New England's hardwater anglers are some of the luckiest anywhere.

Their region offers long, cold winters, safe ice and a diversity of species to target. Fisheries biologists across New England are working hard to make sure there'll be plenty of fall-stocked trout, broodstock Atlantic salmon, pike and abundant natural populations of bass and panfish to pull up through the ice.

Here's a roundup of some of the best places to start cutting fresh holes this winter:

CONNECTICUT
Largemouth and smallmouth bass are the Nutmeg State's most popular warmwater game fish and account for a whopping 1.3 million fishing trips per year! Lake-specific regulations apply, so be sure to check current regulations before heading out on any hardwater fishing forays.

Kokanee are a landlocked form of the larger Pacific sockeye salmon that swim inland to spawn in West Coast rivers. Each autumn, adult kokanees are netted and taken to the Burlington State Trout Hatchery for spawning.

In late May, about 150,000 fry are stocked into East Twin Lake and West Hill Pond in New Hartford-Barkhamsted.

Northern pike are the largest fish ice-anglers can target in Connecticut waters. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's Fisheries Division has been working to increase pike sizes in Bantam Lake in Morris-Litchfield and the Connecticut River, and is taking steps to increase pike numbers in Mansfield Hollow Reservoir (also a DEP Bass Management Lake).

Catch rates at Bantam have soared from 280 up to nearly 3,000 pike per year. Bantam is closed to pike fishing from March 1 through April 30.

The DEP began stocking walleye fingerlings into Gardner Lake in Salem-Montville-Bozrah, Rogers Lake in Lyme-Old Lyme and Squantz Pond in Sherman-New Fairfield in 1993.

Additional lakes have been added to the stocking schedule, giving anglers more fisheries for large open-water game fish. Rogers and Squantz ponds are also Trophy Trout lakes.

Be sure to check for updates on special regulations.

Among Connecticut anglers, the trout is still the most beloved coldwater species, generating more than 1.9 million Nutmeg State fishing trips each year. To keep up with demand, the DEP has implemented several programs aimed at maintaining and improving trout fisheries.

In 1993, because lakes were yielding very few trout larger than the stocked size, a 12- to 16-inch slot limit was put in place on three lakes with abundant forage -- Crystal Lake in Ellington-Stafford, Highland Lake in Winchester and Quonnipaug Lake in Guilford -- to see how this would affect trout growth.

Seeforellan-strain brown trout were also stocked into these three waters to see if it was possible to establish a population of large holdover browns.

Since then, water-specific regulations have gone into effect statewide to create quality trout fisheries in Trout Management Areas and Wild Trout Management Areas. Urban trout-fishing opportunities have also been created through an ambitious stocking program.

For more Connecticut fishing information, call 1-860-424-3474, or visit www.ct.gov/dep.