other material attractive to fish,, wherein the groμnd fish is stuffed into a casing which is adapted to permit small portions of the ground fish and/or the oils thereof to escape into surrounding water to attract fish. By virtue of the construction of the bait, as well as its unfor size and configuration, the percentage of proper hooking of the bait is increased, as well as the useful life of the bait.

Although a preferred embodiment of the pres¬ ent invention has been disclosed for purposes of illus¬ tration, it should be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in such embodiment, without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims which follow.