Yikes! Giant Spider! But What Kind?

I was crossing Pine Brook in East Haddam Connecticut on a narrow footbridge when I saw this monster of a spider blocking my path. It looked just as big in person as it does in the photo. If it jumped on my arm when I was taking the picture my camera might have ended up in the water.

 I don't know much about spiders but I was thinking it might be a fishing spider. If anyone reading this knows about spiders then I would appreciate it if you could identify it for me. I posted it on a forum but no word back yet.

update: I received confirmation that this is a type of  fishing spider (Dolomedes). These spiders hunt their prey instead of catching it in a web and even catch small fish (minnows). They're not known to be aggressive towards humans and their venom is not usually dangerous to people.

Here are 2 "web" sites I came across when looking for a spider identification: 

Spiders.us   and   Fact: Spiders are Adorable