Anatomy Of A Carp Rig | Martin Clarke's Slip-D Rig (Video)

I invented this rig back in 1987 when I was fishing a lake in Woburn Sands. At the time the materials I used were dental floss as the hook link and Drennan rings. It was crude, but it worked.

The emphasis at the time was finding something that I was confident in using for bottom baits. I had pop-ups sussed and one day I was racking my brains and I came up with the first slip-D rig. I tried it and caught fish on it straightaway so I knew it worked from the off.

Over the years I probably got a bit too fixed on using pop-ups, trying all sorts of rigs and the slip-D went on the back burner, and it wasn’t until about 15 years ago when I pulled it back out the bag. I had started using more bottom baits again and I remembered that it had worked well in the past.

I liked using double bottom baits too and felt the rig mechanics fitted in really well with that sort of hook bait.

Obviously as materials developed over the years I started using coated braids and the Mugga hooks, and everything clicked into place. Everywhere my friends and I used the rig we couldn’t go wrong. Personally I’ve had 10 forties and well over 50 thirties – it’s caught me that many big fish now that I have actually lost count.

The reason I believe it’s so effective is that I fished it alongside two other rods with different rigs and over the course of 10 years it transpired that I was catching 50 to 100 per cent more fish on the slip-D than either other presentation.

It looks pretty simple and it’s simple to tie up. Despite this it has very effective mechanics for hooking fish. The last inch or so of the hook link is bare braid, and normally when you use a D rig you use a stiff mono. By using the braid, the actual D is supple, allowing the baits to come away from the shank of the hook.

If the carp is sucking and blowing this actually pulls the hook further into the carp’s lip. This means once they’re pricked they can’t suck and blow to eject it.

Watch the video to see how to tie Martin's slip-D rig.

X