Thinking Anglers New Products 2010

Those clever guys at Thinking Anglers have been at it again! Not willing to rest on their laurels, Thinking Anglers have been putting thought into existing products available and improving them to what the serious angler would appreciate.

Thinking Anglers Leadcore & Sundry Items

A lot of anglers are under the impression that all leadcores are the same. We have been using leadcore in almost every manufacturers range for a number of years now (one of the team uses it almost everywhere without fail), and we have seen some superb leadcore, but we have also seen some terrible leadcore.

When we opened the parcel that was sent to us and within the depths lay a 20m spool of the new Thinking Anglers Leadcore, one of the teams eyes instantly widened and lit up.

The first thing that is noticed with the TA Leadcore is that it is of a lower diameter to most of the others. This is down to the thinner lead inner that runs through the outer braid coating. The thinner guage of lead is still more than heavy enough to sink a corkball pop-up on a Chod rig but where it comes in handy is that it is more supple and will hug the contours of the spot fished on much better than some of the thicker, less supple leadcores.

The braided sheath that encapsulates the inner, is constructed of a finely woven blend of fine fibres. The fine nature of the blend and fibres means that there is little chance of the lead inner breaking through in use (something that is important with regards to fish safety as protruding lead can turn a safe rig into a death rig). The outer sheath has very little, if any at all, stretch so however long you have your leaders, as long as you construct them properly, the lead will always be touching the splice at both ends.

Thinking Anglers have also had the foresight to include a fine splicing needle free of charge in the bulk spool packaging.

Upon breaking the inner lead off and commencing to splice a loop in each end of a length of leadcore, it was evident that the material is very user friendly. Sliding the outer sheath back to expose the inner was as easy as anything ese we have tried, and the lead inner broke off cleanly with a simple flick between finger and thumb. The supplied needle threaded through the sheath with no problems and pulling the sheath back through itself to create a spliced loop was one of the easiest that we have seen here at the UKMA offices. The outer sheath compressed down on itself very well and the spliced region was not overly floppy like some of the others we have tried. This means that any beads will slide over the spliced area with extreme ease - even those with small bores.

The Thinking Anglers Leadcore is available in spool sizes of 6m and 20m. The 6m spool has a RRP of £4.99, with the 20m bulk spool having a RRP of £12.50. The pricing of this leadcore makes it a very economical leadcore indeed without sacrificing quality.

Ready made 1m with spliced loops at both ends are also available from Thinking Anglers. Constructed using the same leadcore with very neat and secure spliced loops - one loop specificall made smaller than the other to attach cleanly and neatly to the mainline and the larger loop perfect for loop-to-loop attachment - carrying a couple of these in your box will mean that you are always ready should the occurance that requires a leader pops up. The RRP of the 1m leaders is £1.75 each.

The splicing needles that Thinking Anglers supply with the spools of the leadcore are of a high standard. The needles have a tapered shaft to them that can be used to guage the length of the splice. As leadcore is at its strongest when spliced with a 30mm section, the needle shaft tapers from a fine section to a thicker section at around this length (with a few millimetres added to cater for the gate latch hook). The diameter of the thinner section of the needle allows for easy retraction through the outer sheath without having to struggle with aggressive twisting and turning of the needle to bring the end of the leadcore sheath back through itself. The end of the needles have been fitted with proper sized plastic grip tabs that make it easier to pull against than some of the other needles that don't have a tab end to hold on to. The tabs have been embossed with the Thinking Anglers logo, and are finished in a nice shade of green that means that if dropped are easy enough to find amongst long grass as well as not being overly gaudy to attract attention to yourself from prying eyes.

The Splicing Needles are available in pairs with a RRP of £1.99.

What is our bottom line thought on the TA Leadcore? Well the team member that uses leadcore in the majority of his angling has cleared his pouches out of all the other brands that he used and is only carrying the TA spool!

Thinking Anglers Oval Rubber Beads

There are plenty of rubber beads on the market in all shapes and sizes, but there is not just one type of bead that can be used for all tasks that may be required from them. Almost every bead on the market that is mainly used by anglers is of a sphercial shape, but Thinking Anglers have bucked the trend and released an oval bead that has too many tasks to put down concisely in this review.

We will just put down the uses that we feel suit this bead more than anything else, and we are sure that once you have used them, you will agree with us.

The first thing that is noticed with the beads is that the texture of the compound used is of a soft but robust type. The rubber compound has been designed to allow movement without being harsh on the material it has been threaded onto. The oval beads will grip naked line of 0.40mm and higher with no problems, and move very easily still. The hole that goes through the bead is very small indeed - approximately 0.38mm - and will grip superbly on even the thinnest of leadcore. The 3 sizes of beads have a variety of uses, and the main uses that we would use them for are - 3mm for stopping sliding controllers from jamming on the swivel, 5mm for use with rotary/chod rigs on leadcore and 8mm as a buffer bead for running lead rigs.

During the testing procedure we placed a bead of each size on a length of leadcore and all 3 of the beads moved under moderate pressure on wet leadcore, and all 3 sizes cleared the looped connection to the mainline with easy. If a ring swivel is used to attach the rotary rig, the swivel ring will pop over a 5mm bead should the bead get jammed because of weed around the connecting knot, making the 5mm version of the bead perfect for this use in our opinion.

Even after being placed in the freezer for a few hours, the rubber compound stayed soft and could easily be compressed between finger and thumb. Some beads may be fine in the warmer months, but when it turns cold and the water temperatures are close to freezing they turn hard and do not go over knots or splices easily. The Thinking Anglers oval beads did not suffer from any of these problems. When the beads are warm though (like the tropical weather we have had for the last week!), the rubber becomes very grippy indeed, but still moves when required.

Do not let the small bore of the beads put you off as if you want a larger bore to the bead, it is easily done by simply placing the bead onto a splicing needle and rotating it in both directions a few time. This burrs off some of the rubber inside the bore.

Available in packs of 20 beads in the 3 sizes mentioned, in a choice of either brown or green to suit most angling situations. RRP on the oval beads is £2.75.

UKMA Top Tip: The 8mm beads make perfect emergency hookbaits when fishing over small particles as they resemble a brown Haricot Bean.

Thinking Anglers Rig Putty

We have seen a fair bit of rig putty recently in the UKMA offices, and they all have their uses due to the varying shades of colour that the products are manufactured in. The Thinking Anglers Rig Putty is pretty much the same as other putties in that it is heavy, easily maleable by rubbing between the fingers before use, and sticks to braided hooklinks easily. Straight out of the plastic tub, the putty is quite sticky and even after being placed in the fridge for several hours, the putt was easily warmed up again by rubbing between finger and thumb.

You may be asking yourself, why choose the Thinking Anglers putty over others available?

Good question, but easily answered. The RRP of the putty is £3.50, which makes it one of the cheapest putty's on the market! The amount of putty provided in the clear plastic container that it is sold in, is not as much as some of the more expensive putty's available, but it is more than enough to provide the most ardent angler enough counterbalance weight for pop-ups or to pin hooklinks down for a good season - even if bits are lost due to fish charging through weed.

At the price that this putty is sold for, it should be in every anglers armoury - even if the anglers use other putty's. It is always good to have a backup should it be required.

For further information on any of the Thinking Angler's products, please click the image below