Hopefully you made it through this week’s nor’easter without any major damage or issues. A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a fellow New England fisherman who felt we had seen the last of the winter storms, and he expected it to be smooth sailing heading into March. Well, as much as I wanted to agree with him, I figured Mother Nature was not yet done with us, and unfortunately I was right. Nonetheless, here we are halfway through March and with each passing storm we get one step closer to the return to better weather and good fishing! But in the meantime, we have a few more important events to pass along to you. While we do not have any fishing shows set this weekend here in New England, next weekend is going to be busy! First up we’ve got the annual MSBA Sport Fishing Expo on March 24 – 25 at the Wolves Den Sports Complex in Pembroke, MA. The event runs from 10 – 6 on Saturday and 9 – 4 on Sunday. The Fisherman Magazine will be there and I will pass along our booth number in next week’s video. Also taking place on Saturday the 24th, we have the annual Striper Surf Day presented by Rivers End Tackle in Old Saybrook, CT. I’ll be doing a seminar once again as will the duo of Dave Anderson and John Lee. There will also be vendor reps, demos, free food and raffles, and this event runs from 10 am to 4 pm. And then last up next week, on Sunday the 25th, we have a fundraiser being put on by the crew of Reel Fishing Northeast to benefit Owen Hanecak, son of Fisherman Field Editor and Contributor, John Hanecak. If you recall last fall we had a fishing tournament and fundraiser to assist in Owen’s ongoing battle with Leukemia. The fundraiser is being held in Meriden, CT from noon to 8 PM. As always, you can get all the details on these items and more by visiting the events calendar at TheFisherman.com. Looking to the fishing side of things for those of you who were either lucky enough to live an area that didn’t receive too much snow this week, or if you just NEED to get out, we have a few options on tap for you. Your best bet overall is going to be of the freshwater fishing variety right now. Trout fishing, where open, is always a good bet in the late winter and early spring. Connecticut is stocking its Trout Management Areas (both lakes and rivers) and Massachusetts finally began its spring cycle this week prior to the storm. Just a quick reminder, Connecticut has enacted a new trout stamp which is available now. Check out the story at TheFisherman.com for the details on it. Another good option right now comes in the form of spring carp fishing. Fisherman contributor Dave Pickering has been posting some very good catches of late on his carp blog, http://ricarpfishing.blogspot.com/, and he even surpassed the 100-fish mark for the season last week! Now if you have never fished for carp I must say that you are missing out on one of the hardest-fighting fish found in local waters, and they will test both your skill and patience. If you’d like to learn how to get started in carp fishing, there is no better way locally than to attend the 2nd Annual North East Carp Conference which is taking place on April 21 in Middletown, CT. Check out all the details at TheFisherman.com. And last but not least, there is still plenty of holdover striped bass action right now despite the weather. I spoke to a good number of fishermen in Rhode Island this past weekend who report getting both quality and quantity in rivers other than the Housy, so breaking away from the crowds might be a good idea. To our south they’re already getting some bass in the salt so things should only improve up our way in the coming weeks.