The Fishing Tech “Tree of Life” is gnarled, to say the least. For every unmistakeable precursor to a successful fishing tech product category, there are dozens of attempts — half-witted at best, hare-brained at worst — whose primary purpose seems to have been to intrigue and amuse anglers decades or centuries hence.
In our quest to better understand fishing technology, we’re often poring through Google Patents late at night. Especially after a beer or two. Don’t judge us!
Sometimes we stumble across a bit of a mystery. We poke around on the interwebs, but just can’t seem to get an answer.
Such is the case of the 1964 US patent #US3123798A, un-inspiringly titled FISH FINDER.
Lures are funny things. In one sense, they’re the simplest device in the fishing process short of the sinker, the bobber, or your basic hook. But they also probably receive the most thought, planning, and design. It might not be too farfetched to say that more engineering and creative labor has gone into lure crafting than fish finders, pedal drives, or other fancy tech you see out on the water these days.
In a basic sense, lure design boils down to one goal: which one is going to hook the biggest/most fish.