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Stripers are here — right on time!
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Jackie Schrowang of Catskill with a nice early season striper.
Larry DiDonato For Columbia-Greene Media
April 19, 2019 01:00 pm Updated: April 19, 2019 01:23 pm
The spring striper run in our area has been on since the beginning of the month. It got off to a good start with 18 to 28-inch fish being caught in fair numbers well south of Catskill down just north of.
Jackie Schrowang of Catskill was fishing this past Sunday and boated three nice linesiders. Larger fish are starting to be landed in the 30 plus-inch range. Tom Gentalen of River Basin Sport Shop reports a 40-incher caught in the Saugerties area earlier this week.
Tom says, “Best striper catches we’ve heard about have been from Esopus Meadows, Rondout Creek/Kingston, and Glasco sections. But, during the past few days, all indications were of a strong surge of activity just to the north of Catskill. Germantown still seems to be a hot spot for shore-bound anglers.”
If you do get a chance to fish the river, bloodworms and herring are the baits of choice if you can find them. Catching herring has been spotty in our area.
Of course, fishing success and bait availability were severely hampered by turbid conditions from recent heavy rain with a lot of debris reported at boat launches and floating in creeks and rivers. Tom says he has both fresh dead and frozen herring at his shop in Catskill and recommends using chunk bait.
Replace your bait every ten minutes or so to keep the scent strong, to make it easier for stripers to zero in in the murky depths. Most anglers chunk it in two or three sections but there’s another great way to fish dead herring; filet it and use one section with head, entrails, and one side of the skin, then filet the other half keeping just flesh, skin, and the tail. That gives you two usable baits. When fished on the bottom, tidal action will cause fluttering of the silvery sides. That in conjunction with the scent of the fresh dead or frozen herring will make a nice offering.
Further North, Kevin Ryan of Hudson River Bait in Rensselear, reports the season is still just starting. Schoolies plus a few 30-inch stripers are being caught on blood and sand worms, and herring. Kevin reports some of the first schools of herring are beginning to arrive up north. Further south in Coxsackie, local fishermen are having some success scapping herring as well.
A challenge facing Hudson River striper fishermen at the moment has nothing to do with the current movement or lack thereof of stripers and herring. From April 29 through May 2 the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will meet in Arlington Virginia which is likely to have a major impact of future stripers regulations in the Hudson River.
The agenda on April 30 for its Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board includes review of their recently disclosed, “2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment,” which showed reduced stocks of striped bass along our eastern coast. One result touted was an estimated 10 percent mortality rate for released recreationally caught striped bass.
The Atlantic Striped Bass Board’s Technical Committee has been tasked, “…to estimate the level of removals needed to reduce fishing mortality to the target and threshold levels by 2020 and to provide one example recreational bag and size limit combination that would achieve those conditions on the coast and in the Chesapeake Bay.”
That’s regulatory speak for considering legal options to reduce the take and mortality of stripers.
Of particular concern when that is the goal are regulations concerning mortality of “female spawning stock biomass” which can have a drastic impact on our local striper season and others that take place during the spawning run. The assessment includes findings pointing to a failure of previous regulations like the current slot limit for the Hudson River, to improve striper stocks.
NYS DEC has one person that serves as NY’s representative on the ASMFC, its Striped Bass Management Board and its Technical Committee.
It’s premature to speculate what will come out of the commission’s spring meeting, but Hudson River Striper fisherman would do well to keep well informed as it moves forward with potential reg changes.