Fishing lure with self-activated hook

Abstract

An artificial fishing lure such as a surface plug of streamline form has a lure body with a front and rear end and mounts at least one hook for movement longitudinally by its shank in an elongated slot between a forward position relative to the front of the body and a rearward position thereof. A fishing line is attached directly to the at least one hook and a coil spring or rubber band biases the hook in the retracted position. When the fish strikes the lure body, the hook automatically moves forwardly against the biasing means to hook the fish while the fish has the lure body grasped in its mouth. A wire support member mounted within the slot and fixed to the body slidably supports a wire hook carrier for movement longitudinally parallel to the wire support member. The wire support member may comprise a cylinder in line with the longitudinal axis of the lure body with a compression coil spring carried within the cylinder. A piston fixed to the hook carrier engages one end of the coil spring while the cylinder engages the other end of the coil spring. During striking of the fish and grasping of the lure body, the piston moves to compress the coil spring while the hook carrier shifts the at least one hook forwardly in the direction of the front of the lure body resulting in hooking of the fish.