Took a trip last night to load up on bait for the am. Started the day with a 27" on chunk and 34" on live. Got kicked up due to relentless underwater debris caking my lines. Moved to a new spot that wasn't so productive though I was marking schools. Got kicked up once again this time due to floating debris.
So I decided to try drifting towards the end of outgoing.. BOOM! Ended up putting 15 more in the boat up to 41.75" before I had to head in. Unreal how they wouldn't touch anything while anchored.
Went out for a hour tonight to load up on bait again with my son and his friend who has never striper fished. Decided to toss a line out. Hooked up and had him land his first.. a 39". Nothing better.
Taking them to a trout derby in the am hoping to hit the river in the afternoon.
It’s been tough in the Milton area but there have been lots of monsters around. Yesterday we caught more on eels than worms….up to 41” and several that snapped new 50lb leader. Today we finally saw some schools but they were moving north fast and not feeding much. Seems the best bite has been the end of flood into slack. Today in 20 min we landed 4 fish 25-27” then the screens were blank the rest of the day….back out tomorrow. Lots of schooling in croton that have yet to move in.
I decided to brave the wind this afternoon and ended up with a crew member getting seasick and turning the boat around after 2hrs of 3 footers. Sitting on loads of good marks that whole time with just one short run. I went out solo and found another school further north and landed one schoolie right as I was reeling in the last rod. Temp in Newburgh was 53⁰F. Need some warm weather to get them active...
Got out for a quick trip this am in Greene. Managed to put 4 on the deck from 31-39" on live. I was alllllllllll about staying out... but the whole having a Mom thing got in the way😛. Back at it tomorrow.
Milton produces monsters again…..we ended up with a nice 42 in 30 lb tonight. Still not a lot of the 25” males around yet. They are not aggressive due to the 53 degree water temps. Yesterday we participated in the Hope for Warriors Tournament and ended up in 1st for woman’s and 2nd for mens division. We took out 2 vets who had a blast.
Not for me UGH!! I was one of the other two boats out in Milton yesterday afternoon (never saw the river so empty on a weekend day in May), fished from 2pm to about 6:30...not a single damn hit yesterday. Plenty of fish on the finder...just no hits. Maybe I should try putting bait on the hooks or something...
Fished till 12:30ish today. Caught a 34" right off the bat on live and a handful of smaller ones 30"+.Things slowed down so fed some monster eels till tide change. Got tired of the boat spinning and reels clicking so decided to drift for a bit. Managed to beat my old PB of 42" by pulling in a 42.5" 36#(per boga grip) cow. I'm fully aware and truly disappointed that the pictures don't capture the weight/girth of this fish. Dunno if it's the angle, my hand pushing the belly up or what? Never easy trying to take your own pic. Regardless, great friggin morning. I think I'll call in sick Thursday and Friday.
Hoping I have the pleasure of meeting Mrs 45" soon.
Milton continues not to disappoint us with a 44 in 36 lb cow and a few smaller one. Not many schooling fish there….just big marks. We hit Norrie this morning and it was loaded but the wind made it difficult and we only caught a few…hopefully things light up this week with the warmer weather…..water temps still a chilly 53. We are not getting many smaller schoolies this year but we have landed more fish over 40” than any other year.
Went out for a few hour after work. Only caught 2 herring. Marked a bunch of schools of stripers cruising by but they weren't very interesting in feeding. Hooked up to one for my coworker. His first in many years 27".
Heading out in the am.
Norrie has officially lit up….lots of agressive feeders and more fish…no solid schools but the females are sitting in the flats getting ready to spawn and the males are cruising the channel. I found out today that sometimes you have to work the pole….started doing some minor jigging with my baits and it worked…even got a nice 38” 28lb male that was spewin. Water temps hit 57. Many more schoolers also moved into Marlboro and Milton today and the big ones are still there…….we saw some serious marks just north of Pirates just before coming in at midnight…..tight lines…it’s on now.
Some spawning has begun in the Pok and Northern Milton area….not a lot though. This morning there was spawning in Norrie too and here are loads of makes cruising the channel….still not many south of there yet but it should explode any day now. Water temps on Norrie hit 60 today and tonight Milton was 58,5. Still lots of giant females cruising around from Marlboro to Milton waiting to spawn.
Caught a couple personal bests at the Troy Dam last night. 38" and 40" on live herring at the ebb tide. Water temp was crazy warm, 61.7 degrees. Hated to leave, but it got dark!
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