Slip Sinker Rig

Slip Sinker Rig

A slip sinker rig is a very common rig for fishing for catfish, probably one of the most commonly used rigs really.

Bass fishermen call this a Carolina rig, catfishermen call it a slip sinker rig.

Let’s get into the nuts and bolts of s slip sinker rig.

The slip sinker rig is popular because of several reasons:

• They allow the catfish to pull the line without meeting significant increased resistance from the sinker.
• The allow functional use of the bait clicker (line alarm) on equipped reels
• The are effective on smaller and bigger fish.
• The can be modified with different “hacks” to keep the bait off the bottom of the lake or river

They are very versatile for fishing with a number of different types of baits.

They are effective for blue, channel, and flathead catfish

Items needed

You can find all of these items and links on our tackle page also.

• Leader Line – For monofilament leader line I use 40 Lb clear monofilament, If I am fishing with punch bait only I prefer Mason Big Cat braided line in 80 lb test (more on that in punch bait 101). I suggest Offshore Angler Tight Line – 1/4 lb. Spools or Mason Big Cat Line for fishing with punch bait. Also make sure you check out our leader trick.
• Hook – Whatever hook you prefer, really has no bearing in the rig check our tackle page for hook suggestions
• Swivel - I prefer 1/0 Barrel swivels but any size barrel swivel will work
• Sinker – Either an egg sinker or a no roll sinker.

Steps To Tie A Slip Sinker Rig

Tie the hook to the leader line using a palomar knot (if you don’t know how to tie knots google it and you can learn, I refuse to get into knot tying instructions)

Determine leader length and cut to appropriate length (allow a couple of extra inches for knot tying etc so you have some room to work with).

Some notes on leader length:

The longer the leader the more a fish can move with your bait without you feeling it and the more the bait can move around. For aggressive fish a longer leader can be used but when fish are less aggressive a shorter leader length will give you greater feeling and you will know sooner when a fish is toying with your bait.

If you are not sure start with 8-12″ inches in length for your leader and then go from there.

Tie swivel to leader line using a palomar knot.

Add egg sinker or no roll sinker to main line.

Tie mainline to end of swivel not tied to the leader using a Trilene knot.

Cut the excess line hanging off of all your knots.

When you are done the slip sinker rig should look like the illustration above.

Now, what you are probably going to ask:

Where is your little plastic color bead between the sinker and the swivel?

I DON’T USE THEM. My personal opinion is they are a waste of time, money. The function of the bead is allegedly to keep the sinker from banging into the knot and breaking the knot.

I have spent a LOT of time on the water and put countless numbers of catfish in the boat of all sizes and have never one time had a sinker break the knot. Therefore my conclusion is they are just something else to keep up with and buy. If you want to use a little bead, use it, nobody is going to hold that against you I am just saying I have never once found it necessary and I don’t know anyone else that uses them either.

I am sure that there are many people out there that will disagree, again, just what works for me. If you need a bead or a sinker bumper to make you happy, go for it.

This is a basic slip sinker rig. Later on we will go into more information on how to modify a slip sinker rig for different types of techniques etc, but this should be enough to get you going for now.

Make sure you check out our catfish rigs section.

You can buy terminal tackle for rigging a slip sinker rig at Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops make sure you check out or catfish tackle page also for suggested products.

Update February 14 2011: The video above is one of the first videos I ever made for this website and was really poor quality. There is an updated video below that is much better quality and goes into much further detail on how to tie this and different applications to use it in.

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SOUND OFF : Do you use a slip sinker rig? How do you rig your slip sinker rig? Do you use no-roll or egg sinkers? Do you use beads?