The shape of things to come

The new range of Outline kit from Avid looks set to make things that bit harder for the poor old carp! The tackle giant spent plenty of time getting the camouflage blend juuust right, so that its end tackle range would blend seamlessly over almost every lakebed imaginable. Avid’s main consultant, Ian Russell has been testing the bits for some time, and finally gave the development team the nod after two years of exhaustive testing and sampling. Here are five things that you need to know about the range…

The complete range

1 It’s all about the new camo
Take one look at the individual pieces of end tackle in the Outline range and you’ll instantly notice how different the finish is, compared to the original Avid terminal kit. The camouflage treatment that the development team has applied to the bits is clever… very clever. Flecks within the coloured plastic (or applied to the outside of the leads etc.) serve to break up the outline of your rig and leader, making it much, much harder for carp to pick out (hence the name, right!). So, and here’s the clever bit, because the outline of the items is disrupted, there’s no need to exactly match the colour of the lakebed (although, to be fair, the colour that the guys have chosen is pretty subtle!).

Avid’s flagship hooklink and leader material, Pindown, is still very much part of the Outline range

2 Their QC Lead Clips are now even tougher
While they were busy overhauling the way that their end tackle blended in, the Avid team also took a hard look at ways that they could improve their staple products too. The best example is the QC Lead Clip. They’d noticed that one area of weakness in all lead clips was the arm that the lead sits on. To prevent the chance of the arm shearing off when you miss the clip and splat it into the water with a bag on, they decided to reinforce the whole clip, particularly the lead-retention arm. The wire quick-change loop that allows you to change your hooklinks in an instant was taken right through the body of the clip, and crucially, into the arm. The metal running through the clip meant that it was loads stronger, and it was job done for the boffins!

The camo pattern is nothing short of sensational

3 Pindown’s still there
Avid’s flagship hooklink and leader material is still very much part of the Outline range. The hooklink is 20lb and super-supple. Ian Russell uses it for his renowned Flick Rig, a pop-up presentation that presents over almost all lakebed types. The 50lb version of the quick-sinking material is perfect for leader use and its supreme suppleness ensures that it sits over the undulations of the lake bed, hugging it and giving the carp no reason for concern.

4 There’s some cool rig bits too
The Outline camo has been applied to the whole range of beads, stops and tail rubbers. Anything that is injection moulded now carries the trademark fleck camo, and it’s a genuine improvement. If you’re a Chod user, you need to check out the Chod Beads, which look like they’ll blend in spectacularly well over weed, which is pretty bloomin’ handy.

5 The heavy stuff got the treatment too!
The new camo treatment doesn’t just extend to the rubber or plastic elements of the Avid end tackle range either – they’ve overhauled the lead range, and some other weighty items like the clever Line Droppers. These little clip-on weights are just the thing for balancing out your pop-ups and have much, much more resilience than putty, which is a big edge if you’re thrashing your rig a long way, or have crayfish issues!