According to the National Weather Service, April is the peak of tornado season in Tennessee and, naturally, with tornadoes comes their progenitors: thunderstorms! Sudden rains swell streams whose dirty water is then deposited in the reservoirs and rivers, conditions that make for tough carp fishing. Fortunately, I happen to know of a small lake near Nashville which maintains fishable conditions through the spring. Unfortunately, a recent thunderstorm downed dozens of trees on the access road so I have not been able to get there. 
This morning, determined not to let these weather related set-backs keep me off the water I grabbed my spinning rod and waders and headed out to do some bass fishing. Earlier this spring I bought some soft plastic lures, made right here in TN, and I was curious to see how they would perform.

I was not disappointed. I didn’t fish for long but I landed a couple of nice bass and lost a couple more. 
The most surprising part of the morning came while I was wading across a mud flat and spotted an orange tail through the murk. I crouched low and stalked the carp carefully as it glided slowly over the bottom. I knew I couldn’t just cast my lure to the fish as the splash from the lead sinker would certainly spook it. Instead I improvised a version of The Heron Technique, a special method I have developed for fly fishing, and managed to get my lure in front of the carp’s head. The fish accelerated and paused abruptly. I raised my rod and set the hook. A few minutes later I had successfully landed a carp with an artificial lure on a spinning rod!