Every day as we advance toward May, the wetlands around our region’s lakes play a symphony of songs that enchant those of us who love our outdoors.

Springtime music fills the air around Mosquito, Pymatuning, West Branch, Milton, Berlin and Shenango. Songbirds play the high notes, while spring peepers set the background beat and woodpeckers tap out the percussion.

Anglers’ ears are tuned to the performance day after day. To me, the music means good times and productive fishing.

I especially love the playlist as I work the shallows bordered by cattails, willows and spreads of water lilies. Redwing blackbirds cling to the cattail stems and voice the unmistakable trill, which has always been a signal that the largemouth bass are busy at our Northeast Ohio reservoirs.

As the sun dips to the western horizon, the wetlands dance to the chorus of the frogs’ croaking their readiness to make tadpoles. To anglers, of course, the songs are pleasant accompaniments of evenings spent jigging for walleyes at Mosquito and Pymatuning.

The music wafts easily across the water. It reaches the ears of folks who are drifting the flats and sandbars for bass, catfish, pike and perch, and the savvy corps of trollers hoping to sack a limit of walleyes.

The notes are loud enough to be heard over huffing outboards, but not so loud that they disrupt the peace of our hours on the lakes.

Spring has sprung for sure when I hear the birds and amphibians as I stare down my float drifting near the flooded willows with high hopes that pie-plate-size crappies will pull it under.

Sometimes, as it happens, music is being made, but we don’t hear it. No wonder. We are pretty busy out there, focusing on our casts, tying knots, adjusting and tweaking, peering at electronics, and the myriad of other distractions that while necessary, can mute the celebratory tunes playing out around us.

Sharp ears do hear cues in the music. It may not direct our tactical approach, but nature’s music most definitely signals the energy in the biomass that surrounds us as we fish and, when we allow it, soothes the beast that threatens to dash our enthusiasm.

Have you ever begun to suspect your day of fishing was going to be a flop? Listen for the birds’ songs to dash your doubts. Negative anglers catch little. Positive anglers catch more. Who can be negative when the birds are chirping and the frogs are peeping?

I have often wondered whether the fish at Mosquito, Pymatuning, Milton and more can hear the sounds of spring. Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing is certain, we anglers are in the groove when the air is filled with spring’s tunes.

Nature’s music is loud and clear in April. It’s up to us anglers to hear and enjoy.

Jack Wollitz loves spring fishing all around Northeast Ohio. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.