The present invention relates to a fishing line

identification device, and relates particularly to such a device to enable easy identification by anglers of a fishing line used in fishing tackle.

It is at present usual practice to use fishing tackle including a rod having a reel carrying an interchangeable cartridge on which a length of fishing line is wound. A very wide variety of types of fishing line is available, having various line weights, line densities, sinking profiles and elasticities, and an angler may use several cartridges, each of which has a different type of line, on a single occasion.

No satisfactory method is presently available of identifying the type of fishing line present on a particular cartridge. Methods presently used by anglers include providing markings indicating the type of line on the surface of the cartridge by means of marker pen or document corrector fluid, or on adhesive tape which is then adhesively attached to the cartridge, or by scratching markings into the plastic material of the cartridge. All of these existing identification methods suffer from the drawback that either markings are permanently scratched into the cartridge, thereby limiting its future use for a different type of fishing line, or the markings can becoming detached or erased during use.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome one or more of the above disadvantages of the prior art . According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fishing line identification device comprising a plurality of indicators, wherein each said indicator is adapted to provide a plurality of selectable visual states on a cartridge carrying a length of fishing line, such that said fishing line is identified by means of respective visual states of a plurality of said indicators. By providing a plurality of indicators wherein each said indicator is adapted to provide a plurality of selectable visual states on a cartridge carrying a length of fishing line, such that the fishing line is identified by means of respective visual states of a plurality of said indicators, this provides the advantage of enabling an adjustable but robust identification of large variety of types of fishing line to be displayed on a cartridge in a relative compact manner. The indicators may comprise a plurality of removable members adapted to be removably mounted to selected locations on the cartridge.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cartridge for carrying a length of fishing line, the cartridge comprising a body portion and a fishing line identification device as defined above.

The body portion may comprise a plurality of apertures for receiving a plurality of said removable members.

The body portion may further comprise a plurality of recessed markings adjacent said apertures. This provides the advantage of enabling permanent marking of the recessed markings in the event that one or more of said indicators members is lost.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows a perspective view of a fishing line cartridge embodying the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, a cartridge 2 embodying the present invention has a cartridge body 4 which is injection moulded from plastics material and defines a channel 6 in which a length of fishing line 8 is wound. The cartridge body 4 has a series of holes 10 provided around its circumference, the holes 10 being divided into a first group 12, marked #4, #5 and #6 and representing various weights of fishing line 8, a second group 14, marked FLT, INT1, INT2, MT, ST and SI to S8, and representing various densities of the fishing line 8, a third group 16 consisting of a single hole marked NS representing elasticity of the line 8, and a fourth group 18 consisting of a single hole marked BF and indicating the sinking profile of the line 8.

In order to identify the fishing line 8 wound on the cartridge 2, removable pins 20 are located in respective holes 10 of at least two of the groups 12, 14, 16, 18 of holes 10, such that the information identifying the type of line 8 used is represented by a combination of pins 20 located in holes 10. For example, as shown in Figure 1, a pin 20 is located in the #4 hole representing line weight and INT2 hole representing line density. In this way, a large number of possible combinations of information (156 possibilities in the example shown in Figure 1) can be represented in a relatively compact way by means of different combinations of the locations of the plurality of pins 20 in holes 10.

Recessed slots 22 are also provided adjacent each hole 10 in order to enable reasonably permanent colouring of the plastic material defining the slots 22 if a pin 20 should be lost.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiment has been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, although only two pins 20 are shown in the arrangement of Figure 1, more than two pins 20 can be used. Also, the arrangement and marking of holes 10 can be different from that shown in the Figure.