Onota is designated as a Special Brown Trout Water with a one-fish-per-day, 15-inch minimum-length limit to enhance its trophy trout fishery.

Onota Lake lies outside the city limits of Pittsfield. Access to the southeast shore is about a third of the way from the southern end by taking Lakeway Drive to Burbank Park from Valentine Drive.

Lake Mattawa’s 112 acres are in the town of Orange, south of Route 2. Mattawa is stocked each spring and fall with rainbow and brown trout, and the lake has a reputation for producing trophy trout. Surplus salmon are also stocked here when available. Warmwater species include smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed, bluegill and yellow perch.

Access is off Lake Mattawa Road and off Holtshire Road. Several other worthy ice-fishing destinations include Laurel Lake and Lake Rohunta.

Lake Nippenicket
Lake Nippenicket in Bridgewater contains 354 acres of warmwater fishing potential about one-half mile west of Route 24 near the Hockomock Swamp.

Nippenicket offers good fishing for an assortment of warmwater species including chain pickerel, brown bullheads, yellow perch, black crappies, pumpkinseeds and bluegills. The lake has been known to give up an occasional lunker pickerel.

Largemouth bass fans will particularly enjoy Nippenicket. Tiger muskies have also been stocked here, so there’s a good possibility of landing game fish topping out at better than 10 pounds.

Access may be found off Pleasant Street or Elm Street.

For information on regulations, destinations and more, long on to MassWildlife’s Web page at MASS.gov/dfwele/DFW/Dfwfsh.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Lakes Region
The hardwater outlook is good in the Granite State. Yellow perch and chain pickerel may be found in nearly every water, from ponds to the back bays of larger lakes. Togue, rainbows and cusk will come into shallow flats to feed under the ice. Reefs and humps surrounded by deeper water area are also hangouts for togue, rainbow and cusk during the winter months.

Historically, it’s tough to top Winnisquam for lunker lakers, or Winnipesaukee for all-around quality and quantity of lakers, rainbows and cusk. Monster rainbows may be caught in Newfound Lake, along with plenty of lake trout.

White Lake in Tamworth, Tewskbury Pond in Grafton and Highland Lake in Andover are open for ice- fishing and are often stocked with surplus trout in fall.

Northern Region
In the North Country, catch fall-stocked rainbows in Streeter Pond and Martin Meadow Pond. Panfish fans do well here, too. Bass, pickerel and perch will take almost any bait and keep flags flying all day. Try South Pond, Burns Pond and Partridge Lake.

In the southwestern corner of the state, hardwater fishing has yielded some big togue in recent years. On Feb. 19, 2005, Chris Wesoja of Webster hauled a monster 37.5-inch, 21.35-pound togue onto the ice. The same fishing party landed a second lunker weighing in at 17 pounds.

In addition to Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam, some of New Hampshire’s most consistent lunker lake trout producers are Newfound and First Connecticut lakes.

Central Region
Good central New Hampshire waters for mixed-bag warmwater fishing include Pemigewasset and Wickwas lakes in Meredith, Hawkins Pond in Center Harbor, Lees Mills Pond in Moultonborough and Suncook Lakes in Barnstead.

Southwestern Region
Best bets for trout in the southwestern part of the state include Gustin Pond in Marlow, Warren Lake and Newell Pond in Alstead, Deering Reservoir in Deering, Franklin Pierce Lake in Hillsborough and Horace Lake in Weare.