Just got a few minutes to post .......the bite from Rogers to Norrie has been fantastic and the spawning incredible to see. We have been floating around for 2 days…..no docking for us. The night bite has been decent too. These 28-30 in fish fight like 40s. Water temps hit 60 yesterday and are at 59.5 today. When the bite slows we jig the poles and its game on again. They are still not hitting like freight trains yet so you have to watch the pole tips and set the hook or hold the pole and feel them nibble. It will continue to light up esp as there are more spawned fish. Keep the lines in the water.

 

Weekend stretch between Milton and Marlboro was pretty consistent this weekend. Most of the fish caught on sand worms and bloods. A few runs on the eels but didn’t land. All
The fish have been between 25” to 42”. We have been holding our bait Between 20-30 with the best strikes.

 

Any reports from Ravena on North? Did this rain cool things down?

 

It's a mess up north. Very high, very fast and very dirty.

 

Unless they’ve spawned and vacated before the rain, they may still be there. Seems like this season was truncated

 

The bite exploded yesterday again but this time 90% of our 70 fish were caught on Sand worms...unlike the day before where it was 50/50....they seemed to want nothing to to with the bloodworms yesterday. I generally run half my rods with bloods and half with sands.....random spots on the boat too. We also had herring out with no luck but our eel got smacked a dozen times but no hookups. The bite Sunday morning started around 2:45 am and as the light came it explodes. The center of the channel was on fire with 25-30" fish....later in the day they dropped back down to Rogers into the deep water but plenty were still up high although down there the strike zone was more like 28ft down. I'll be back out early tomorrow. Water temps were 59.5.

There was quite a bit of spawning Saturday through the night too.

 

The bite slowed a bit today but is still good from Rogers to Norrie and there are plenty of fish around. The mid day wind made it tough today and the fish disappeared for a few hours….or scattered. Tonight we got our first 40 and a bunch of mid 30s. This evening from dark to midnight we fished the Milton stretch and it was absolutely loaded. We got several from 30-38”…finally a nice calm non windy night. I did not see any spawning and most of the fish we caught today were not milting. Water temps held steady at 60.7.

 

 

 

 

 

In case anyone was wondering this is what spawning marks look lik.

 

So what caused the abrasions ? Male fins rubbing when close while spawning?

 

These are screens from sunday morning before sunrise.

 

These are screens from sunday morning before sunrise.

Those are nuts! We saw about half of that density last weekend. Were they biting or was that the time they were spawing and ignoring the bait?

 

Norrie is still holding fish but the bite has slowed the last 2 days. The fish that arrived early season and spawned have begun making their way back down but there is a whole new contingency of fish staging to spawn so they will not feed aggressively. Yesterday Milton/Marlboro saw these exiting schools and a few were lucky enough to be on them in the AM and did well. There have also been over 30 fish >40" caught in that stretch in the last 4 days. Generally there are not loaded screens like up in Norrie but there will be pods of 2-5 fish coming by. They are also now starting to travel more toward the West side as they exit. These leaving fish will be very aggressive feeders and will feed more on the outgoing tide and travel on the floor on the incoming tide. I went from Norrie down to the Channel in front of Wapp Creek yesterday........decent marks but not much of a bite until my eel went screaming.......I was using my good Tuna Jigging Rod to test it but it had a small CW-15 Coldwater on it that was no match for this fish...she peeled out 100ft of line against max drag of about 17 lbs.......thankfully the rod allowed me to put some leverage on her and I was able to get her in.........now the second problem....net was too small....so I handed my buddy the rod and went to lip her.....she ran once and sliced my finger on the line but I managed to get her in and bring her aboard w/o the net. We took a quick measurement/weight/pics. Time on boat <1min......and she immediately swam back strong. 45"/40lbs.

 

I forgot to mention there was some spawning under the Pok Bridge yesterday so in the next few days this area should hold some feeders and get better.

 

Another forum I'm on said new wave of striper's just moved into raritan bay chasing bunker, hold on, new fish moving into hudson

 

Todays conditions were rough but Marlboro is still holding a fair amount of feeding fish…..they seen to be feeding more on the morning tide switch just before and after….there was no real flood movement due to that north wind so bite was tough since the bait presentation is not as good when you are drifting against the tide. Most of what we caught today was. 27-32” and aggressive post spawn feeders….had one 30” fish run out and take air almost pulling my rod out of the cannon holder. Tonight the bay up by trap rock was loaded with large fish but the were not feeding….the morning should be good as long as the wind doesnt kick up……the ultimate enemy. I did not see any spawning today in marlboro but my buddy saw a few in hyde park and did well up there early morning. Water temps dropped a but to 58.8 tonight and started at 60. Lots more fish are passing through raritan bay and croton so the bite will continue to pick up.

 

The weather was perfect today but the bite was not there. The fish were scattered from Marlboro to Norrie and the pressure kept them on the bottom and not feeding most if the day…..they should become more active tomorrow. Water temps dropped to 58.6 for most of the day. I did not see any spawning today either.

 

A post from a few 2 years ago but the message is identical….same pattern every year…….

The bite in Norrie had exploded wide open last week but shut down this week as the spawned fish moved out and the ones left were still pre-spawn. Earlier this week the fish leaving the river were feeding on the Ebb tide but the bite slowed on flood as the new wave had not arrived. Today that changed…..Norrie had fish but a scant bite bc they are getting ready to spawn again…..Wappingers to Rogers was pretty devoid of fish this whole weekend. We ran down to Cornwall to intercept the incoming wave and it worked…..they were coming. The very pale sandy colored fish are the ones leaving. They get pale after being in the fresh water for a while. The fresh arrivals are a nice silver color that has a sheen to it. The males are hanging in the channel while the females are tight to shore waiting for their eggs to mature. All this whining this week (every year same time) about no bite is annoying...everyone forgets that the bite shuts down before they spawn and this year we also had a weekend of low pressure which further shuts the bite down and oushes them down to the floor. The post spawn fish are ravaging the baits as they are hungry and need to get some nutrition for the trip out. Water temps had hit 62 in Norrie earlier this week but were down to 56 today….a serious drop…That 58 degree mark seems to wake them up a bit. Cornwall water temps were 62.5 in the channel. Tight lines everyone and have fun.

 

A friend and I launched out of Highland today. It was blustery and the water was choppy. The wind was from the south during the outgoing tide. Water was still brown and filled with plenty of debris. We launch anyway and dropped bloodworms to various depths with no bites for the next three hours. Other boats didn’t seem to be catching much. People on shore caught a couple of catfish, but no striped bass. There’s still time to turn this around. Hope you’re all having a better spring run than us.

 

caught this Tonight outside the wappingers creek. 44” was out for a few hours wappingers to trap rock. Ended up with 5 fish ranging from 20-44” Water is still clearing up but fishing continues to just keep getting better.

 

Beauty!!! And she doesn't look spawned out yet....

 

The last few days were tough until today. There were not many fish from wappingers to poughkeepsie but what showed up was not small. Norrie is still holding fish but the bite has not been great. There were a lot more fish in Norrie today than the last few days. A few did well in Newburgh yesterday until the wind vs tide came in. This morning Newburgh was holding a significant amount of fish but the bite wasn't that great. We did manage to find some fish that were feeding up north of Kingston and the Saddle Bags area. The Females are sitting in the flats waiting to spawn and the males are circling the channel......the bite does not match the screens we saw but they did feed and we had a very good day. Water temps in Marlboro held steady at 57 and Norrie 56. Kingston water temps were 58 at the end of the day today. In the next day or two there will be a massive spawn in Kingston from the amount of fish I saw and the bit will increase significantly down river as they work their way down.

 

Thank you for all the great info. I was doing really well in highland before the rain on the shore haven't had any luck in the last week or so is there anywhere you would recommend this weekend from shore i staked out a couple of places at norrie that i can access. 1 more question do you think the herring are gone.

 

38" on live today in Bethlehem. Herring spotty but managed 6. Had another good run but got off. Catfish on chunks to 24".

 

Is the striper migration at halt? Seemed like the week full of rain dropped water temps. Didn’t seem to catch any fish all week up in Beacon. Anyone know if the fishing is good down at Croton Point?