While I do dearly love catching carp, in my opinion, they can't hold a candle to a channel cat for speed and power. I've had at least a half dozen cats in the 4-8 pound range take me to my backing and none of the many carp I caught in that same size range have ever done the same. But both of them fight longer and harder than largemouth bass though not nearly as spectacular. Gosh you guys are giving me an inferiority complex with the reports of really big bass on a fly rod. I've caught bigger bass on spinning and casting rigs but still haven't caught a bass with that kind of size on a fly rod. Hope to accomplish that feat soon!