Hey, great catch Fins n feather, congrats on making the FRONT PAGE! Thousands of people will see your awesome catch, and wonder about the details.........where? When? What bait? Roughfish.com wants to know......~andy

Wow I couldn't believe my eyes when I logged on!!! I caught that carp below the St. Cloud dam in early August. I was tring out my birthday gift which was a Cabela's predator rod in 2.25 weight. Teamed with a cabela's bait runner. I was using a crawler on a # 6 bait holder. On a bait runner I like to use a bolt rig. The bolt rig I make is a 3 way swivel tied short to 1.5oz. sinker. When a carp grabs the bait and feels the weight it really makes the bait runner scream. As was the case with this fish. I didn't weigh or measure the fish but would guess in the 7-8 pound range. It was released for someone else to enjoy.

Gratz Fins! That is a beautiful fish and a great shot of it.

Nice fish!!!!! I love mirrors!!!!


not to stray off topic, but how do you like the predator rod? I have been considering picking one up.

Cool fish! Congrats.

What do you think of the Cabela's baitrunner reel? Is that their "Salt Striker" models?

SK, I have fished with one of the salt striker reels for a couple of seasons, It's an Okume with a paint job. other that a bit of trouble with it staying in free spool recently (I suppose I could clean it and figure out the problem), It's a good reel. I picked mine up at a deep discount as a combo with a 3piece medium action rod right around 7'. I think I paid 50$ or something like that. both the rod and the reel have seen a lot of action and are still in one piece (or three pieces).

I have only used the rod a couple of times and like it so far. What made me go with it is the high reviews and it has more eyes than the competitions in that price range. It's intended use is for using bobbers while fishing channel cats. But makes a great shore rod for carp ect.

As for the bait runner. I have only used that a couple times as well. For carp they are a lot of fun. Because carp usually make that quick run when first hooked. It has saved me a rod and reel combo a couple of times already. I was fishing with Doc a while ago and was using that reel on a differnt rod. It was dark out and I was hoping for a any bufflao or a shovel nose for my life list. That rod was set with a hunk of crawler on the bottom. Mean while our group had a couple rods out with bullheads to tend to. So while I was off keeping the bullheads livly I would flip the bait runner on. That night alone I caught a carp and channel cat that could have possibly pulled the rod in.