Everything You Need to Know About Upper Hudson River Striped Bass Fishing

Striped bass fishing isn't only for saltwater anglers if you live in the tri-state area. For as long as three months, once a year, multiple large masses of Stripers migrate up the east coast to spawn in the tributaries and fresh waters of the Hudson River in New York State. Fish of all sizes find their way up through the brackish waters to fresh water as far north as Troy, NY during the months of April through June. Sit tight, I'm about to expose everything I know about fishing for what we like to call "cows".

Keep in mind, I fish the mid-Hudson River, north of Newburgh NY. Apologies if most of my knowledge and advise doesn't pertain too well south of these areas.

Here's a tease of some fish that are caught in the Hudson River:

Before getting into the dirty details, let's get a solid understanding about the geography and ecology of the Hudson River; where is it, what swims it, etc.

The Hudson River Basics

The source of this 300+ mile long river starts in the vast hills of the Adirondacks in New York. After filtering through pebbly brooks and streams, the river forms in Newcomb, New York.  Hard to believe that such a monster of a river can have a source so small. The source of the Hudson is joined with the Mohawk river just north of the capital. The accessible river as we know it (as striper fisherman) starts not too far from Albany and flows south through the Hudson Valley to New Jersey and New York City to the Atlantic. There are several tributaries that feed the river between it's source and the Narrows of New York City. See the list of rivers here.

Although a river, flowing south, the Hudson is heavily influenced by the tides of the Atlantic. Because the source of the river is fed from fresh water and the tides of the Atlantic push up against this, there is a strong effect on the salinity and river heights. These are all very important factors that make up an incredibly diverse ecology which makes for very interesting fishing and wildlife experiences.

The majority of the river is composed of fresh waters (north) transitioning to brackish (south). There have been levels of salinity reported as far north as Poughkeepsie, NY. Because of this, the Hudson River holds very large numbers of migratory fish, like Striped bass year-round. These striped bass are called "hold-overs". It's easy to tell when a striped bass is a hold-over because it will not be as silvery with that beautiful blue shine we're all so custom to. Here's an example:

Hold-over on the left (notice discoloration), new to river on the right (blue/silver shine).

The last important thing to know about the Hudson River beyond it's fantastic Spring striper fishing is the types of fish that swim the waters year round. Why? Because you would be surprised what stripers will gobble up! Some of the fish you might find yourself hooking up with in the hudson are: crappie, smallmouth, largemouth, yellow perch, white perch, shad, catfish, blue claw crab, sturgeon, herring, sunnies, carp, walleye, musky, drum, and I'm sure I'm missing a few!

So let's get into the good stuff!

Take everything you know about Striped Bass fishing and throw it out the window. Fishing the Hudson River is a whole new ballgame. Clams in the surf? Yeah right, there's no surf or saltwater clams! Poppers on the rocks? Only in the brackish waters south of Croton. Mackerel? Toss em back and find Herring, instead! Metals? You'd only be so lucky to snag a fish with one.

Where should I go?

Talking to locals along the Hudson river you'll find that boaters and shore fisherman are each incredibly adamant about their choice of fishing style. Why? Because it takes practice, time, and perfecting the art to understand where to catch stripers and how to keep catching them. Don't for a minute let that scare you away from hudson river striper fishing. It's a BIG river with BIG fish so, as all fisherman know, patience is a virtue.

- Shore Fishing

Don't have a boat? Don't fret. Some of the biggest striped bass I've seen caught on the hudson river were caught from shore. Female pregnant (cows) that are looking for a quick meal tend to leave the schools they came up with to patrol the shallow waters along ledges (or drop-offs), usually not too far from shore. Finding the perfect shore fishing location isn't simple, but if you're brand new to the sport, there's an easy way: look for the parked cars along the road. Generally fisherman have already found the "hot-spots" and it doesn't mean you can't join in to see what kind of action they're getting into.

Otherwise, since you came here to learn about the "secret spots"... go to Gander Mountain or Amazon.com and purchase a river-depth map. You can also get maps here. Generally for boaters, these maps can give away plently of insight to where the river turns into a feeding area for striped bass. You'll find that these maps give you insight into areas of shallows that have quick drop-offs close to shore. Hike your way through the woods (I don't support trespassing), you'll probably cross some railroads, find a nice point extruding further out than the rest of the land and setup for some great fishing!

Considering I am not a fan of spot-burning, I won't give away the locations. But the way I personally learned is by word of mouth. Take the time to drive down areas like River Road in Ulster County and note where you see fisherman parked. Make friends, visit fishing forums and seminars!

- Boat Fishing

Fishing from boat on the Hudson is my personal favorite technique. I'll tell you everything I know without giving out specific locations.


If you're bait fishing - You absolutely need a fish finder, but not to find the fish. Any good striper fisherman will tell you it's more about the location and what's under the water vs. marking fish on your fish finder. Your fish finder is a tool, use it as such. Get to know all the areas of water, find the drop-offs, understand where the "meadows" or shallows are. Find the channels and move towards land using your depth charts to notice where there's a quick change in depth. This is where you'll find the those one-off lunkers looking for food.

Some of the largest cows caught from boat are caught on "meadows". "Meadows" are very large areas of shallow water (also referred to as "skinny" water). Be extremely quiet when you're entering these areas by boat. I suggest first or last light of the day and be sure that no other fisherman are in these areas. Striped bass are light sensitive but will chase bait into shallow waters unknowingly during times of little light. Everything from dropping your anchor to making noise on your boat WILL affect the fishing around you.

Although fishing the meadows are my personal favorite way to fish, you can also position yourself on the sides of the river's channels. Use your fish finder and depth charts to mark where you see sudden drops or bumps in depth. For example, if you're in the channel at 35ft and move towards another area of 15ft average, head back to where you see the fish finder change it's numbers the quickest. This is usually a good indication of a ledge or an area of water that herring will cruise along like a highway. Anchor up, and fish these areas just like you would in the meadows. The fish that want to eat will be within a feet feet of the bottom.

If you're not fond of bait fishing, purchase a few down riggers, 8-12lb down rigger balls, and bring your 7 foot medium-heavy rods. Again, use your fish finder as a tool. There are many times where it's very clear that a large school of fish are gathered up and moving north. You want to find these schools. Believe me, it's worth spending the time patrolling areas along channels to see where the fish are. They can be in one place one day and another the next. It's not to say that fish won't keep to a single area, but it's much more likely that they will continue their travels North.  Talk to other fisherman in the morning and ask where they caught fish the night before. You would be surprised how insider tips can help you find the fish the next day before anyone else does!

Okay, got it! Now when should I hit the water?

I can't put this simply enough...you're a fisherman, when isn't it a good time to fish! But seriously, there's a few ways you'll know when it's time to start fishing.

For you die-hards, get out there as soon as you can. The only way you'll know if fish are absolutely there is by marking them on your fish finder. Get out there with your sabiki rigs and scap nets and start trying to pull up herring. When the herring have arrived, the decently large schools of stripers are 7-14 days behind them chasing the massive schools of herring. Without herring, there are no stripers.

Another interesting trick, if you can't get out on the water enough is to keep an eye on Forsythia bushes. Tell-tales have it that when these bushes go into bloom, the stripers shall loom.

General rule of thumb is that in April you'll start hearing of small fish being caught south of Croton, by mid-April they'll be caught in Poughkeepsie, end of April in Kingston, start of May in Troy. Of course, it's entirely different every year.

Another good piece of knowledge is to understand the value of water temperatures. The "magic" number to know that the striped bass are around is 50 degrees. At this temperature stripers are active enough to chase bait and lurk more frequently for food since their body temperatures and metabolism increase.

The majority of "cows" are caught the last 3 weeks of May in the Kingston to Troy areas. Sign up for the River Basin Sports tournament or visit their website to read reports about when the fish around. http://riverbasinsports.com/.

Tell us about bait!

Herring is the #1 food source for striped bass in the Hudson River. There are two types of herring that migrate up the river just as the stripers do, Blueback Herring and Alewife. Generally the Alewife arrive first, followed by the Bluebacks. Here's a link to a website that differentiates them. Both make for great striper bait north of Croton. Herring can be used live or cut up into chunks.

On September 5th, 2012 the DEC released a statement about the Herring Regulations. Read this!

Blood worms are also a great bait for stripers in the early season, but can be used throughout the months of April and May.  Generally worms are drifted under boats through schools of stripers. You can also rig these up with a small circle hook and drop weight if fishing from shore.

Artificials also work well for stripers under certain conditions. That condition is mostly trolling. If you don't have downriggers, a diving 5+ inch Rapala will work great. If you are trolling, oh boy are you into some guessing games... Scroll down for more details.

- How do I catch Herring?

I personally recommend buying herring from bait shops to support local businesses. But, on the other hand, catching your own bait makes the entire striper fishing experience worth while.

Although the rules and regulations for using nets in the tributaries of the hudson river are being debated, scap-nets are a very popular way to catch bait. Generally hand-made, scap-nets are essentially 4 to 6ft square nets where every side of the net has poles that meet at one point forming a rounded pyramid. At the tip of the pyramid a 4 foot handle is used to pick the net out of the water.

Here's a picture:

source: stripers247.com

Everyone has their own methodology of using scap-nets. Here are some great resources on building scap-nets and using them:

How to build a scap net:

Thanks to Ziffy at StriperChum

 

How to use a scap net:

Thanks to Ziffy at StriperChum

Another great way to catch herring is with a sibiki rig. You can find these at almost any outdoors/sports store like Gander Mountain. Few things you should know: cut the majority of the tails off of the sabikis only leaving a small bit of shine, apparently red tails work best, and you can only use 5 hooks in New York State legally so cut the 6th off. Here's a link to buy some sabiki rigs.

You'll catch the majority of your herring on sabikis once the waters warm up a bit. It's almost impossible to catch them in the main river, but in the creeks and tributaries it's like taking candy from a baby. Again, I won't give away exact locations, but right outside of fast moving bubbly waters in the tributaries is where you'll find the large number of herring because they're looking to head as far up tributaries towards heavily oxygenated waters. Otherwise, off of docks and abutments you'll be able to catch herring.  Use a 1/2 oz sinker tied on with a rubber band (else you'll lose alot of rigs). Drop the weight to the bottom, then let the rig flutter down about 3 inches and pull up about 18 inches. Generally you'll catch a herring on the drop, as you would pan-fishing. A neat trick I learned: when you have one herring on, keep him on! Although, because the hooks are so small, you may lose this fish, it will attract others and you might bring up two or three!

- Great! I caught some herring, now what!

It depends on how you'll be fishing with them; live or dead. If you're fishing with live, set up your boat's livewell to bring in freshwater and store them there. Not all boats have a livewell...mine doesn't. So, build your own! Here's a great video tutorial:

How to Make a Livewell

Thanks to Ziffy at StriperChum

Not fishing from boat and want to use live? Buy a laundry net. Funny, but yes they work! You can also build your own herring net using PVC and mesh netting. Generally these are 4x4x4ft and the top 4 pieces of PVC are covered in styrofoam so the net will float.

Not using live herring? Keep that bait fresh! Don't freeze your bait. But if you do freeze your bait, either flash-freeze it or apply kosher sea salt to your herring before freezing them. The salt helps take the extra water from the herring so it's "better kept" once thawed. If you're not planning on freezing your bait, great! Get out there as soon as you can with your fresh-killed bait, keep it on ice inside zip-lock bags.

So, how can I hook up? Tell me about the rigs.

Okay! So now you know where to fish, when to fish, and what to use. Now let's talk technique.

Set yourself up with a medium-heavy action rod, 17 to 25lb test (Berkley Trilene Big Game is my personal favorite), and some solid reels. 

- Bait Fishing

When bait fishing with herring, there are many different recommendations that all seem to be effective. I'm going to tell you how I do it and give hints on how others do it.

Tie up a circle hook, preferably 7/0 gamakatsu, directly to a 34" piece of 25lb+ test line. Tie that to a 3 way swivel. Tie up your fishing line to the 2nd swivel, and a 1 oz (depending on the strength of the tide, you might move up to 2) weight to the other swivel. The weight you use is important. Since the Hudson has tides, this can be tricky when fishing from a boat with 3 or 4 lines out. Put pyramid sinkers on the lines that are on the sides of the boat and round weights out the back. This should keep everything separately well during tidal changes.

Here's an example of pre-packaged rig that similarly resembles a Hudson River Striper Rig:

Cut your herring into thirds, yes thirds...the bigger the bait the bigger the fish! and put the circle hook through the bottom of the herring if it seems strong enough. The reason I suggest the bottom is because the hook will fall out and set into the fish much easier than if it needs to swing past a backbone. Both ways will work. You might also want to put a bead before the circle hook if you want to add an extra step for attraction.

Great part about the rig above, it works from shore and boat. If you're unsure that your bait is being seen by fish, try a sliding weight or add a small bright red floater before your hook.

Cast out away from the boat. You want to be on the bottom and keep your line tight. Be quiet, wait ... stripers are very gentile eaters when they pick up chunk. They pick up bait with a quick suck, sometimes spit it out and pick it up again. So, do not hesitate thinking it might be a catfish. When you see a tap-tap-tap, pick it up and give a firm, not fast, hook set. Another reason you might not want to wait to see if the fish is hooked before setting the hook is because you'll be giving the fish too much of a chance to swallow the entire piece of bait, including the hook.

Circle hooks are said to the be the most safe way to prevent a fish from swallowing the hook. Although this hasn't always proved true to me, it's worth the effort. 

Does "chumming" work? Some yes, some say no. Basic answer? - Stripers have a great sense of smell and it doesn't hurt to throw some catfood in a burlap bag and tie it to your anchor line!

Best part about bait fishing? Big fish! Almost all of the monsters caught in the hudson are caught on chunk.

- Trolling

Trolling with lures can be just as exhilarating as bait fishing and much more ... "clean". Set up your downriggers with 8-12lb balls, find the schools of fish or an area that's known to have them, tie on a brightly colored Rapala of choice, without a swivel (much more realistic swimming).  Trolling requires much more technique than bait fishing does. Not to say bait fishing is easy, it's a game of patience and persistence. Regardless, you might consider buying a line-counter, an assortment of colored Rapalas, and consider line that will tangle less such as braided.

Start trolling at 3mph testing the water. If you find that you're moving quicker with the tide than you are against it, adjust accordingly. You may even consider going between 2.5mph and 3mph. Yes, that slow.

Before fishing use your tool (fish finder) to start gauging what depth the majority of fish are at. Generally, you'll be fishing between 18ft and 35ft of water. Place, not cast, your Rapala in the water and slowly let your line out behind the boat. I recommend the line counter because you should be between 30ft and 60ft behind the boat. This number changes depending on your hook-up rate. Test different distances and chose the winner. Hook your line up the down-rigger, lower your ball down to 1ft above where you see the majority of fish. Remember, striped bass can't look down! Now, cruise up and down river making turnarounds to go over schools of fish. Adjust your depths every 15 minutes if you haven't hooked up. If you still haven't hooked up after a few depth adjustments, change your lure.

Colors of lures are probably the most-talked about topic for trollers. I mentioned above that this involves some guessing games, right?  Easiest solution is to buy all of the colors Rapala has to offer in a Husky stick bait style. You want to use 6"+ stick baits. Although Rapala is the most popular because of their builds, Bombers work very well, too.

Top favorites include: Fire Tiger, Purple-Descent, and HotSteel. It all depends on the time of day, the clarity of the water, and what most closely resembles a bait fish based on these variables in 20ft of water! Remember to buy the longest Rapalas you can. Huskey Jerk is my favorite: Click Here. 

Can I eat what I catch?

Because of unfortunate history of pollution (read more here), it's important to be aware of the rivers ecology and the health advisories that are in place for the river's natural inhabitants. See the following publication here. At it's most basic principals: eat no fish north of the Route 9 Bridge, eat no bottom-feeders such as catfish or eels what-so-ever, eat one fish a month from below Catskill for all other allowed fish species mentioned in the publication. For relevancy, although I cannot confirm it's validity, striped bass that migrate from the ocean may be an exception to the rule but it is not differentiated in the publication because this species does exist in all parts of the river year-round.

More Tips

1. Be mindful of other fisherman. It can get crazy out there. You don't want someone cruising into your favorite quiet fishing spot, so don't do that to others.

2. Clean up after yourself! The Hudson River Valley is a beautiful place, let's keep it that way.

3. Be sure to read up on the DEC's efforts to save this species and promote safe fishing.

4. Be part of a community! Join forums like Stripers247.com and HudsonValleySportsman.com

5. Teach others. Take your kids fishing.

6. Play by the rules! Any "old timer" will tell you how different fishing in the Hudson is today compared to "back in the day". Keep ONLY your limit and try to preserve the species.

7. Support local bait shops.

8. Keep track of the fish you catch! DEC asks for reports from fisherman, fill them out. Also be sure to keep an eye out for tagged fish.

9. http://www.dec.ny.gov/ - for more information about "playing by the rules".

10. Take your picture, and release that fish!

11. Don't play fish, "too hard". You can stress a Striped Bass to a point of pure exhaustion which may ultimately lead to death.

12. Don't spot burn. Be mindful that fishing is fishing is fishing and everyone has their "secret spots" and sometimes feel very strongly about keeping them a secret.

13. Weigh your fish officially. If you caught a big fish and want it recorded, go to a certified scale marina like Certified Marina in Kingston, NY.

Great Resources:

1. River Basin Sports

2. Striper Chum

3. Certified Marina

4. Hudson Valley Sportsman

5. Stripers247

6. DEC

Tight lines my friends!