You’ll find more signs of spring in Augusta this weekend than you’ll find anywhere else in the state. The reason is the 13th annual State of Maine Sportsman’s Show opening at the Augusta Civic Center Friday and continuing through Sunday. Because the show’s growth and popularity is rising like sap in a sugar maple, it will take about three days to peruse the event co-sponsored by The Maine Sportsman magazine and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

This year’s show includes more than 145 exhibits and at least 50 seminars. Exhibitors from all over Maine and from as far away as Alaska and Labrador will drop their duffel in the Civic Center. Included are charter boat captains from Lake Ontario, and I’ll guarantee you, those gentlemen can hook you onto fish that will test your knots and tackle. In addition, you’ll find stage shows, contests, demonstrations, and campfire discussions at every turn of the show’s many trails.

Take your pick of these stage events: bass casting techniques with Dave Barnes, New Brunswick bear hunting with George Klucky, fly casting with Harry Vanderweide, coyote calling with Joe Baldwin, bird dog training with the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Maine Bowhunters Association demonstration, live hawks and owls with Dr. Jim Parker, and Maine turkey calling and moose calling championships, to name a few.

Seminars include: wildlife woodcarvers, handicapped sportsmen programs with Gary Anderson, motorized recreation safety with Ron Bennett, smoking meat with Andy Smith, Atlantic salmon with Clint Townsend, wild turkeys with biologist Phil Bozenhard, coyote control with Mike Golden, bluefish and stripers with Barry Gibson and Dan Caruso, sportsmen and landowners with Warden Charlie Marshall, Gulf of Maine gamefish with Cal Robinson, for starters.

In addition, Maine’s largest outdoors-art show and contest will be a feature attraction. Entries will be accepted in the Civic Center’s Sagadahoc and Piscataquis rooms on March 24, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and on March 25, 10 a.m-6 p.m. Entry fee is $3 for each piece submitted. All work must be original. Again this year, the contest has a juvenile division open to artists of high school age or younger.

You’ll get all that and more for less than you’d pay for a bucketful of bait. The access fee is $5 for veteran sportsmen, novices under 12 get through the gate free if guided by an adult. The show’s schedule is: Friday, 4 p.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

You might need snowshoes to get to Augusta, but you’re sure to find more than a few signs of spring at the 13th annual State of Maine Sportsman’s Show.

If you’ve been wondering who walked away with the winnings of the 1993 Bud Light Ice Fishing Derby, read on and put your mind to rest. Following are the names of the first-, second-, and third-place winners in the fish categories and the waters that produced the finned prizes. Salmon: Todd Knowles, Branch Lake, 3 pounds, 13 ounces; Bill Mulhern, Patten Pond, 2 pounds, 9 ounces; Derek Murray, Branch Lake, 2 pounds, 1 ounce.

Brook Trout: Allen Hart, Hopkins Pond, 2 pounds, 2 ounces; Bob Commeau, Hopkins Pond, 1 pound, 9 ounces; Steven McIntire, Green Lake, 1 pound 8 ounces. Togue: Jason Littlefield, Green Lake, 8 pounds, 4 ounces; George Nason, Hearts Pond, 7 pounds, 14 ounces; Chris Goodwin, Green Lake, 6 pounds, 4 ounces.

Brown Trout: Stan Robinson, Branch Lake, 3 pounds, 9 ounces; Brian Cummings, Lilly Pond, 3 pounds, 9 ounces; Cody Varnum, Branch Lake, 2 pounds, 6 ounces. Pickerel: Steven Mosley, Great Pond, 4 pounds; Gary Doane, Great Pond, 3 pounds, 6 ounces; Reggie Winslow, Graham Lake, 3 pounds, 5 ounces.

The packbaskets of the following lucky-ticket holders were weighted with winnings taken in the Shore Prize drawings: Chris Bagley, Milbridge, Yamaha Timberwolf 4×4; Wanneta Dudley, South Paris, above-ice traps and $25 gift certificate; Barry Robertson, Blue Hill, stabilizers; Ethel Mullen, Levant, stabilizers; Robert Warford, Brooksville, Bieffe helmet; James Peasley Jr., Brooksville, Yamalube oil and $25 gift certificate; David Simon, Orono, Bud Light jacket.

In the Fish Derby Sweepstakes, Bill Taylor of Brewer snagged an Old Town canoe and went home to wait for ice-out. On second thought, he may need it when this snow starts melting. Jocy Smith of Franklin headed home with a bowling ball, bag, and a $25 gift certificate.

You have to agree, the Bud Light Derby is a productive day in the outdoors; and in keeping with that, doesn’t Green Lake produce some nice togue?

Reminder: LD 612, the anti-hunting bill misleadingly titled, “An Act To Ensure Safe Hunting,” will be the target at the Fisheries and Wildlife Committee’s public hearing in Augusta today. The hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Room 109 of the State Office Building. If at all possible, be present to express opposition to the bill that, if enacted, will ensure no hunting in most of Maine’s organized areas.

It’s all up to you.