West Point Stripers

[lenny sloat]

Hello, I am new to the area and am putting the boat in at West Point in 2 weeks. I plan on fishing around West Point / Cornwall area. I am a little unclear about where to start. Please let me know if what I have surmised is correct:
a. The west side of the river (mud flats and rocks) is good.
b. I have a depth finder and plan on trying bottom fishing (blood worms and bunker / herring chunks) and trolling large cranks and swim baits with side planers.

I have some questions about how to do the bottom fishing.
1. With the blood worms or chunks, do you want them on the bottom or a little off the bottom?
2. If it is off the bottom, how much and how do you get the bait there (fishfinder rig with a float or a slip-bobber)?
3. What do you all look for when you decide to anchor up and bottom fish?

I also have some general questions:
1. Would anyone recommend using Berkley Gulp Cut-Bait strips on the bottom? What about Gulp Blood worms?
2. What size hooks do you use for the blood worms?
3. Early and late do the stripers come close to shore?
4. Do they hit at night?
5. Do a lot of fish spawn around West Point?
6. Do the stripers come up in the water column under low light conditions?
7. What depth would be good to start looking for fish?
8. What general cover or bottom charachteristics are good to look for?

I know that this is a lot of questions. I am just looking for a place to start.

Any help would be appreciated!!!!!!!!!!

[Striperjim]

Hi Lenny welcome to the forum.
I see your questions were answered in this thread.
https://stripers247.com/phpBB2/showthread.php?t=8398

As far as depth I've heard more than one Capt. Say when trolling the magic number is 16 feet.
In case you missed this thread

[lenny sloat]

StriperJim,

Thanks for the answer.

How important do you feel it is to get the baits away from the boat? Are the stripers sensitive to motors and boat silhouettes?

Lenny