As a carp angler over many years, I have been using throwing sticks for more years than I can remember - from the original Cobra metal sticks through to homemade straight carbon sticks made from butchered pole sections. Over this period of time, more and more sticks have hit the market - with some still around and others that have gone to the throwing stick graveyard for one reson or another.

When Nash Tackle announced that they had acquired the Cobra brand and were launching a revamped range of throwing sticks, I sat up and took notice as I knew that Kevin Nash would not just put out a substandard product.

When the Quick Sticks came into the UKMA office, there was a heated debate (it was close to "sword fights" to the death with the Quick Sticks) to who should review them - Myself who has years of throwing stick experience or one of the other members of the team who had not used a throwing stick before to a great extent. After a few hours (really it was days in total!) of constant calls and emails between the team, we decided that all the team members should use them and put our collective thoughts together to so a review from the novice to experienced stick user could be compiled.

The Nash Cobra Quick Sticks are constructed from a formed and angled translucent green/brown polycarbonate tube. At the handle end of the Quick Stick, Kevin Nash has come up with the perfect solution to the age old problem of loading a stick. Just above the neoprene feeling hand grip, is an aperture that allows the stick to be reloaded with baits without having to get out of the rhythm of using it. I found this to be second nature straight away in quickly loading the stick at this point rather than havng to extend my arm to fumble baits into the end. I found that by holding my left hand with a few baits in at the spot where I stopped the motion of the stick, I coul load another bait straight into the aperture without even stopping to look or lose rhythm.

Another problem that niggled anglers was that after prolonged use of the stick they would suffer from shoulder and arm ache, yet with the Quick Stick, after putting out over 100 single baits, I felt no additional discomfort at all - even though I suffer with chronic neck, back and arm pain due to an existing medical condition.

To finish off the Quick Stick, Nash have also included a solid fitting wrist strap with a spring toggle that allows the strap to be secured to the wrist so that the chance of accidental loss due to losing grip of the stick during use (yes we have all done this only to see our throwing stick end up in the lake 30 yards out!!!) is virtually eliminated. The strap also means that you can hang it on a storm pole or branch along with an air drying bag so it is easily at hand.

For those that do not fully understand how a throwing stick works, it is basic aerodynamics and physics (I am not the best person to describe scientific terms in plain English but I will try). The way a throwing stick works is that the boilie is propelled along the tube and accelerates over a longer distance, before exiting the tube with backspin, that allows the bait to rise in flight and gain extra distance (this is why a boilie that exits the tube at a lower trajectory will loop up rather than go straight into the water in the wrong spot). With a curved stick, this backspin is increased due to the near horizontal exit point of the stick that pushes down on the rear of the bait as it exits. With a straight stick, the same back spin is put on the exiting bait, but no where near as much due to the shallower angle of the exit point. Where the Nash Cobra Quick Sticks also benefit the angler is that the boilie loading point ust above the handle, allows for air to flow in to the stick at this point during the arc of travel and increase the air pressure behind the boilie, allowing a shorter stick to obtain better range than a stick which is loaded in the traditional manner.

Using the shorter of the Quick Sticks, we were all able to put baits out in excess of the manufacturers ideal distance of use, with high amount of accuracy. With multiple boilies loaded into the Quick Stick (I found that no more than 3 at a time did not offer any loss of distance and the baits remained fairly tight in grouping (but as with all throwing sticks, with multiple baits, the velocity of the baits are all different slightly which means that some baits will land tightly where as some may drop short). Just by differing the point of release, baits could be spread around a large area with no problems making the Quick Stick ideal for baiting strategies where the angler wants the fish to be moving around between baits.

With the Medium (standard) length stick, I had no problems in putting baits out accurately at around 80 yards range with a head wind. Nash also do an Extreme version of the Quick Stick (which UKMA did not have to test during this review) that has a much greater curve along the shaft which will create tremendous amount of back spin and we look forward to obtaining one of these for further testing.

All of the Quick Stick's are available in two different diameters - one for baits up to 15mm and the other for baits up to 20mm. I have used both diameters with baits smaller than their maximum bore and found that they are equally as effective with slightly smaller baits as they are with the larger baits. With this in mind though, because of the additional horizontal movement of the bait within the tube if they are a a lot smaller, it is best to use the nearest diameter stick to the bait size that you are using.

All I can say about these sticks is that I am keeping them as they act literally as an extension to your arm when baiting up and are by far the very best throwing sticks I have ever used (including the homemade ones from £400 pole sections!!!)..

For more information on the Cobra Quick Stick's or any other Nash Tackle product, please click the image below to visit the website.