Who doesn’t love the spring season so packed with hopes for renewal and dreams of better days to come?

Spring is not just the end of dreary winter, relief from the tedium that overcomes many who shutter indoors to hide from gray clouds, freezing temperatures and icy conditions.

For me, spring means two very important games leap front and center: fishing and baseball. Spring is prime time for anglers at Mosquito and Pymatuning and for fans who cheer for the boys of summer in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Thank goodness for April, the month when many anglers start getting serious about Northeast Ohio’s walleyes, crappies and bass. It’s also when the long offseason of Major League Baseball finally ends, and I rekindle the fire that burns in my soul for the Cleveland Guardians and their Indians ancestors.

Ah, April. I see so many similarities in April baseball and fishing.

We open the season with great anticipation. Anything can happen. Nothing has fizzled.

April is the dawn of the days that erase the “maybe next year” mood that closes too many Cleveland seasons.

It is April and the Guardians are piling up wins. We have every reason to be optimistic about our baseball. Jose Ramirez will amaze us with his bat. Steven Kwan will defend left field like it’s his own front yard. Josh Naylor will impress us with clutch doubles and can-do hustle. Shane Bieber will strike out 200. And a rookie will rise up and shine.

Baseballs are flying, the willows are budding and the fish are getting frisky. The water is up in the bushes at all of our local waters, but many local anglers are already stringering walleyes and crappies at Mosquito and Pymatuning.

It’s April and every angler is optimistic about another fantastic season. Big pike will surprise a number of Mosquito crappie fishers. Monster muskies will reward diehard anglers at Milton and West Branch. Thousands of walleyes will go home for families’ fish fries across Youngstown and Warren. Bass await anglers at a dozen nearby lakes that have yet to see 2024 fishing pressure.

I’ll be launching the Bass Cat soon. I have a long list of wishes for this spring, summer and fall. I’d like to top my personal best largemouth bass (7 pounds 2 ounces), smallie (6 pounds 1 ounce), walleye (7 pounds 5 ounces), crappie (16 inches), northern pike (39 inches) and muskie (44 inches).

It is April and nothing is impossible. As surely as April showers bring May flowers, every true Guardians fan knows deep down inside that a Cleveland World Series is not beyond reach.

I have two more 2024 baseball and bassin’ wishes. I want to catch and release an eight-pound Erie smallmouth bass, and I hope my Guardians will sign Bieber to a long-term contract.

Hey, a guy can dream big, right?

Jack Wollitz is the author of “The Common Angler,” a book featuring stories about experiences that help define the “why” behind anglers’ passion for fishing. Email Jack at jackbbaass@gmail.com.