Dig out your crappie tackle. This is the time of the year that early carp take crappie plastics.

My fishing partner and I took 4 out of 5 hookups in about 2 1/2 hours last evening after work right in the mouth of a slowly running street drain. All of them were on inch and a half twisters on 1/32nd oz jig heads slowly moved up and down a couple of inches at the bottom on 4 pound line. My partner's was the biggest at just over 30". My three were more like 3-4 pounds, much smaller, but the one that was lost was the largest of all with the hook pulling out after some 15 minutes of contest. The 5' St Croix Triumph rod and the 4 pound line on it were put to about as much stress as they could take!

All the fish we caught were returned to the water.

This is a regular spring carp pattern for us and really works to get the blood flowing after a winter of cold. Carp around here will continue to take the little crappie plastics all summer but not so readily as they do in the early spring.