March is a fickle month where I live in northern Ohio. It’s barely spring in the good years, sometimes still winter in the bad.
Back when I played high school baseball, I had a real love-hate relationship with this time of year. When the season finally rolled around in mid-March, I couldn’t wait to get started, but to beat the cold and muddy conditions, we often practiced indoors or on an asphalt parking lot (remember not to slide).
Twice during particularly cold outdoor practices, I actually broke aluminum bats. One sheared off at the handle. I’d like to say it was because of my impressive bat speed, but the truth is those old aluminum bats got brittle in the cold.
Fishing this time of year feels kind of the same way. Even though I’m thrilled for a new season, sometimes the cold threatens to break my spirits, just like I busted those bats.
The only thing I can figure to do about it is to go anyway. As soon as the trailer-eating road salt gets washed away by a heavy spring rain, I hitch up the boat and head for the water.
Now, I suppose if you live in Florida, Alabama or Texas, you’re probably laughing at me right now, thinking about all the big prespawn and spawning bass you’ve been catching. Good for you. Your “fishing new year” starts on actual New Year’s Day. Mine lands sometime around St. Patrick’s Day, when I can finally feel confident putting the snowblower back in storage and spooling fresh line on my reels. Keep me in your thoughts while you’re choosing which pair of shorts to wear on the water this weekend.
The good thing is the cold doesn’t change the anticipation. I’m always ready, always waiting. And whenever the season finally does arrive, to make the most of it, I set some goals. They’re like New Year’s resolutions, but for fishing … and in March.
Last year, my main goal was to fish new water, and buddy, I fished a lot of it. I spent more time on the water in 2025 than any other year of my life. I found new places to get bit, and I tried some fun new tackle and techniques. A couple of them will be documented in features in upcoming issues.
I also had some new fishing partners — my kids. Of course, they’ve fished with me before, but 2025 was the first year they regularly stood side by side with me on the bow without threatening to hook me in the face with every cast. They started unhooking their own bass, baiting their own bluegill hooks and choosing their own tackle. It was a year of progress, for them and for me.
This year, my No. 1 goal is to put their fishing first. I want to give them as many weekends and summer evenings on the water as possible.
I think it’s more important now than ever to take them fishing. My two oldest kids are 9 and 7 (the youngest is 4, and not quite into fishing yet). They’re really into sports, just like I was at their age. For them, the seasons are marked by the shift in sporting activities — from wrestling and gymnastics in the winter, to baseball and softball in the spring. That’s all great, but I also want them to start marking the seasons based on the shifting opportunities in the outdoors — from small-game hunting to ice fishing to spring bass fishing and the like.
That’s why I’m so antsy to get this season started. I figure the more they go, the more they’ll get in sync with Mother Nature and the more they’ll learn the natural rhythms of it all.
And, hopefully, the more they go, the more they’ll start to feel the anticipation that comes with each new season. Even if our fishing season doesn’t start until dang near Easter some years.