2023 Striper Reports

Shore guy here,

Stripers are def still around. Poughkeepsie and up! I’ve had tremendous success this season with the little time I’ve been out and can say as of this week the stripers we’re feeding like crazy mid week- windy, choppy water (but really clear). Rain expected for Saturday but still won’t stop them- some are headed out and they’re hungry Bull males out there to catch… females too! Herring is slowing down big time- my luck with them this season has always been mid morning when it warms up a bit and when the tide is up-other than that it’s a lot of shoulder and back pain for a few days. I’d be remiss not to thank doc and everyone reporting as I’ve been following this thread for a very long time and learning- so thank you to all who share valuable info. Good luck to all heading out for the final few weeks we have left.

ps if you are fishing from shore please police yourself, friends and others to clean up. I know I’m beating a dead hoarse rn can’t stress the importance to respect the river.

Quick PM trip with the wife on Wednesday. We each landed one and had a few pop off on us.

Went out this am to load up on bait as Sat and Sun I'm taking out some folks who have never been and or never landed a striper.
Planned on it being a quick trip but when I tossed out a herring it was hit before it even reached the bottom. They were hitting anything you through out there today. Ended up putting 6 on deck up to 35". Once again had tons and tons of run and drops and pop offs.
I had two hookups/pop offs that have me wondering if they were monster stripers or sturgeon. Absolutely no turning them. Swam right up under the boat against the tide and popped.

Would have loved to stay out but the wind was absolutely brutal.

Going as hard as nature will allow this weekend.

2023Total: 111
2023 Over 40": 26
2023 Biggest: 50.75" 55lbs

The wind had been brutal for the afternoon bite the last few days but the morning bite is still fantastic. Thursday we hit the Esopus lighthouse and the morning Ebb bite was off the hook....the bite slowed on the Flood tide then died when the wind kicked. We left Esopus late at night as the fish were schooling up and traveling...but they were not biting. I actually snagged a 28" striper in the belly jigging. On the way home we started to mark more fish and schools heading south so this morning we fished the Milton Stretch which now has plenty of fish running through. Again...the first light am Ebb bite was good (typical for exiting fish) and slowed on Flood...then just died when the wind kicked again. We drifted from the Pok Bridge up the west side past Rogers and to Hyde Park and there were not many fish but what we saw was huge. The wind worsened and we called it quits at 5pm....very rare for me to leave the water before dark. This was one of the worst I have ever seen the Hudson...on the way back I was taking water over the roof crashing 3-4 ft dominant waves. Docking was a bitch with the S wind but thankfully I have friends at the dock. Water Temps in Esopus were 62-63 and in Milton 60-61.

Daughter had a good morning in coxackie we had 5 other runs on live one other hookup that shook it self free all in all a good morning

Had a pretty good day on Thursday. 9 Stripers to 31" and a freshwater Drum.

Well….the Milton section lit up today with monsters…..we pulled in 3 fish ovwr 40” with the biggest at 43. They are feeding from the end of the AM ebb to the start of flood and the bite shuts down after that. The are mostly traveling during the flood and not feeding and the pm tide switch into ebb has also not been good. We had my buddy Donny 39 because over the last 20 years he has never caught a 49 so we set out to break his PB and we did….first a 40 then a 42. First was on an eel and the latter on a dead nasty bloodworm. He was ecstatic. Water temp hit 61.

Took a buddy out Saturday am who has never been fortunate enough to catch a striper. He finally got the job done putting 3 on deck with his biggest being a spawned out 43.5" (bastard lol)
Cut the trip short due to the wind. He isn't equipped to handle that ride.

Jumped back out for a quick PM trip with the wife and put 4 more on deck up to 38".
The FF screen was absolutely LOADED from 10'-40'.

Sunday my guests canceled on me. So I poked the wife around 4am and asked if she wanted to go. She said no ...and changed her mind before I could even respond. Absolutely beautiful morning. Put 11 on deck up to 36 and had God only knows how many pop-offs. Saw many sturgeon launching out of the water too which never gets old.

Went back out for a quick PM trip and landed 7 more up to 35.5". Screens were still loaded. Calling in sick with striper fever tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be a similar day.

Yanking the boat and calling it this Friday. 26 to go to beat my "most in a season" record.
1 more 40" or bigger to beat my "most 40"+ in a season" record.
Fingers crossed!

2023 Total: 136
2023 Over 40": 27
2023 Biggest: 50.75" 55lbs

Solid weekend in the Marlboro to Poughkeepsie stretch. Back to back 40” fish to finish it off Sunday pm. So many hard fighting males in the mix, amazing the fight they have. Tons of fish moving through our river, gotta love it! 43067[/ATTACH] View attachment 43068

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Fished 3 weekend in may Friday Saturday Sunday may5-7, may12-14, and may 19-21
First fish of the year on may 5 42” 36lb female what a start to the year. Live eel suspended
Ended year with 17 fish over 39”. We did not catch the numbers we usually catch but we definitely caught as many larger fish. Did not spend as much time drifting in channel for schoolies, focused more on shallows and edge of channel in search of fooling larger females into an eel bite. At times fishing was tough could barely get an eater, lots of fish checking baits, seemed like after most of the spawning happened bite picked up and fish were much easier to catch. Fishing seemed to be best early in morning before the fleet of trolling boats arrive ,fished rondout to black creek

Doc Z said:

We spent the last 3 days fishing the Milton section and it’s absolutely on fire….. but the catch is the bite window is beat from the AM Ebb into Flood then dies off for most of the day…..except today…..the bite was on all day right until we left at 10pm…..this was the first good night bite of the season for numbers. Most of the fish we are catching are in the 26-40” range…..even this 26” fish felt like 40s as they were extremely aggressive on the hit. Unfortunate yesterday the channel temp hit 67 and today it hit 65…..these temps will die them out fast which is what’s happening. They are feeding in a small window and traveling the rest of the time….esp at night. Get out and fish as it will take at least 5-7 days for the masses to clear out from up north so we have some solid hight double digit days left.

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Docz ppl like you give hope to shore fishermen like myself. I been on shore in milton for past 3 days solo an past 2 days no fish but today patience paid off with a 42inch 32lb male fiesty an spewing milt all over.

"We don't need no stinking Herring!"
Went out with an old buddy on the night of the 24 he had two hits and one on for about a minute or two before he lost it. I had one hit. Last night water temp was 63. Herring were still around. I had two hits one almost to the boat before I lost him the other had on a good 10 minutes before I boated him a 31 incher below with the fly still in his mouth.