Extended Slip-D Rig

There’s little doubt that rig evolution often involves drawing together aspects of rig design that work and applying new components to come up with something that is more effective than previous versions of similar rigs. That’s exactly the format of the development of the Extended Slip-D.

The original Slip-D, as popularised by our friend Martin Clarke, has always been an amazingly effective presentation. It’s particularly devastating when used in conjunction with balanced bottom baits and double bait arrangements. The bait attachment offers enhanced hooking mechanics as the D is soft and collapses backwards when the fish is trying to blow out/eject the hookbait – and that little additional separation makes all the difference in terms of maintaining the optimum angle for the point to take hold and to make it hard for the fish to eject the rig to start with.

Whilst sat under my bivvy ‘tinkering’ with various hooks and hooklink material, all with a broader view to incorporating the new Covert Tungsten XL-Kickers, I thought really carefully about the rigs I have seen friends use to great effect this year on Welly. This lead to me thinking about how I could bring together several key attributes that I wanted to include.

The first of these was the capacity to swap the hook out easily, with a multi-rig style hook attachment. I definitely didn’t want the hook loose on the looped section, as otherwise I always worry that the hook can sometimes move slightly in terms of the position it’s initially set. This changing the size of the ‘D’ and therefore totally changing the fine tuning of the rig and potentially undermining the finished rig’s performance.

A “man sized” strong hook was a pre-requisite to; and as a fan of the Incizor pattern I was drawn to this. I knew it would work with a Multi style hook arrangement as it’s several of the Gardner teams ‘go to hook’ for this rig, on a great many waters.

The extra length and texture of the XL-Kicker made it ideal to hold the looped D in position and counter the buoyancy of the balanced ‘wafter’ style hookbaits I have been using on and off. As the assortment of components went together I was really happy with the mechanics and balance of the rig. Using either a size 20 Hook Swivel or a Flexi Hook Swivel just helped control the orientation of the hook and hookbait as it settled and allowed the hookbait to turn freely to.

Talking of the wafter hookbaits or snowman hookbaits… I have always preferred them to settle nicely sat over the hook when the rig has settled on the lake bed. As it turned out this was a detail that was enhanced when a tad more buoyancy was added, thanks to the addition of Enterprise’s finest pop up fake corn. So, as the fish sucks up the hookbait the weight of hook and kicker makes the hook drop below the hookbait and the XL-Kicker elevates the turning mechanics of the hook – and the in turned eye helps keep the angle of draw straight to the point in the initial phase of the hooks penetration.

All these factors together, keep the hook point in the perfect orientation to take hold securely and in areas of the carp’s mouth that reduce the incidence of hook pulls. Its proving to be an extraordinarily effective big fish rig already (*I say ‘big fish’ due to the ‘robust’ scale of the hook/hookbait and XL-kicker). The hook holds have been out of this world and I can change the hooks quickly and easily. Why not give it a whirl… it’s an absolutely bonza arrangement.