26 minutes ago, Munkin said:

Chatterbait is not new, there's a blade called the Eaker shaker from the 80s.

 

Allen 

Not familiar with the Eaker, but the z-man folks got patents on the chatterbait, so the latter needed to be new, useful and nonobvious in order to obtain the patent.  Otherwise, the Eaker would have been blocking prior art during patent prosecution, so something about the chatterbait must be different.

4 minutes ago, PotatoLake said:

One of my favorite lures in the prespawn.

 

 

I use a shad rap all year long. Right now on my reservoirs, a “glass” shad rap slays when bass are chasing balls of shad.

I have a gold one in the larger 08 size. We have golden shiners in our lake.

11 minutes ago, QED said:

Not familiar with the Eaker, but the z-man folks got patents on the chatterbait, so the latter needed to be new, useful and nonobvious in order to obtain the patent.  Otherwise, he Eaker would have been blocking prior art during patent prosecution, so something about the chatterbait must be different.

Depends, if the business that developed it is gone and nobody is paying attention it very well could have gone unnoticed by anybody with any reason to initiate the legal process 

I just saw a oldie Bronson.   Green with every thing in the right places. But were they made during 1950 ?

10 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

Depends, if the business that developed it is gone and nobody is paying attention it very well could have gone unnoticed by anybody with any reason to initiate the legal process 

That's not correct, the patent office does a thorough prior art search and the applicant is obliged to disclose any known pertinent prior art.  And I am a registered patent attorney, though my day job is tech transactions.

4 minutes ago, QED said:

That's not correct, the patent office does a prior art search and the applicant is obliged to disclose any known pertinent prior art.  And I am a registered patent attorney, though my day job is tech transactions.

Maybe the company  just have never heard of that style of chatterbait, I havent and it seems many others here have not 

It’s a long list starting with all wooden plugs, all Creek Chub lures, Lazy Ike lures, LS Mirro lures, Arbogast lures except Jitter Bugs, Original Bomber lure,  Smithwick lure except Devils Horse, Rebel lures, Poe lures, Whopper Stopper,  Young lures Big O, just to name few of the hundreds of hard lures.

Tom

 

1 hour ago, DINK WHISPERER said:

Devil's horse

I just got a single one. Thing looks prehistoric to me

Balsa wood plugs (assuming plug = crankbait or plug is a subset of crankbait (or vice versa)) are still reasonably popular, current, premium products.

54 minutes ago, PressuredFishing said:

Maybe the company  just have never heard of that style of chatterbait, I havent and it seems many others here have not 

 

So you are implying that the independent patent office search isn't very thorough, even though the Eagle Claw Eaker Shaker is readily found using trivial search strings including the search term "chatterbait?"

11 minutes ago, QED said:

 

So you are implying that the independent patent office search isn't very thorough, even though the Eagle Claw Eaker Shaker is readily found using the search term "chatterbait?"

I don't know perhaps, or the eaker shaker doesn't even look like a chatterbait because it doesn't have a skirt or jighead, and the patent is based on how the line attaches to the blade, not the blade itself, that's why there are other companies like Picasso making chatterbaits that bypass the zman patented design. 

Have to go back to the 80’s/90’s but we used to catch a ton of smallmouth on floating Rapala F13’s in either silver or gold, or the joined J11 in gold/orange.  Surface lures were a Jitterbug, Hula Popper, a Heddon Dying Flutter or a Heddon Crazy Crawler.  Those all look out of place in a tackle bag now.

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Around here. The answer will surprise you. 
 

a soft plastic lizard.  Nobody fished a lizard anymore.  I kill them on a green pumpkin 6” lizard. 

I caught a bunch on a lizard this year.  Junebug for me.  Sadly, they don't last.  Gonna have to give the Zman lizards a try.

19 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

I caught a bunch on a lizard this year.  Junebug for me.  Sadly, they don't last.  Gonna have to give the Zman lizards a try.

I stockpiled a bunch of bulk pack mister twister lizards in black and some other opaque purplish/brown color when I was a teenager and they are still super productive now.

53 minutes ago, The Baron said:

Have to go back to the 80’s/90’s but we used to catch a ton of smallmouth on floating Rapala F13’s in either silver or gold, or the joined J11 in gold/orange.  Surface lures were a Jitterbug, Hula Popper, a Heddon Dying Flutter or a Heddon Crazy Crawler.  Those all look out of place in a tackle bag now.

I have the Rapala in 2 sizes and the Hula Popper. Problem with it is the skirt always gets dry and falls apart or falls off the lure.

2 hours ago, QED said:

That's not correct, the patent office does a thorough prior art search and the applicant is obliged to disclose any known pertinent prior art.  And I am a registered patent attorney, though my day job is tech transactions.

Isn't there a time limit on patents? Seven years?

12 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

Isn't there a time limit on patents? Seven years?

 

In oversimplified terms, a US patent lasts from its issuance date for about 20 years (minus the prosecution time which is on the order of 2-4 years).

7 minutes ago, QED said:

 

In oversimplified terms, a US patent lasts from its issuance date for about 20 years (minus the prosecution time which is on the order of 2-4 years).

How are there so many Whopper Plopper clones? I have two different brands of knockoffs, one marketed by a CA company. It looks exactly like a first gen WP. Not arguing. Serious question. Thanks.

The Chatterbait patent boils down to 1 design element, the shape of the blade. Everyone got around the patent by Using a rounded shape blade in lieu of coffin shape.

Patents are valid for 17 years after awarding the patent number or 20 years from the initial filing date.

Tom

 

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

How are there so many Whopper Plopper clones? I have two different brands of knockoffs, one marketed by a CA company. It looks exactly like a first gen WP. Not arguing. Serious question. Thanks.

Assuming Whopper Ploppers are patented, the patent only covers what is in the "claims."  Claims are a legalistic description of the patented invention or inventive feature.  So if the claims only cover a specific feature, then you can copy everything else that isn't patented.  Caveat, though I am a lawyer, I am not your lawyer, so this is only an informed opinion and not legal advice.

 

2 hours ago, WRB said:

The Chatterbait patent boils down to 1 design element, the shape of the blade. Everyone got around the patent by Using a rounded shape blade in lieu of coffin shape.

Patents are valid for 17 years after awarding the patent number or 20 years from the initial filing date.

Tom

 

 

I'm not familiar with the chatterbait patents other than their existence, so I'll take your word for that since you seem pretty knowledgeable.  As for patent duration, the old rule (which is no longer applicable to patents now in effect) was 17 years from date of issuance and the new rule is (in oversimplified form due to some corner cases) from its issuance date for about 20 years, minus the prosecution time which is on the order of 2-4 years.  The distinction is that patents are not valid during the prosecution period so they are not effective for 20 years from the earliest effective filing date.

Dancin Eel and the helicopter lure. Storm Thin Fin

4 hours ago, QED said:

Balsa wood plugs (assuming plug = crankbait or plug is a subset of crankbait (or vice versa)) are still reasonably popular, current, premium products.

Rapala came out with the Balsa wood lure foil covered in the late 30’s. Jim Bagley became popular with Balsa B’s in the 80’s.

Bass wood and cedar wood were popular to make plugs since  the early 1900’s. Everyone forgets that Fred Young invented the Big O hand carved bass wood lures before Cotton Cordell came out with his molded Big O.

Plugs like Injured Minnow double prop lure, River Runt diving lures, Pikie and  jointed Pikie, Darter, Chugger, Lucky 13, were   Wooden Creek Cub lures. Smithwick Pa and Ma Scooters, Buck N Brawl we’re wooden lures. So many lost in the mist of time that were excellent lures.

Tom

The original, floating Rapala. There is a reason that people hoarded them back in the 60's. They flat out catch fish. The other is a RoadRunner. Both of those lures will catch multiple species, but should be in every bass angler's tackle box.

I know people still fish them, but spinnerbaits are not nearly as prevalent as they use to be IMO. Seems to be really rare that one plays a major part in any of the major tournaments. 

1 hour ago, papajoe222 said:

The original, floating Rapala. There is a reason that people hoarded them back in the 60's. They flat out catch fish. The other is a RoadRunner. Both of those lures will catch multiple species, but should be in every bass angler's tackle box.

Agreed that the Rapalas work well.  The balsa ones were still available when I started serious fishing in the late eighties.  Why were people hoarding them in the 60s?

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I know people still fish them, but spinnerbaits are not nearly as prevalent as they use to be IMO. Seems to be really rare that one plays a major part in any of the major tournaments. 

 

What I came here to post. Still fairly popular and as effective as ever, but I see fewer and fewer people throwing them in favor of bladed jigs. I myself have fallen into that camp....I'll have to fix that.