[SouthernUlster]

42” Esopus Island/Black Creek. Drifting bloods. She swam away strong. Half hour later witnessed Doc Z land an absolute beast. Seasons heating up.

 

[BUB]

Took a buddy out today who hasn't fished in years. Got 6 herring quick and headed out. Would I have known how good it was going to be we would have capitalized on the bait. 1 herring 1 striper kind of day. 8 fish between 34"-42.3'. (two over 40. And a fat 39")
After tide change we took a ride up a creek to load up. Caught nothing. Ended up getting my anchor stuck and cutting the line.
Beached the boat in the main river, scapped a bunch of herring and went back out. Caught 2 more before we had to go in.

My friends personal best was 36" and 1 fish in a day ...smashed it today with a 42 3/8" 33# and 4 fish. Don't think I've ever seen him smile without a beer in him.

We had a ton of pop offs. Wish I didn't drop the ball with the bait. In the 20+ years that I've fished I've never seen so many schools heading through alllllllllll ****ing day.

Heading out with my son, friend and his stepson in the am. Fingers crossed.

 

[Doc Z]

The water temps are rising and the fish are getting more active. Lots of spawning in Norrie this morning and lots of beasts being caught. I didn't think I could beat my 44in fish earlier this week but I did with a monster 47in/48lb bass caught just south of Black Creek in Norrie. I saw huge marks and thought maybe they were Carp because none were feeding but one decided it wanted a nasty dead eel....she took it and slowly ran away....around all the other rods...we had to cut some leaders to free it up during the fight but we got her in.

 

[Doc Z]

Here is a few more from earlier in the week.

 

[tcmpnj]

Are there any fish being caught in the Beacon area, or are they further north?

Launched out of Newburgh Wednesday the 11th with 3 friends. We boated a total of 17 fish with 4 in the 30 to 35 inch range. Most of the remaining 13 were slot size. Caught them on both sides of the tide changes. It will only get better.

 

[h0ckeypuck]

42” Esopus Island/Black Creek. Drifting bloods. She swam away strong. Half hour later witnessed Doc Z land an absolute beast. Seasons heating up.
View attachment 42841

Good looking fish....but that Sea Hunter boat is a real beauty!!!!

 

[SouthernUlster]

Good looking fish....but that Sea Hunter boat is a real beauty!!!!

She’s a head turner! Great day and nice meeting you 👍

 

[freddie the j]

Camped at Schodack Island SP from last Wednesday until today. 29" 33" 38" 33" 28" 30". Friend got a 39". Many dropped runs. Schools of herring on FF but they were finicky at times. Water was up to 68 today. Relatively few boats out considering the beautiful weather.

 

[Doc Z]

Fished Norris to Esopus the last 2 days and the fish are finally feeding aressively. The fish are stacked in the channel and feeding on the tide switches. Water temps hit 62 up there today.

 

[BUB]

Great past few days on the water. Too many stories and moments to get into.. just epic memories for all my guests and I.

We put 35 more stripers on my deck (73 for the season so far.) Many PBs we're broken. Other than one 27" slot fish the smallest of the weekend was a fat 34". All hard hitting tanks. The vast majority were 38"+ with the largest being 42.5" 36lbs.
9 fish over the 40" mark. Putting me at 15 over 40" for the season. Our biggest struggle was obtaining enough bait to keep us fishing. We lost so many hours trying to do so.

Saw some small spawning going on. Nothing following the hooked cows to the net yet though.

Hoping the weather allows me to spend some time out there before it wraps up.

Here's SOME of our pics...

 

[Kirch]

Looks like Albany area is wrapped up. Water temps soared in the heat wave. Beat my PB twice this year. Only 1 slot fish at the start the rest were 36” and up. Nice pictures of the ones caught south of here. Good luck there’s more coming back down to you.

 

[Uns]

Looks like Albany area is wrapped up. Water temps soared in the heat wave. Beat my PB twice this year. Only 1 slot fish at the start the rest were 36” and up. Nice pictures of the ones caught south of here. Good luck there’s more coming back down to you.

We landed 4 today in Albany today until the weather and wind kicked us off. 28.30.34.37. marked a

ton of bait. water was warm. still some boats out also

 

[Doc Z]

We fished Esopus Island up to the lighthouse today and it is absolutely loaded in the channel with 25-28 in males screaming south on the hit. There are still some bigger females on the west flats but many have spawned and headed out. I suspect these males are headed down to the Poughkeepsie/Milton area to spawn with all the females hanging out there. Today a pole went off and when we reeled it in it was attached to a lure in a catfish's mouth...........a nice Yozuri blue/silver.............how a small catfish snapped what looked to be 80lb braid I have no idea. Water temps were 62 today. We cut out early due to the coming nasty storms....gonna head back down now.

 

[steveditt]

We fished Esopus Island up to the lighthouse today and it is absolutely loaded in the channel with 25-28 in males screaming south on the hit. There are still some bigger females on the west flats but many have spawned and headed out. I suspect these males are headed down to the Poughkeepsie/Milton area to spawn with all the females hanging out there. Today a pole went off and when we reeled it in it was attached to a lure in a catfish's mouth...........a nice Yozuri blue/silver.............how a small catfish snapped what looked to be 80lb braid I have no idea. Water temps were 62 today. We cut out early due to the coming nasty storms....gonna head back down now.

We fished Esopus Island up to the lighthouse today and it is absolutely loaded in the channel with 25-28 in males screaming south on the hit. There are still some bigger females on the west flats but many have spawned and headed out. I suspect these males are headed down to the Poughkeepsie/Milton area to spawn with all the females hanging out there. Today a pole went off and when we reeled it in it was attached to a lure in a catfish's mouth...........a nice Yozuri blue/silver.............how a small catfish snapped what looked to be 80lb braid I have no idea. Water temps were 62 today. We cut out early due to the coming nasty storms....gonna head back down now.

As noted in your prior posts I've always had more luck holding and slight jigging , used the other day just for a short time Z man 6inch Doormatadorz landed a 12 pound while drifting .

 

[BUB]

The epic run continues. Fished outgoing this am and absolutely slammed them. 21 hit the deck up to 42.5". I've hit that mark multiple times this year and can't seem to best it. 4 were 40"+

Season total now stands at 94
Fish 40"+ this year: 19

Will tomorrow bring me a triple digit season? Will I finally meet Mrs 45"+??

 

[BUB]

Brought in another 11 today, two over 40" with the biggest measuring in a hair over 41".
Truly can't believe it... Back when I was a teenager I was blown away by catching 15 a year. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be able to sit here and say I boated 105 in a single run (thus far)

Hitting it hard tomorrow so long as there's not a tornado or some bullshit. Must.Break.42.5".

 

[Kirch]

Fantastic! There’s at least a 43” headed your way! I caught her. My personal best too. Good luck!!

Brought in another 11 today, two over 40" with the biggest measuring in a hair over 41".
Truly can't believe it... Back when I was a teenager I was blown away by catching 15 a year. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be able to sit here and say I boated 105 in a single run (thus far)

Hitting it hard tomorrow so long as there's not a tornado or some bullshit. Must.Break.42.5".

 

[NYChamorro]

nice work guys!!!! although this wasnt my best season (number wise), i did manage to catch my PB. no pics due to the fact I was alone and wanted to get her back in the water. measured 38".
love seeing all these pics of monster fish,

 

[Doc Z]

The insane bite in Norris continues and right into the night……for the first time we saw stack of fish and black screens sitting in a hole and when the sun went down they all shot up to spawn which also was insane tonight…..and the bite was insane. We caught a 41 inch male that screamed out the drag taking about 120 feet of line against 15 lbs of drag…it was unreal….ended up being 26lbs….we had to leave to meet my buddy from Maine and pick him up which was hard to do….this was the first night the bite was hot and hopefully will continue a bit. I love floating around all night. Water temps in Norrie hit 63……Marlboro 59. Still not many fish in the Marlboro to Poughkeepsie section….we scanned the whole area on our way back south. Back out in a few hours…tight lines.

 

[BUB]

nice work guys!!!! although this wasnt my best season (number wise), i did manage to catch my PB. no pics due to the fact I was alone and wanted to get her back in the water. measured 38".
love seeing all these pics of monster fish,

Congrats man! 38" is a great fish. Nothing better than beating your PBs.