Hudson Stripers

[Fishoninct]

Any word on how far up the river they have come would be helpful.  Will be making trip to Kingston area and trying to plan when to do it.  Thanks in advance for any information.

[Reel Force]

No reports yet, season doesn't open till the 1st of April. Good numbers should be there around last week in April. This will all depend on the river conditions. How do you plan on targeting them down there ?
 

[Somers]

At least as far as Peekskill.  DEC has made busts on both sides of the river for people catching and keeping over the last month.  Seal reports at Croton, so the herring must have started running.  Not long now.

[bigredfishing]

At least as far as Peekskill.  DEC has made busts on both sides of the river for people catching and keeping over the last month.  Seal reports at Croton, so the herring must have started running.  Not long now.

those schoolies are there year round, the major run of stripers has not entered freshwater yet.

[step2jimi]

Im still trying to figure out why everyone had a great striper season last year except me and my buddies. We got into a few fish but never had any really good days and didn't see any big fish hit the net. This season will be hard for me to get out as my wife will be 8 months pregnant but ill manage to get out im sure. Good luck out there this year guys if all else fails ill start poaching ship of fool spot.

[bigredfishing]

Im still trying to figure out why everyone had a great striper season last year except me and my buddies. We got into a few fish but never had any really good days and didn't see any big fish hit the net. This season will be hard for me to get out as my wife will be 8 months pregnant but ill manage to get out im sure. Good luck out there this year guys if all else fails ill start poaching ship of fool spot.

Last year was kind of funky for us.    Our biggest number days were early in the season during the low water, but we weren't getting many big fish.   As the season went on, the water came up and got some color, our fish weren't coming as quickly, but they sure were getting big.   Then when it all ended in the upper river, we went and fished a fun drift on the lower river and did pretty good until they started full-on spawning.

[Reel Force]

Last year was kind of funky for us.    Our biggest number days were early in the season during the low water, but we weren't getting many big fish.   As the season went on, the water came up and got some color, our fish weren't coming as quickly, but they sure were getting big.   Then when it all ended in the upper river, we went and fished a fun drift on the lower river and did pretty good until they started full-on spawning.

That's odd Lance, our best days with numbers (23 in a 5 hr. trip) and size (2 - 40+ in one trip) came right at the end.

[iceman260]

Last year was bad for me I went to circle hooks, lost at least 12 good fish. Then I went back to j hooks and caught stripers. Any one having problems with circle hooks.

[Somers]

I love circle hooks for chunks and live.  J hooks only for worms.  Shore fishing.

[Tom Hannock]

I find circle hooks to work good at anchor but I personally don't seem to do well hooking stripers on the drift in deep water with them but I know bassinbrian has great luck with them doing the exact same thing.   I think they work better at anchor because of the shallower angle of pull versus the line straight down at drift.  For J hooks I have always used 7/0 Gamakatsu's or 7/0 Owners and for me the trick with J's is to set the hook immediately when they grab the herring to get good releasable lip hooked bass.  Even then you get the occasional gut hook fish which I try to avoid with the new slot limit.  Sucks to have to toss back a bleeder you know will die and I see it often on the river with guys who don't know how to handle fish once they get them boatside.  Last year the best numbers and biggest fish for me was last week of April and it was an epic year for big stripers in the 40" range.  When herring are spotty and you have to run upriver to jig bait that is usually the best action but Reel Force is right there was a good bite at the end of the season in a certain drift that was getting worked over by a few of the regulars.  I think I saw bigredfishing and rondog out there also

[bigredfishing]

Last year was bad for me I went to circle hooks, lost at least 12 good fish. Then I went back to j hooks and caught stripers. Any one having problems with circle hooks.

yep, I switched to circles about 10 years ago when all my friends did, and ran them for a few years.     I was hooking too many fish in the stomach, so I made sure not to use offset circles.    I was still hooking fish deep, so I went back to J hooks, and have not had any problems since.   I prefer 7/0 gammie or owner octopus hooks, I snell them on the leader (thanks Bartman).

[Tom Hannock]

I also like to snell the J hooks and if I do circles while anchoring I like the up eye inlines and snell them also with 25lb floro.  I'll do a whole bunch with about a 2ft section of floro to a swivel before the season and store them on a section of pool noodle.  Running 30lb braid for the main line.  Can't wait for the first stripers of the year to hit the deck of the Lund and all those hours running up and down river from Albany to Troy frantically trying to find and jig enough herring to start fishing   Nothing more frustrating than just knowing you could be killing the stripers if you could only jig some bait. 

[bigredfishing]

Nothing more frustrating than just knowing you could be killing the stripers if you could only jig some bait. 

you said it! 

[rondog]

I find circle hooks to work good at anchor but I personally don't seem to do well hooking stripers on the drift in deep water with them but I know bassinbrian has great luck with them doing the exact same thing.   I think they work better at anchor because of the shallower angle of pull versus the line straight down at drift.  For J hooks I have always used 7/0 Gamakatsu's or 7/0 Owners and for me the trick with J's is to set the hook immediately when they grab the herring to get good releasable lip hooked bass.  Even then you get the occasional gut hook fish which I try to avoid with the new slot limit.  Sucks to have to toss back a bleeder you know will die and I see it often on the river with guys who don't know how to handle fish once they get them boatside.  Last year the best numbers and biggest fish for me was last week of April and it was an epic year for big stripers in the 40" range.  When herring are spotty and you have to run upriver to jig bait that is usually the best action but Reel Force is right there was a good bite at the end of the season in a certain drift that was getting worked over by a few of the regulars.  I think I saw bigredfishing and rondog out there also

Your the best net man on the river 
I've got all of my hooks snelled and changed my main lines to braid.You just have to get up a little earlier if your going to beat Lance to the best drifts

[Reel Force]

I find circle hooks to work good at anchor but I personally don't seem to do well hooking stripers on the drift in deep water with them but I know bassinbrian has great luck with them doing the exact same thing.   I think they work better at anchor because of the shallower angle of pull versus the line straight down at drift.  For J hooks I have always used 7/0 Gamakatsu's or 7/0 Owners and for me the trick with J's is to set the hook immediately when they grab the herring to get good releasable lip hooked bass.  Even then you get the occasional gut hook fish which I try to avoid with the new slot limit.  Sucks to have to toss back a bleeder you know will die and I see it often on the river with guys who don't know how to handle fish once they get them boatside.  Last year the best numbers and biggest fish for me was last week of April and it was an epic year for big stripers in the 40" range.  When herring are spotty and you have to run upriver to jig bait that is usually the best action but Reel Force is right there was a good bite at the end of the season in a certain drift that was getting worked over by a few of the regulars.  I think I saw bigredfishing and rondog out there also

wondering if we ever met?  Brian moved to Florida.