I’m writing a book called 52 Week Season featuring a hunting or fishing experience for each week of the year.

From yellow perch in March to shad in April to wild turkey in May, below is a rundown of the spring months.

MARCH

Week 1: Yellow Perch

The yellow perch run in early March is one of the great fishing traditions in our region and the rightful beginning to the mid-Atlantic sportsman’s calendar. Yellow perch spawn when the temperature increase to about 46-52 degrees. A warm, sunny day can activate the spawn, but one of those late-season March wintry-mix weather systems can shut if off just as quickly. Finding that window is gold… or yellow. 

Week 2: Chain Pickerel

When you think about catching esox species, you may think about muskie in Northwoods lakes or northern pike in the land of the midnight sun. The Mid-Atlantic version is targeting chain pickerel in an icy river in early March. Like their larger cousins, chain pickerel have a missile-like profile with a pointed, toothy jaw. They’ll hang out around structure in the upper Choptank or Severn tribs and smash minnows, frogs, or crayfish. Chain pickerel may not be the most charismatic fish, but they remain active through the chilly waters of winter and sure are a welcome friend when nothing else is biting so early in the season. 

Week 3: White Perch

White perch are found are almost everywhere in the Chesapeake region, from the Susquehanna Flats to the Virginia Capes. The most consistent time to find big ones is in the early spring right after the yellow perch run. When the water temperatures climb to the high 50s and the yellows are finishing up their spawn, the white perch will move in and start their business.

Week 4: Crappie

“Somewhere between February, March, and April, that’s when, most likely, you’re going to catch a trophy fish, when fish start migrating in pre-spawn,” says Bobby “Bobcat” Whitlow, the organizer of crappie tournaments on Buggs Island Lake. “That’s your primetime for your big fish. That’s usually when they’re going to weigh 20% more because they’re full of eggs. A 2 lb. fish is a 2.40 or 2.50 [pounder].”

Week 5. Spring Harvests

For winter-weary creatures, the springwoods can offer a bounty of harvests. “You got all kinds of green stuff coming up that’s edible,” says Paula Smith, a creature of the Potomac floodplains who may be one of the last true American hunter and gatherers. 

Edible wild greens like stinging nettles, mustard greens, watercress, and ramps are sprouting up, and mushrooms, including delectable morels, are popping up throughout the forest.

Week 6. Shad

By mid-April, the dogwoods are blooming, which means the shad are running. “In Virginia, they’ll show up in the James first, and then in sequence in the York, Rappahannock, and Potomac,” says DGIF biologist Eric Brittle. On the Blackwater River in Southside Virginia, “the peak date is historically right around the time of Shad Planking — the third Wednesday in April.”

Week 7. Brook Trout

Spring comes later to the isolated mountain streams of Shenandoah National Park, and that’s just the way the brook trout like it.  

“Once the water starts getting consistently in the 40s, mayflies like the dark blue quill and March brown will start hatching, and so will caddisflies, and the brook trout start feeding really well,” says Virginia fly-fishing legend Harry Murray. “If you wanted to pick only one month to fish, it would be April.  I get really excited about the mayfly hatch in April and there are so many aquatic insects hatching, you can’t help but catch fish!” 

Week 8. Turkey

Spring turkey is an interactive game that uses all of your senses. “When you start, the leaves are off the trees, and then you see the buds, and by the end, it’s full spring,” says Marcia Pradines, manager of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. “It’s like you’re greeting the coming of spring!” 

Week 9. Rockfish

The Chesapeake Bay is the cradle of rockfish, and there is no better time to catch the ocean-going stripe-siders than when the trophy season opens up the first week of May. “When water temperatures are in the upper 40s and you get a big south wind and some big tides on a moon phase, you’ll get some fish moving out of the lower reaches of the Bay and the ocean and they start coming up and doing their spawn thing,” says Chesapeake guide Tyler Nonn. 

Week 10. Black Drum

“The black drum run is definitely one of our favorites,” says Delmarva angler Tyler Tribbett. Black drum are primarily bottom feeders with poor eyesight, so the game is to the anchor up and toss out some clams or peelers on a circle hook with some weight. “I usually get a full moon tide when you have to use literally two pounds of lead to get to the bottom.”

Week 11. Red Drum

An angler in Galveston Bay or Fernandina calls them redfish and in Lafitte they’re grilled on the “half-shell.” On Pawleys, they fish for spot tail bass, and on Ocracoke, it’s channel bass. In the fall in Tangier, you can find puppy drum, and in the spring on Assateague, you might hook up with a bull red. But “red drum is official name,” says Captian Gary Dubiel of Oriental, N.C., “and in North Carolina we refer to them as drum.” 

Week 12. Snakehead

“At $20/pound and getting served in restaurants, snakehead is in high demand,” says John Odenkirk, lead snakeheads biologist for Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. “Some people are upset and want me to put limits on it!”

In terms of catching them, “One of the best times to fish for them is in May,” says Odenkirk.

Week 13. Brown Trout

“The green drake shows up around Memorial Day, and it’s really something incredible. The locals call it the ‘Memorial Day Massacre,’” says Pennsylvania angler and author George Daniel. “To witness thousands of insects eating and laying hatches is something that everyone should witness.”