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Current upper hudson water conditions?

26K views 91 replies 19 participants last post by  Doc Z 
#1 ·
Hi all, could anyone provide me with current condition of albany area? Currious how last nite's rain affected the river as I would like to call in sick to work tomorrow!
Thanks!
 
#45 ·
I don't think are any fish up here to spawn :frustrated:

Talked to one of my friends that mates on a charter boat out of Coeymans and he said they are getting skunked routinely and the ones they are getting are tiny. My friend who guides up north and posts most of his catches on facebook hasn't posted in a week and isn't fishing his usual spots.

Going over the Dunn Memorial bridge today i saw a grand total of two boats on the river.

This will go down as the season that wasn't :eek:
 
#47 ·
I'm a newb when it comes to this striper fishing so I have a question. What do you think the cause of lack of fish is? I read somewhere that last year was a record year and then to nothing? Do they come in cycles?
Was hoping to catch a few more before we call it but that remains to be seen.
 
#53 ·
Went out Saturday and Sunday. 5AM-2PM both days. Water was around 64 degrees. Fished between the Poesten kill and the port. Got 10 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. All were between 32-36 inches. Did not see any signs that they had spawed yet, so I would say there are still a few days left in the season up here.
 
#63 ·
I just got a text 5 minutes ago that the are still smashing 30-35 in fish at the dam right now so they are still here. Just because charters are not catching fish does not mean it is a terrible year with no fish. There are plenty of fish still up here but the conditions have made it hard to catch them. The river up here is still loaded with fish esp at the Troy Dam.
 
#68 ·
It was a beautiful day on the river today weather wise.
We didn't make it up to the dam today but did manage a couple of keepers farther down the river near Albany. Had a blast with the Sabeki rig today, I caught 4 herring on one pass, a catfish on another and a couple of small mouth bass! LOL It was quite a day.
 
#70 ·
Seriously - the worst year ever in 21 years. Well at least up north. Last year spoiled us, this year humbled us. The bait wasn't here like it should be, the Stripers weren't here. From the Dam to Kingston, all the reports were shitty fishing. Some fish made it up before the May 5 storm, not many. That storm put a wall of mud in the river. The fish that were here hunkered down, and the others were either pushed down river and never came up. Never in my 21 years of Stripers on the Hudson, have I seen so many small fish 15-18" class fish. 1-2 year olds which have never traveled to the ocean yet. Many were 20" class range.

There are only two scenarios that could have happened...

1 The wall of mud prevented the fish from coming all the way north.

2 The Commercial boats got them.

I'm praying for #1... If it's #2 this fishery is in serious condition. Only next season will tell.
 
#71 ·
Seriously - the worst year ever in 21 years. Well at least up north. Last year spoiled us, this year humbled us. The bait wasn't here like it should be, the Stripers weren't here. From the Dam to Kingston, all the reports were shitty fishing. Some fish made it up before the May 5 storm, not many. That storm put a wall of mud in the river. The fish that were here hunkered down, and the others were either pushed down river and never came up. Never in my 21 years of Stripers on the Hudson, have I seen so many small fish 15-18" class fish. 1-2 year olds which have never traveled to the ocean yet. Many were 20" class range.

There are only two scenarios that could have happened...

1 The wall of mud prevented the fish from coming all the way north.

2 The Commercial boats got them.

I'm praying for #1... If it's #2 this fishery is in serious condition. Only next season will tell.
I agree. I have no idea who is "slamming them at the dam" as one poster says once in awhile.
I see no more than a handful of boats from Albany to the dam. A fraction of the usual. Reason being, there is little to catch
 
#72 ·
I Completely agree, one of the shittiest years ive seen in a long time, people have been catching them yea, they are using 1 inch sized chunks, and catching fish under 25 in. You can keep those little guys, I want the rod breakers, the reel smokers, the ones you write home about...haven't seen/heard but a handful taken up in Albany. No I don't know a lot of shore people, and maybe they are having good luck, but since they think they own the water up there, Hell they probably do!, the rest of us are saying ITS BEEN A REAL BAD YEAR. Last year was killer, we def. got spoiled.. i also have to agree with all these small fish being caught, the next year or 2 (weather permitting as always) should be a banner year for the entire river. Moving on to Pike and wally's now... Good luck everyone
 
#75 ·
Hey Doc, I hate to argue with a great Striper guy like you. The Port of Albany and the Dam held bait. The rest of the river held very little bait. Never saw the sonar fill with pods of bait, and Stripers like in previous years. Only had a handful of Stripers in the 30" range, with our biggest of 37 1/2".
We had to go to Catskill from Coeymans three times to buy bait from a gill netter, just because we couldn't jig or scap any up north. This was a very off year...
 
#76 ·
Everyone I spoke too said bait was plentiful under the Dunn Bridge and the Posty. The few times I took my boat out we had no issues jigging herring and they were all over. All I hear is people whining its a bad year because they couldn't catch fish.......then they need to get out more. Its called FISHING.......not CATCHING. Everyone I know had a great year so far and DEC reports via shocking have been positive. I've had bad days....i will say this is the first year I've seen schools of striper not voraciously feed when they gather.......the weather and pressure has put a dampening on their feeding.....but they are here in record numbers.
 
#84 ·
Smoked em at the Dam last week, all on lures, the week before fish 20-30 lbs, plenty of fish in the river from Corning Preserve up to Dam.
Best fishing on outgoing tide, try the flats below the Troy bridge top water lures, I fish 12-14 hr days sometimes, gotta put the time in my friend.
I'm basically done up here this year, next stop Cutty Hunk, June 8-11 !!!
 
#88 ·
based on the 80 pictures you posted that I rationalized size, I just don't see it.
I don't see how you can take an under slot fish then an over slot fish and call the average fish length of the 2 within the slot. .
Doc, I'm not saying at all your not a good fisher . What I am saying is there was something terribly missing in the northern sections from Catskill to Albany area.

It was personally the worst season I have experienced in my years on the water.
 
#89 ·
based on the 80 pictures you posted that I rationalized size, I just don't see it.
I don't see how you can take an under slot fish then an over slot fish and call the average fish length of the 2 within the slot. .
Doc, I'm not saying at all your not a good fisher . What I am saying is there was something terribly missing in the northern sections from Catskill to Albany area.

It was personally the worst season I have experienced in my years on the water.
I took my 480 fish and figured out the average length with simple division. This past weekend my average fish size among the 90 that we caught was 33 inches as the larger fish that you say were never up north are coming south. My buddy up at the dam just last night got a few more 40 inch fish which are definitely migrating fish and still need to come down. I agree the fishing up north was not good for most........some had much better..........but don't make an excuse that the fish were not there because they were............they were just not caught as much due to crappy weather.

Judging from the volume of fish/schools coming south this whole week thers is no question in my mind that there was an abundance of fish well north of Poughkeepsie.
 
#91 ·
I think we are talking different , Ideas.
This is how I define a slot fish ::::

the protected slot limit prohibits the harvest of fish where the lengths, measured from the snout to the end of the tail, fall within the protected interval

In just an impromptu of the 80 pictures , I found about 55% to fall under the slot (18-28") with none I could identify over 40"
With speaking to the people who regularly fish up here , many caught fish in the under slot (18-28') range while few were in the slot (28-40" ) and none over.
This is very different then the 88% slot fish , 2% over (40) we had last season.
Something was terribly wrong this season. At least in my area.
 
#92 ·
I think we are talking different , Ideas.
This is how I define a slot fish ::::

the protected slot limit prohibits the harvest of fish where the lengths, measured from the snout to the end of the tail, fall within the protected interval
OK.....slot is the fish 28-40 inches. Most of what we catch down south have been in the 28-31 but this year I got more 20 inch fish than last year and more 37-40in ones too. I usually only get one 40in fish but this year we got several....more than the last few years. Still searching for that 40+ though and I'm still sick over the one I lost. My buddies at the Troy dam mostly caught fish from 36-40 inches.
 
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