MG-70

Never seen one of those, but around here, I've found dough to be the best bait for common carp. You can find recipes for making the dough online. Europeans, especially Brits, go ga-ga for carp, and have all sorts of specialized gear for catching them. There are some good vids on youtube. Make sure you have plenty of line on the reel!

Great story! I'm glad you followed your intuition! I'm sure your feeling of accomplishment was greater than catching any fish! It's always wise to have a plan and be prepared, including staying hydrated, and taking your meds. I hope you make it back to the spot soon and catch lots of fish!

I'm a traditional kind of guy, like cork handles and black, marroon, etc., colored rods. I found no problem with the grip, whatsoever, and believe it'll clean a lot better than cork or foam. It's hard to describe it, but it's a hard rubber, with smooth texture, similar to what you would find on some kitchen utensils or office tools. The (front) reel seat is a hard plastic and modern-ey, neither grip nor seat would be my ideal choices, but that's the way things are heading, and as long as it's a good rod, it doesn't bother me that much. The light blue, metallic, paint and the font on the name Rage is just bad taste; can't really say anything else about that. I don't care for the flashiness in these modern reels, either; I'm simply not into bling. Reminds me of those '80's Ranger bass boats, and two tone GMC pickups. ETA, with respects to the aesthetics of the rod, after seeing a couple of other, less expensive, St. Croix rods at DSG; I'd say the Rage looks cheaper than the Triumph and the Mojo. Specs-wise, I believe it's supposed to be superior to those two, but to me it definitely looks cheaper. LASTLY, they sent me a black cap with RAGE on it.

I'll check out the 25 when I look for the others, but I'm pretty sure I don't want anything smaller than a 30 for this rod. I think I have two older Shimanos in the 2500 size and they're fine on shorter rods. Cheers

Thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming... I'll probably buy locally in case I need to exchange it. Maybe I'll buy both to test out the balance with the rod and return the one I don't want. I didn't see a 6930 side by side with a 6935. It would be nice to keep it light, since most of the fish aren't that big.

Hi guys! I've mainly flyfished, lots of it wading, for the last 20+ years, but since I just ordered a kayak, I thought I'd buy something a little nicer than the old Ugly Sticks and Shimanos I have from back in the day, even though they all seem to be working, for when conditions aren't ideal for flyfishing. I fish the Potomac river and some lakes around the area; don't discriminate and catch everything from bluegills, to crappie, bass, some nice channel cats, and even carp and eels when using natural baits. Haven't graduated to baitcasting reels, though I did lose a cursed Abu Garcia to a big cat some 10-15 years ago, but do pretty good with spinning reels. I like throwing crankbaits, jigs, grubs, spinners, etc., and tend to use 8-12lb monofilament. In my search for a do-it-all rod, I found a thread here about St. Croix discounting some of their Rage rods and ended up buying a 7'1" MF, after first shaking one at a DSG. In my research for a reel within my budget, I found out about the Pflueger President, which also felt pretty smooth when I handled it (used to be you could tell the reel manufacturer by how it looked but now 95% of them look the same, differing only in the tone of the shiny materials used), but couldn't nail down the best size for the rod above. Anyhow, since I couldn't pair a rod to a reel to feel the difference in weight and balance, I was wondering if someone could tell me if the size 6935 sounds too big for the rod above? When handling them on the rod stubs, the 6940 was definitely too big, but the 6935 felt pretty good, and the line capacities look good "on paper." Another thing I noticed about the Pflueger President is that the color will match the ugly metallic blue used by St. Croix perfectly! So, what do you think about this size reel for the 7'1" MF rod? Thanks in advance! Will have to research lines; seems tastes and offerings have changed. Will probably want to stick to 10lb all around, though I'm willing to experiment with different materials.