Moved to Cheshire CT. last spring. I have done nothing but salt water fishing all my very long life. If anyone can give me the name of a few books that may help me learn the in's and out's of fishing fresh water. I have all winter to read and stock up on what I need or don't need. Yes I'll still beat at Watch Hill on weekends. Thank you in advance.

Very interesting... I was just writing about my need for salt water and how fw just doesnt do it for me. MY feelings are skip the fw ponds and just head to the shore. Being in cheshire you should be able to make it to saybrook in under a hour. Even without a boat there are tons of places you can fish from the shore and you can pick up just about anything in the mouth of the river.

Unkle Rob, I grew up in Cheshire and salt water isn't that far away. My neighbor would trailer his 16ft Columbia to New London on the weekends and we would catch boat fulls of Bass, Black fish, Macks, and bluefish. It gave me my love for fishing and I now live in South County RI. Which is much easier to reach the salt but I don't think if I lived in Cheshire that would stop me, I would just need a better trailer.
The reservoir does have some big bass though and the Quinnipiac river always has Brook trout, but they are all candy asses compared to any marine fish.

Hey there is a nice little pond off of mountain rd where the trail starts to go to the falls. It is loaded with Pickerel, perch, and smaller bass. Throw a jitter bug on and work the Lilly pads. They hit hard.

Go to a local real tackle shop, if there is still one around, and ask.
Pick a spot where you see people fishing, I like moving water myself because it's easy to figure out where fish would be, and fish there. It's nice to find a place that you go by all the time, keep the rod in the car and stop, even for 10 minutes. You'll figure it out so it works for you, it's about fun.

There are several phenomenal freshwater opportunities in CT (we all know it has a world class saltwater fishery), all within 1.5 hours drive of your doorstep. There are great management programs for northern pike and walleye, and the upper Farmington has arguably the best holdover trout fishing in New England. Check out CT DEEP's 2012 Angler's Guide for a list of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams around the state and what you can catch in them. Shoot me a PM if you need more. Good luck and welcome to CT.