Rigging
Needles
Complementing
our excellent hollow braided lines
we also offer a range of tools and
ancillary products necessary to maximize
the products unique benefits. For
2015 Toro Tamer introduced a new line of
rigging needles of our own design. Currently
we offer three kits as well as individual
needle sales. We offer a 16, 9 and 7 needle
kits. Our needles are available in nine
sizes of threading needle,
20/30/40/50/60/80/100/130/150 and 200#. We
produce three sizes of latch needles and
three sizes of loop needles. Our needle kits
are offered in a light to medium pack,
20/30/40/50/ and 60# size threading needles,
a small latch and small loop needle. The
Medium/Heavy kit includes 80/100/130/150 and
200# threading needles, medium and large
loop and latch needles. The complete kit
includes all 16 needles and carries a
suggested retail price of $120, the
Medium/Heavy kit sell at $70 and the
Light/Medium kit run $60. Toro Tamer brings
the cost of inline rigging down to earth.
And, with the ease of use of our braided
lines, now all anglers can enjoy the
benefits of knotless connections - true 100%
connection strength with no knots, no
casting interference as your line
effortlessly flows through the rod's guides.
Image above
shows our latch needle, we
have made our latch to be a
bit more secure opening and
closing - requiring a bit
more effort - to open. This
improvement will reduce the
tendency for the latch to open
easily in use while inserting
through braid, when making a
loop for example. If the latch
opens too easily then the
needle can easily get stuck in
the braid resulting in needle
failure or much more time
spent correcting the problem
and starting all over
again...if you can remove the
needle from the braid. (This
can prove difficult and
require cutting line).
Light Line Needle Point
130# size Needle Point
Other
Manufacturers Point
The image to
the left shows ToroTamer's
improved needle point. the two
images right are of another
manufacturer's needle points. ToroTamer needles have a bit
more pronounced point
which makes it easier to begin
insertion into hollow braid
and the point is more
highly polished so it
slips through the line more
easily. The only drawback to
this is that with some harder
to work with lines such as a
12 strand there can be a
modest increase in the needle
slipping through the strands.
This is a minimal risk, and
easy to correct if
encountered. The benefit of
our design far outweighs any
potential negative in our
estimation.
Our needle's
unique design was the result of
much time spent using other
manufacturers products over the
years. There were a few things
we felt that could be improved
upon in the design of these
essential accessories.
One
consideration for those
selecting threading needles,
manufacturers of fluorocarbon
and monofilament lines do not
have a standard diameter for any
given line test. So, in the case
of threading needles, an 80
lb. needle may not
accommodate all 80 lb. test
lines, it might be too snug a
fit for some lines and too large
for others. There can be variance of
diameter between manufacturers
and even between batches of
lines of the same test. It's
best to own a few needles,
since leader diameters are not
consistent or standardized.
Going back to that 80# leader,
best to have 60/80 and 100#
needles in your kit even if
that's the only test you'll be
working with. That's one reason why our kits
are priced aggressively, we
encourage folks to have several
needles for use with their
lines. Even if an angler only
wishes to work with one
particular test for inline
rigging, it's best to have two
or more threading needles just
to accommodate different
diameters of lines.
A second
point to make for folks getting
into inline rigging, making
wind-ons or even assist hooks,
while a loop needle can do
many things but it's best used
for simply opening up braid
which may be hard to work with
for a certain size leader or
needle diameter. For most all
needs, whether doing a splice,
making a loop or connecting
solid to hollow lines, the latch
needle is the preferred tool.
The only thing to remember about
working with a latch needle is
to only go in ONE direction. If
you try to reverse or pull the
needle backwards the latch will
protrude through your braid and
get stuck! Once stuck you will
need to cut the braid and then
extract the needle. If you try
to force things you won't get
far and you'll probably break
your needle. The hook on the
latch works just like the barb
on a hook. So, keep moving the
latch needle forward, never back
up.
Model
(nominal
line test -
manufacturers vary
in diameter)
Tube
Length
Inside
Diameter
("/mm)
Outside
Diameter
("/mm)
20# Threading
5.6"
.017"/0.430mm
.025"/.635mm
30# Threading
5.6"
.020"/0.510mm
.028"/.710mm
40# Threading
5.6"
.023"/0.580mm
.032"/.81mm
50# Threading
5.6"
.026"/0.67mm
.036"/.90mm
60# Threading
5.7"
.032"/0.81mm
.042"/1.06mm
80# Threading
5.8"
.038"/0.96mm
.049"/1.25mm
100# Threading
5.9"
.042"/1.06mm
.050"/1.27mm
130# Threading
6.0"
.047"/1.19mm
.058"/1.48mm
150# Threading
6.1
.053"/1.35mm
.065"/1.65mm
200# Threading
6.2
.059"/1.50mm
.072/1.83mm
We
also distribute three very nice needle kits
manufactured by Daho.
We have a light line kit as well as
a medium to heavy line needle kit,
and have recently produced a three piece kit
for the Ultra Thin lines which were
introduced at ICAST 2013.
The Ultra Light kit includes a 20
and 30# hollow needle and one extra small
loop needle and retail at $50. Both the
medium/light and heavy line kits feature five hollow
needles for insertion of
several
popular line sizes, a reverse latch
needle which is used for making
wind-on leaders and a loop needle
which is commonly used to "open up"
hollow lines or for inserting
solid
line into a hollow line (the reverse
latch is probably the better option
in this regard. The Light/Medium and
Medium/Heavy line kits retail for $90.
We offer a unique
Spectra/Braid adhesive product, with
excellent penetration properties as
well as very good performance in
water. Unique to our one part glue,
which requires no mixing or
activator, we retain some
flexibility and it does well in a
wet & salty environment!
Lastly, we also
offer an excellent "braid" cutter
tool to cleanly slice braided lines
- a necessity when working with
hollow rigging.
Over the years several connection
styles have been used for braided
line to leader connection. Above are
a few of the more popular knots as
well as three direct in-line
connections. The advantages of an
in-line connection are obvious:
thinner diameter, no bump through
your rod's guides and less
"hanging-up" as the line flows off
the reel, less chance of the line
getting stuck on the spool by an
overwrap on a cast, and MOST
IMPORTANTLY a proper inline
connection in which your leader has
been inserted into the braid a few
feet will result in a 100% test
strength connection - that's
something that no knot can achieve.
Wind-On Fix'ns
We offer 25 meter spools
of 16 strand spliceable braid for making your wind-ons, and 100
meter spools of 4 strand
serving braid in 20 and 30 lb test - both great for serving
connections and for your nail knots. Additionally we offer a 30
and 40 lb 8 strand hollow for use in serving. The 8 strand is
thinner in diameter, makes a bit more compact serve with more
wraps. For most applications the 4 strand is adequate, but the 8
strand will produce tighter wraps with more of them per inch - a
bit less bulky on the serve.
Serving
and Nail Knot Spools
16 Strand
25 Meter Colored Wind-On
Spools
At ICAST 2014 we'll be
introducing colored versions of our
60/80/100/130# test lines in 25 meter lengths, so you have a
choice of white, blue, red, yellow and green. The colored hollow
core makes life easy in terms of distinguishing your wind-ons,
color coding different leader tests. Similarly, the 4 strand
serving braid is offered in 100 meter spools, four colors on the
spool, changing color every 10 meters. I use the colored serving
line to distinguish tests, red for 40, green for 50, yellow for
60, white for 80, blue for 100 lb... Same program for my nail
knots. The different colors help me stay on top of things, easy
to tell match up tests when replacing a leader. One note,
coloring braid is not an easy process. Our
coloring process is quite good in terms of
the coloring not fading, which is common.
The natural color for braid is white. When
working with the colored line expect some of
that color to transfer to your fingers
initially, especially with the red line.
Compared to other colored lines on the
market I think you'll find ours holds up
better over time with less fading, but
initially you will get a bit of color
transfer.
(Preface to Wind-Ons -
these things are not a mystery, they are not difficult to learn
to make, they are great to use in many fishing applications, and you
can make 'em yourself rather than pay to have them built or use
pre-made ones of lesser quality. Wind-Ons are easy to make,
require just a few specific tools, and it's a pretty neat thing
to do when you're not fishing...along the lines of fly fishermen
tying their own flies. We have several videos posted showing how
to make these. While CharkBait makes Wind-Ons and sells them, we
encourage our clients to make 'em themselves - and we try to
help you do so. Commercially made wind-on's have had some
reliability issues in the past (remembering that Seaguar's
attempt met with failure...). Custom production can be much
better, but you can make these yourself, reliably and more
economically.)
New for 2022 WIND-ON LEADERS
We're now supplying factory produced
wind-on leaders for 60/80/100/130/200 lb test line. These are
made with Fluorocarbon leader which is inserted into the 16
strand hollowcore braid 1 meter, dual wall, then terminates in a
loop for easy rigging. The connection is glued and
served.
