hot spot

Located roughly mid-way between Point Judith and Charlestown Breachway off the south shore of Rhode Island, this expansive area and its surrounding bumps and humps are quite popular with local bottom fishermen.

Winter sure can be cold, but the fishing can still be hot; you just need to know where to look! Right in my home state of Connecticut a great place to be this time of year is on the upper Naugatuck River.

There is no doubt that Indian River Inlet is the number one fish producing location in Delaware. It is possible to catch just about any inshore species here and the month of October is when they all come together.

Mary’s Pond is a modest-but-popular little trout fishing hotspot that is a favorite destination among many of the locals in southeast Massachusetts.

When John Christian shattered the New Jersey state freshwater striped bass record in 2002 with a behemoth 51-pound cow, the venue it was dragged from didn’t really take anyone by surprise – at least those familiar with the Great Egg Harbor River in Atlantic County.

Townshend Ledge is a semi-pork-chop-shaped, half-mile-long reef located about 2-1/2 miles southeast of the New Haven Harbor breakwalls and about 3-1/2 miles southwest of Branford Harbor off the central Connecticut coast.

Anglers looking for an edge along the very eastern end of the South and North Forks for ground fish and gamesters, will find Cerberus Shoal to be that place, weather permitting, throughout spring, summer and fall.

As I eased my truck into the last available spot in the parking lot located at the end of South Pamet road, my heart began to race as visions of past tides rushed through my mind.

Little Sebago Lake is located within the towns of Windham and Gray in southeast Maine. A modest, pristine little sister to its larger, more famous sibling to the northwest,

The lure of trout fishing with the advent of the winter season is no better experienced than on the select Trout Conservation Area (TCA) stretches of premium trout water that includes the Pequest, Musconetcong, South Branch of the Raritan, Toms and Pequannock rivers.

Already this season, there have been indications that we could be in for a better than average cod run.

About 30 years ago I used to make the 50-mile run from Montauk to fish Buzzards Bay for scup.

The story goes that the Chicken Canyon was named for offshore guys who were too “chicken” to make the run all the way out to the Hudson Canyon. At roughly 56 miles out of Manasquan Inlet, the Chicken Canyon is a solid spot to stop and fish exclusively, or on the way out or back from the Hudson Canyon, not only because of its deep cut and ledgy makeup, but in that the triple threat of the Bidevind, Texas Tower and Bacardi are only a short run east of the spot if you need to make a move.

Splitting the towns of Strathmere and Ocean City at its southern tip, Corson’s Inlet’s inflow and outflow attracts all possible saltwater gamefish to run through its sometimes rippy, other times, placid waters.

Tucked between the LIPA stack and Cranes Neck Point in Long Island Sound, Smithtown Bay comes to life once the sand eels settle into their spring ritual of burrowing into the bay’s sandy shoals.

Hiding in plain sight among the bigger, more popular venues within a 15- to 30-minute drive including Mountain Lake, the Spruce Run, Round Valley and Merrill Creek reservoirs, and the Delaware River sits the redheaded stepchild 53-acre Furnace Lake, a fish-producing cauldron that puts fins in the air at every turn of the calendar page.