You know what they say about March - "comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb." And during most southshore winters, this is almost always true. It almost always comes in like a lion, however, going out like a lamb seems to be a 50/50 proposition. Here is to hoping this year goes out like a lamb.

For the average person, March can seem interminably long. There are no holidays, snow and cold weather is getting tiring, and with 31 days of it, March can feel more like seven weeks long. For those of you who feel this way, let me remind you that spring is just around the corner, even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment. It is a great time to make sure your gear is all set for the upcoming season before it's too late.

Despite the usually lousy weather, there are some good numbers of holdover trout available in the kettle ponds of Plymouth if you can get to them. You can also expect decent catches of trout over the next two months as the stocking program gets into high gear later this month.

Looking at past logs, this first week of March usually notes some dedicated surf casters out heaving baited lines off Brant Rock for cod. This is not entirely unusual, as there can be some cod moving inshore during high tides at night looking for an easy snack. These are typically small throwback cod, but for the insane, I mean dedicated, surf fisherman, it can take the edge off the cabin fever which is usually raging about this time of year. If the weather is kind enough to allow a quick launch of the boat, inshore fisherman can usually pick up a few scrawny cod by the rocks off Green Harbor and over by the High Pines area.

Offshore, the bail job on whale cod continues off Georges Bank and over on the east end of Stellwagen. If you can handle the coldest ocean temperatures of the season, March is the time to book that offshore codfishing charter.