Sudsy,
Below the radar it isn't. The tidal Hudson is 160 miles long. You can buy fishing maps at Wal-Mart that list every hole and piece of structure from Troy, NY to the Battrery in Manhatten. Most of the spots above Newburgh are in the sticks. They don't generate the numbers of ghouls who rush to and fro from spot to spot in Long Island or the Northern NJ Shore. A lot of the spots are not accessable except by boat or kayak. The River flows free, but a lot of people own property on its shores. They post it. The east shore is buffeted from shore fishing because it is for all intents and purposes a railroad right of way and the Cinder Dicks write tresspasser tickets from Yonkers to Troy. There are only a few miles of access from the east shore for 160 miles.
The west side has chunks of private property with state parks anbd boat launches stuck inbetween. The spots are known by the bait shops and they point their customers to them on a daily basis. Down the Shore you have miles and miles of empty beaches, in the Hudson Valley each shore spot is known and used for the most part infrequently.
The spawning striped bass move thru the spots as weather, water temperature and tides allow.
Excuse me I have a crisis going on - Bottom of the nineth and the Yankees leave 2 on base with the score yankees 4 and Red Sox 2. The Red Sox could beat Manny Rivera and score 3 beautiful runs in the next 10 minutes. I can't see it but I have it on the radio from Fenway.
Ortiz, Yukalis and Drew are in the line up
Poppy strikes out. Yukalis is on First with a hit on the first pitch to him. Drew, the tieing run us at bat. Ball One - Strike One - youkalis moves to 2nd,
Drew sacrifice out. Jason Bay is up - Ball One - BAM Bay hits a home run and the Red Soxs have tied the effin Game. YyyyesssssS! Oh be still my heart! 
Lowell is up - Strike one, Ball one,
Line drive base hit to left. 
Winning run on base.
Pitch hitter coming out of the Dugout - Jason Varitec Pitch runner at first. Strike one - "Let's Go Red Socks" foul ball, strike two. Ball One - Two Strikes -- Veritec strikes out The Score is 4- 4 - We go to EXTRA INNINGS. 
Pedroia snags a line drive and throws Jeter out. Damon up with a runner at 3rd and 2 outs. Damon hitting 315. Pablabaum pitching Two balls, one strike. Three balls and a strike. , two outs.
Damon gets on Runner at 1st and 3rd - Ball one,
Ball two, Foul ball! 2 balls, 2 strikes 38,163 in attendance - Foul ball. Batter stays alive. 3 balls, 2 strikes, Full count STRIKE Yankee leave two on base.
Red Sox line up - Time to say a Rosary! Green up leads off - Strike One, Foul, Strike 2, Ball 1,
Ball 2, Strike 2. Green strikes out 1 out in the tenth inning. Strike one, Ball one, Bases empty.
High pop up Jeter makes the out - Pedroia is up!
Ball and a strike. Ball 2, strike one. Strike two on a foul. Two and Two is th count. Another foul.
Strike 2. Moving on the the 11th. Geeze!
NY runners on 1 & 2 - 1 out Cabera strike 1, strike 2, 1 ball & 2 strikes 2 & 2 Double Play Red Soxs are Up
Poppy Ortiz up - Ball one Strike One Ball 2, Strike 2
Strike 3 - 1 out. Yukalis up Ball 1, Strike 1, ball 2,
strike 2 - GAME WINNING HOME RUN BY KEVIN YOUKLIS. RED SOX WIN - 8 straight wins 10 and 6
Bo Sox move up past the Yankees in the East.
Musta been the Rosary! 
Back to the Hudson River.
I've been fishing the Hudson River since I was 11 years old. I'll be 70 in 12 days. Boat anglers have the edge in the Hudson. There are some outstanding shore spots, but the roster is usually full day and night with big ole country boys who camp on them for weeks. Tents and all. They are not shy about telling you they have permission and you don't on private property.
You can put a code out, but the guys who fish the valley go to wherever the code is first. They follow the postings by Bait and Tackle shops from Fort Lee, NJ all the way to a couple of miles south of the Federal Flood Control Dam at Troy.
If you want to know where the fish are in the HR Valley go to riverbasin.com and click fishing reports. Bingo a current report naming names and locations.
There are no secrets in the Hudson Valley. Everybody knows. Lots of us fish. The opportunity to catch Striped bass in the River lasts about 7 weeks. Then they are gone back to the Jersey beaches, Long Island Sound, Montauk, Narragansett Bay, Cape Cod, Martha Vinyard, the CC Canal and CC Bay, The North Shore of Boston, NH and southern Maine.
Don't drive yourself to drink, trying to codify the River.
Most of the fishing sites tell it as it is for the short time stripers are available in the Hudson.
Example: River Basin today
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Hudson River striper update – Friday, April 24, 2009
The striper bite has definitely been on for the past two days. Not only are there nice fish being caught, up to 42”, but there seems to be a plentiful amount of fish ranging up to about 39 inches.
The Kingston area has been rather quiet insofar as the reports we’ve had, but some fish up to 38 inches are being caught. Glasco / Saugerties is reporting about the same type of action and we’d have to rate that area as fair to good. North of Saugerties, from Malden to Catskill, the action has been good. At Catskill the creek has been producing a few fish but we’d have to rate it as fair only. The shoreline fishing from CatskillPointPark has been fair but the early morning bite up at the RipVanWinkleBridge has been very good.
A little further upriver, at the 4 Mile Point / Stockport area, the action has been very good to excellent with the stripers seemingly more plentiful than the herring. Live herring fished a little bit further north at the Coxsackie cliffs have been producing some real nice fish.
New Baltimore and Coeymans have suddenly received a plethora of stripers and the fishing at those locations presently is very good to excellent. The main problem has been in obtaining bait but using a “stoolie” seems to supply enough herring for a good time. Bethlehem is also getting some of the early stripers and this weekend’s fishing there should be good. Additionally, now there are stripers all the way up to the Troy dam area but still not as many as there will be next week.
Don’t be afraid to wet your line this weekend and take advantage of what appears to be the best start to the striper run that we’ve had in the last 8 years. We're anticipating seeing several more large entries in our striped bass contest. Live herring, chunk herring and bloodworms - have all been reported as working well. Don’t forget your sunscreen this weekend! Tom G
I rest my case.
Sudsy,
You know that picture at the begining of this site of Chrissy and the Big Striped bass.
I have known Chrissy for 7 years and I know exactly where she is standing when that picture was taken and who took it.
If you can take May 15th off and meet me in Athens, NY, you and I will take my Dory and fish that flat and see what comes up. I have a wedding to attend on the 16th, but Friday morning early I'm going fishin. The tide will be at high at 8 am and we should fish it from 4:40 till about 10:30am
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Need some help from the guys who know the river
