Well I found out that acutally Yew Rods fish up Moat Carp alot quicker than any rod I have ever encountered. I mean if you want to Skill Up, this is not the rod you want to use. Although if you are wanting to get Moat Carp reaaaly fast, use Yew Rod, it makes the Moat Carp tired soo much quicker.
People complain because they say it "breaks" but it really doesn't. You have to look at the emote whenever you get a bite. If it says "You have a good feeling" then the rod WILL NOT break. "fairly certain" It WILL NOT break. Anything else, like "Bad feeling" or "terrible feeling", "postively certain not" press the ESC key to ebort the pull up.
Plus if you want to catch fish faster, get the WHOLE fishing gear. Its cheap, really not that expensive, it really helps reel those fish in.
I really just fish for the Moat Carp to sell. Not really for "leveling" persay.
Also, I like fishing in City Areas, like Windurst, Sandy, or Bastok, so you do not have to worry about pulling a Monster.
The bait I use for fishing up Moat Carp is Insect Paste, it is about 30gil a peice at Port Windurst Fishing Guild. You can buy rods also there too for very cheap, instead of buying it at the AH. The store hours are from 3 to 18. I believe it is closed on Ice day.
I hope I helped =D