IE46665B1

IE46665B1 - Method and apparatus for use in fishing

Info

Publication number: IE46665B1
Application number: IE419/78A
Authority: IE
Original assignee: Jacobsen Kevin Nils
Priority date: 1978-03-28
Filing date: 1978-03-28
Publication date: 1983-08-24
Also published as: GB2016881A; NO149408B; IS1118B6; DK123879A; IE780419L; GB2016881B; NO791013L; IS2482A7

Abstract

Hooks 26 spaced apart along a line, such as is used in "long line" fishing, are baited by drawing the line through an elongated tubular member 11 into which bait is fed, and having an inlet and an outlet for the line to pass into and out of the tubular member. A blocking device in the form of a brush-assembly 31 having flexible brush- bristles 37 is provided in association with the outlet of the tubular member, so as to retain a mass of bait in the tubular member, while allowing bait which has been impaled by the hooks as the line passes through the tubular member, to pass freely out of the outlet.

Description

•This invention relates to a method and apparatus for use in handling and baiting long fishing lines of the kind which are used with sea-going fishing vessels, for catching white-fish such as cod, ling, ray, turbot, plaice .and haddock by the method known as long line fishing.

Such fishing lines have hooks spaced apart along the main line and attached to the main line by short trailing lengths of line called snoods. The individual hooks have to have pieces of 'bait attached thereto, the bait-material used when fishing for white-fish usually being cut-up pieces of mackerel or herring.

In the past baiting of the hooks of such fishing lines has been carried out manually, either aboard the. vessel, or even ashore. In the latter case, spare sets of fishing lines have to be provided so that spare lines can be baited by shore personnel while the vessel is at sea, so that a supply of baited lines will be available when the vessel returns to port after each fishing voyage. In that event an excessive number of fishing lines has to be provided, while in either case (i.e. using manual baiting either aboard the vessel or ashore) the manpower requirement is excessive.

Devices have been proposed for baiting such fishing lines mechanically but the devices proposed have not been found satisfactory in use. In some cases, it has been found - 3 46665 - 4 by the hooks to pass freely out of the outlet. t According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for use in baiting a fishing line of the kind having hooks spaced apart along it, the apparatus comprising an elongated tubular member having an inlet and an outlet spaced apart along the length of the tubular member, for a line to pass into and out of the tubular member, an opening for feeding bait into the tubular member and a brush-assembly associated with the outlet, having flexible brush-bristles which are adapted to retain a mass of bait in the tubular member so that in use, when a line with hooks thereon' is drawn through the mass of bait retained in the tubular member, bait which is impaled by the hooks is allowed by the brush-bristles, to pass freely out of the outlet When using the method and apparatus of the invention, it is possible for a line to be baited in a continuous operation, as it is paid out from the fishing vessel.

During fishing operations using a fishing line of the above-mentioned kind, as the line is hauled inboard, the fish may be removed from the hooks, the hooks may then be cleaned and the line with the hooks carried thereby may then be fed to a magazine, in which the line is stored until required for a further fishing operation. Xn accordance with a preferred feature of the invention, therefore, the apparatus provided by the invention includes a magazine for storing a fishing line and guide means for feeding a line from the magazine to the inlet of the 6 6 6 5 tubular member.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description, given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of one form of baiting apparatus, and of the manner in which it is used for carrying out the method of the invention.

In the drawings :Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the main part of the apparatus, including the baiting device proper; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line II-II in Fig 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line III-III in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an elevational view showing a linemagazine which is used in conjunction with the baiting device of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a scrap view in section on the line V-V in Fig. 4, drawn to a larger scale.

The apparatus which will now be described, includes a baiting device for carrying out the operation of baiting a fishing line of the kind having hooks spaced apart along it and attached to the main line by snoods, and a magazine for storing the line to be baited. The baiting device and the magazine are shown respectively in Fig, 1 and Fig. 4 and in order to obtain an overall view of the apparatus, it is necessary to consider Figs. 1 and 4 together. The components of the apparatus are shown somewhat diagrammatically, without the supporting means - 6 therefor being shown. In practice, the components of the apparatus are carried by a suitable frame-work (not shown in the drawings) which is mounted aboard a fishing vessel.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a baiting device indicated generally at 10, which comprises a hollow body fabricated from stainless steel by welding and consisting of an elongated tubular member 11 of rectangular cross-section, welded to a funnel-member 12. As can best be seen in Fig. 3, the internal passage 13 in the tubular member 11 opens directly into the interior of the funnelmember 12 by way of a rectangular opening 14. Thus the funnel-member 12 serves as a receptacle to receive surplus bait discharged from tubular member 11 by way of the opening 14.

The upper part of the funnel-member 12 consists of an open trough-like portion 15, while the lower part 16 is of downwardly convergent form and leads to a discharge orifice 17 (Fig. 2) communicating with a discharge pipe 18.

At the end of the tubular member 11 opposite to the opening 14, the member 11 has an opening 19 fitted with a conical guide-member 20. The openings 19 and 14 provide respectively, an inlet and an outlet spaced apart along the length of the member 11, by means of which a line 21 can pass into and out of the member 11 and thence through the trough-portion 15, emerging through opening 22.

At its· upper part, the member 11 has an opening 23 (Fig. 3) fitted with a hopper 24 for bait to be fed into _ 7 the member 11, in th? form of a sloppy mixture made by mixing cut-up bait with water.

As the line 21 passes through the guide-member 20 and into the passage 13, the guide-member 20 serves to align snoods 25 carried by the line 21, so that the snoods 25 and hooks 26 carried thereby pass into the passage 13 without becoming twisted or tangled. A pulley 27 is mounted on the framework of the apparatus, and serves as guide means to guide the line 21 towards the opening 19.

Referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the configuration of the whole arrangement is such that the line 21 bears on the one hand, on the lower edge of inlet opening 19 at A and on the other hand, on the lower edge of opening 22 at B, and follows a rectilinear track between these two points, passing through approximately the central point of opening 14 at C.

A brush-assembly 31 is fitted into the troughportion 15, by being slid vertically downwards behind two brackets 32,33 welded at suitable positions in the trough20 portion, and rests on the walls of the convergent lower part 16 of funnel-member 12, at 34,35 (Fig. 2). The brush-assembly 31 consists of a U-shaped wooden block 36 which forms a mounting for brush-bristles 37. The bristles 37 are mounted to extend generally radially relatively to aperture 38 in U-shaped block 36, but so as to be inclined outwardly relatively to the plane of block 36, thus projecting into the trough-portion 15, as most clearly shown in Fig. 3. - 8 As bait is fed by way of the hopper 24, it collects in the passage 13 of the member 11. The array of bristles 37 serves to retain a mass of bait 40 in the passage 13 and, as the line 21 with the hooks 26 thereon is drawn through the mass of bait, pieces of bait are impaled by the hooks. Because of the flexibility characteristics of the bristles 37, the hooks and the pieces of bait carried t f thereby are able to pass through the outlet 14 without the [ bait becoming detached from the hooks. At the same time, a considerable amount of loose bait also escapes past the bristles and falls into the funnel-member 12. Any bait which subsequently falls off the hooks also drops into the funnel-member 12.

Hoses 29 are provided in association with the trough-portion 15, so as to direct jets of water into the latter, and bait falling into the funnel-member 12 is washed down into the convergent part 16 and thence through the discharge orifice 17 and into the pipe 18, from which it is collected for re-use. The baited line 21 emerging from the baiting device through opening 22 is paid out continuously into the sea.

Bait which is washed down the pipe 18 may be led by means of a hose (not shown) into a container which is trailed over the side of the vessel in the sea and is thus kept fresh for subsequent re-use.

The bristles 37 are commercially available nylon brush-bristles of a grade stiff enough to ensure that the mass of bait 40 is retained in the passage 13, but not so 46668 - 9 stiff as to hamper the individual baited hooks from passing out of the outlet 14, or to cause bait to be torn off from the hooks. It is not the intention that the bristles 37 should prevent all unhooked bait from passing 5 through the outlet 14. This would require an unacceptable degree of stiffness in the bristles. In practice, approximately 30% of the bait fed to the hopper 24 eventually falls down loose into the funnel-member 12. However, there is no disadvantage in this, since all this surplus bait is collected and re-used.

As the line 21 passes through the mass of bait 40 in the member 11, the individual hooks may pick up several pieces of bait, some of which may be knocked off the hooks as the line passes through the trough-portion 15, or may be washed off by the water jets from the hoses 29. However, it is found in practice that over 90% of the hooks have sufficient bait still engaged therewith.

In carrying out the method of the invention, the bait used will usually be cut considerably smaller than has customarily been the case hitherto. Preferably the bait (e.g. mackerel or herring) is cut into cubes having an edge-dimension of from 10 mm to 20 mm and the cut bait is mixed with water to provide a mixture of the desired sloppy consistency.

When using cut bait of this size, as the hooks 26 pass through the member 11, several pieces of bait may be hooked on each individual hook. However, as each hook passes through the member 11, some of these pieces of bait -10may be knocked off and replaced by others which become more securely hooked, in what may be regarded as a hit and miss process.

The line to be baited is fed to the baiting device 10 from the line-magazine shown in Fig. 4 and designated generally by the reference numeral 100. The magazine comprises a narrow upright box-like structure 101, having side walls of trapezium-shape, with two narrow end walls between them. Thus one of the end walls 102 is upright while the other end wall 103 is inclined to the vertical. Only one of the trapezium-shaped side walls is visible in the drawing. It consists of a wooden frame 104 having an opening 105 fitted with wire-mesh 106, so that air can circulate through the magazine to assist in drying the line therein.

The end wall 102 is extended upwardly to form an upright 107 which supports a rail-member 110 projecting horizontally from the upright 107. When a line to be stored is fed into the magazine, the hooks of the line are slid into engagement with the rail-member 110, a few such hooks being shown in Fig. 4 and designated 126. The snoods 125 hang downwardly from the hooks 126 and thus the main line is suspended in loops 121 in the box 101.

The magazine 100 as a whole, is slidable into and out of the operative position shown in Fig. 4. The full magazine is slid into position in the direction indicated by the arrow a in Fig. 4, and the end 109 of the rail-member 110 is thus brought into end-to-end engagement _ 11 _ with a fixed rail-member 130 which is visible in both Fig. 4 and Fig. 1. The rail-member 110 is then contiguous with the fixed rail-member 130, which latter extends from the rail-member 110 of the magazine, towards the inlet 19 of the tubular member 11.

After the line has been withdrawn from the magazine for baiting, the magazine is removed by sliding it outwards in the opposite direction to the arrow a. A further line can then be fed into th,e empty magazine by sliding the hooks of the line into engagement with the railmember 110, from the free end 109. The snoods 125 then hang down in the manner previously described, and the loops 121 of the main line are packed into the box 101.

The rail-member 110 is made of stainless steel and, as can be seen in Fig. 5, it has a hollow profile consisting of a bottom wall 111, two upright walls 112,113 and an upper wall 114. A rod 115 of circular cross-section is welded to the edge of the wall 113. The upper wall 114 projects from the wall 112 towards the wall 113, and thus defines with the rod 115, a slot 116. An intermediate wall 117 extends from the wall 112, internally of the hollow profile. Successive hooks are slid into engagement with the rail-member 110, starting from the free end 109, with each hook 126 being engaged in the slot 116, and being guided in its sliding movement along the rail-member 110, by the rod 115 and the intermediate wall 117.

Two brush-assemblies 141,142 are supported by the framework of the apparatus. As can be seen from Fig. 5, - 12 the upper brush-assembly 142 consists of two wooden battens 143,144, eaoh carrying a row of brush-bristles 145,146.

As shown in Fig. 4, the lower brush-assembly 141 is mounted so as to extend at an angle to the upper brush5 assembly 142. It is of similar construction to the assembly 142, but its bristles are stiffer.

One of the battens of each brush-assembly 141,142 is mounted so as to be pivotable towards and away from the other batten of the assembly, as indicated in the case of the batten 144 in Fig. 5, by the arrow b. In order to bring the full magazine 100 into, the position shown in Fig. 4, by sliding movement in the direction of the arrow a as previously described, it is necessary for the movable brushbattens of the assemblies 141,142 to be pivoted into displaced positions,' so as to allow the snoods 125 to pass between the opposed rows of bristles. When the magazine has been brought into its final position, the movable brushbattens are returned to their normal positions, so that the snoods are engaged by the opposed rows of bristles. This position is shown in Fig. 5, where bristle-rows 145,146 are shown engaging snood 125.

In order to carry out the baiting operation, the line is drawn out from the box 101 and over the pulley 27, which thus serves as guide means for feeding the line from the magazine to the inlet 19 of-the tubular member 11. As the line is drawn out in this way, the individual snoods are pulled out of engagement with the brush-assemblies 141,142 and successive loop portions 121 of the main line - 13 are thus pulled up into engagement with the brush-assembly 141 as shown in Fig. 4. This movement is assisted by the inclined configuration of the wall 103. Thus the line is guided into correct alignment with the pulley 27. At the same time each individual snood 125 is pulled towards the pulley 27 so that the associated hook 126 slides along the rail 110, under the control of the brush-assembly 142.

The successive hooks then slide from the railmember 110 on to the rail-member 130 and along the latter 10 towards the inlet 19. A further brush-member 131 is provided above the rail-member 130, with its bristles in engagement with the upper edge of the rail-member 130, so that these bristles serve to control the sliding movement of the hooks along the rail-member 131. Finally, the snoods and hooks are guided into the inlet 19 by the action of the guide-member 20, in the manner previously described.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of baiting a fishing line of the kind having hooks spaced apart along it, wherein the line is I 1 drawn through an elongated tubular member having an inlet 5 and an outlet spaced apart along the length of the tubular member, for the line to pass into and out of the tubular member, bait being} fed into the tubular member through an opening therein, so that bait is impaled by the hooks as the line passes through the tubular member, and wherein a brush10 assembly is provided in association with the outlet, having flexible brush-bristles which retain a mass of bait in the tubular member so that the line with the hooks thereon is drawn through the mass of bait retained in the tubular member, while the brush-bristles allow bait impaled by the 15 hooks to pass freely out of the outlet.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the surplus bait which passes the brush-assembly without being impaled by the hooks, is collected and reused.

3. Apparatus for use in baiting a fishing line of the 20 kind having hooks spaced apart along it, the apparatus comprising an elongated tubular member having an inlet and an outlet spaced apart along the length of the tubular member, for a line to pass into and out of the tubular member, an opening for feeding bait into the tubular member and a brush25 assembly associated with the outlet, having flexible brushbristles which are adapted to retain a mass of bait in the tubular member so that in use, when a line with hooks thereon is drawn through the mass of bait retained in the - 15 tubular member, bait which is impaled by the hooks is allowed by the brush-bristles to pass freely out of the outlet.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a / receptacle adjacent to the outlet of,the tubular member, for collecting surplus bait which passes the brush-assembly / without being impaled by the hooks', or which subsequently becomes detached from the hooks.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the brush-assembly comprises a U-shaped element forming an aperture, and an array of brush-bristles carried by the Ushaped element and extending radially inwards relatively to the said aperture.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 or claim 5 as appendant to claim 4, wherein the said receptacle comprises a funnel-member having a discharge orifice for the discharge of bait collected thereby.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the outlet of the tubular member communicates directly with the interior of the funnel-member.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6 or claim 7, having water-jets associated with the funnel-member for flushing bait which falls into the funnel-member, towards the discharge orifice.

9. Apparatus according to any of claims 3 to 8, wherein a rail-member is provided, extending towards the inlet of the tubular member and adapted to be engaged by hooks on a line being drawn through the tubular member, to - 16 46668 support such hooks for sliding movement towards the inlet of the tubular member.

10. Apparatus according to any of claims 3 to 9, wherein a conical guide-member is provided adjacent the inlet of the tubular member, to guide hooks on a line being drawn through the tubular member, into the said inlet.

11. Apparatus according to any of claims 3 to 10, including a magazine for storing a fishing line and guide means for feeding a line from the magazine to the inlet of the tubular member.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the magazine includes a rail-member adapted to receive in sliding engagement, hooks on a line to be stored in the magazine, whereby when hooks on a line to be stored are slid into engagement with the rail-member, the line is suspended from the hooks.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12 as appendant to claim 9, wherein the rail-member of the magazine is contiguous with the first-mentioned rail-member, which latter extends from the rail-member of the magazine, towards the inlet of the tubular member, so that hooks of a line stored in the magazine can slide from the rail-member of the magazine, into engagement with the first-mentioned railmember.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the said guide means comprises a pulley to feed a line from the magazine to the inlet of the tubular member, as hooks on the line slide along the respective rail-members towards the said inlet.

15. A method of baiting a fishing line, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. Apparatus for use in baiting a fishing line, substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.