2020 STRIPER REPORTs

[Doc Z]

I fished Wed and Thursday night to Monday but took Sat off due to the wind forecast which ended up not being bad. Wed we fished Marlboro around Trap Rock and managed 8 fish up to 36 inches but the fish were scarce. We came back Thursday nite and fished the same area and the few fish we saw had vacated and the screens were blank so Friday we made the decision to head North to the Norrie/Black Creek area and it paid off. The was a steady flow of fish up the West channel all weekend and they were schooling heavily on Sunday night when the bite was insane. Friday Flood into Slack had the best bite and in the morning we saw some spawning activity on the calm surface. The south wind kicked around 3pm and killed the evening bite. We came back 8pm Sat night and again checked Marlboro and the Power Plant area but again the fish were scarce so Sunday morning we went North again and the bite was good through the whole Flood tide despite the wind blowing us SE to NW. The wind died in the evening and the bite turned on as well as the spawning. It was good from 7pm to 10pm with thick schools but not what you would have expected from the number of fish...they are still not feeding as they have been more interested in getting ready to spawn. Monday was the same...no fish down from Marlboro to Poughkeepsie but they were still North. I managed to get my personal best and set my boat record for the Hudson at 51.15 lbs/45inches. She was a fat/full beautiful cow who went back with no issues. I caught her drifting a sandworm off a bobber and luckily I hooked her with my best reel because she would have spooled any other reel I had on the boat. Water temps remained steady at 53-54 degrees despite the extreme cold.

[Wingnutt92]

Great fish Doc, grats on the 50lb'er!

[Cheffin]

Nice report and congrats on the Beast. good to hear they moved into that area because I pounded that area Tuesday and Wednesday and only managed a few small fish. It did look like the big girls were staging up in the deep water to spawn the bottom was carpeted from 50 to 90 feet in the East Channel but not much up high and nothing would go based upon your report I guess that's exactly what was happening. I was skeptical with the water temps but I guess they will spawn in colder water?

[Doc Z]

Yes...they will spawn in colder water and it has been happening every evening and morning if the surface is calm since May 8th.

[bigboreblr]

Nice fish Doc.

Went out for 2 hours late this morning in catskill. Mostly trolled north of the creek mouth to see whats on the fish finder.

Looked better on the East side than the west. Cows at the base of the bank in 50ft water. Schoolies half way up in the bank sitting in the 25ft collumn at the 40-45ft depth. Small bait 15-20ft in the 35-40ft part of the bank.

Alot of familiar boats in spots they're usually not in today......

No stripers, but I caught a monster smallmouth on a purple / white 20ft challenger lure.

Threw some chunks out for the last 45 or so before noon and headed back. The wind was picking up out there.

Back out tomorrow likely if work doesn't need me....... Might buy eels and some worms tonight and head south towards eusopus....

For you fustrated sabiki / scap netters in the catskill area, riverview marina has frozen herring still..... No live or fresh dead.

[fattony325]

Went out Sunday mid-morning and despite the wind blowing the boat eastward all morning managed a nice fat 38" cow. A little later the wind calmed down and drifted north and caught a bunch of keeper sized fish. As I was drifting between the MHB and The Walkway I caught 2 18" dinks back to back. As I was watching my rod tip barely bouncing thinking I had run into a school of dinks, I engaged the the Baitrunner and the reel screamed!! I lost a monster right at the side of my boat. I had her half in my net and the hook came out and I couldn't extend myself far enough to scoop her. If I wasn't by myself I'd have taken a chance falling in to get her. It would have definitely beaten my PB of 45". The perils of fishing solo!! Caught a total of 9 for the day.

[Doc Z]

The bite is getting better. We fished from Roger's to Norrie and killed em today. The schools were thick and they certainly were biting better on the tide changes. Just south of Roger's in 120 FOW the schools were running around 24-30 ft and hungry. Slack into Flood was best but there was still some bite from slack into Ebb but when the current was over 1.2 mph the bite died. The big cows are around too. We hooked into 2 monsters and the first one snapped the line 17 feet up...we figured she wrapped around something because the line was all frayed and the hook pulled on the second one at the boat which was well over 45 lbs. Most of the fish we landed were from 15-26 inches but we got a couple up to 37in/21 lbs. There are lots of huge marks in water under 25 ft which is the females trying to avoid the aggressive males. I did watch the damn Vermont trollers drag their balls through the females lying in the mud and snag them....its sad to see these assholes do this just for charters. Water temps today were a steady 53.5 to 54 degrees. The bite will only continue to improve from here. I did not see any spawning today. We checked Marlboro to Poughkeepsie in the morning and dusk and there were very few fish...hopefully the Chesapeake Stripers arrive within the next week as these are the ones that hang around there in schools.

[BUB]

Morning excursion with my boys today. Was finally able to jig up some herring again after a few dead days. Landed a 35" channel cat(my pb) My stepson caught a 36" striper which is his pb. Didnt see much else going on around us. Heading back out Saturday.

[bigboreblr]

This mysterious catskill herring......

You get them in the creek or in the river....... And I thought last year herring was tough.......


I went shoreside across the catskill creek in the evening 5-7pm. Catfish and eels enjoyed the herring chunks...... More or less slack low I think...... Grandpa enjoyed it.

[Jumpingjoe180]

Went out by the Troy dam a million boats didn’t see any hook ups

[Doc Z]

The bite continues to improve from Rogers to Esopus and is on fire now. We did a 5 mile drift w/o ever starting the motors and marked a steady line of fish from S of the Island all the way past the Esopus Lighthouse...it was hard to leave when it got dark because the fish were chewing hard. We had a lot of small fish in the 15-22" range but did get some high 30s and another 43 in Cow that weighed in a staggering 45 lbs. Her belly was full of herring I'm guessing because she was fat. She went right past my eel to hit a Sandworm in the channel...go figure. We had one 37in fish hit one rod then a second rod on the way in to get hooked twice. Back out in the AM.

[Doc Z]

We managed to get a good day of fishing in before those nasty Thunderstorms hit. We fished Norrie to Esopus and there were plenty of fish but the bite was not as aggressive as yesterday. AM Flood to Slack tide yielded many 25-30 inch fish. The bite slowed on the Ebb but is improving. Most of the fish on Ebb were in the 10-24 in range. There were thick black screen schools of 40+ lb cows stacked on the Western edge but as usual they are staging to spawn and have absolutely no interest in feeding. We hit them with bloods/sands and dragged an eel in front of their faces with no luck...so we went back into the channel to have some fun with the schoolies. We ended up with 49 today. Water temps are climbing and up to 57 degrees. The fish are hitting much harder but they hit the bait then most of the time keep going so we had to lock the bales to get them hooked on the initial hit. The PM flood bite would have been insane if it was not for the Thunderstorms and wind that forced us off the water...thankfully as a tornado went overhead a few hundred feet up but never touched down...it was an incredible site.

[Hot Soup]

Will CharlesRider Kingston have any room to park trailer on weekend??

[Jumpingjoe180]

Anyone know how the river is looking after those storms yesterday

[Doc Z]

What an epic day on the river....the Striper are spawning and chewing hard. The bite was good on all tides although best on the Flood and slowed a bit at max Ebb. We almost broke our daily record with 152 today. We would have crushed it as we were on a mile long thick school and were landing quads until a barge came by at 9pm and broke the school up. After that they scattered and did not feed but I have no complaints. The Striper are loaded from Rogers to the Esopus Lighthouse with all sizes and Milton produced several cows above 30 lbs. Tonight the spawning was insane. We will be back out in the morning. Water temps crested 59 degrees at Rogers and 58 degrees at Norrie Point. In between all this fishing I will get some pics downloaded.