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Spring striper fishing


chugbug

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We fish the Hudson river every spring for stripers and every year we have a hard time finding bloodworms and they are very expensive to boot 1.00 ea , buy a flat 144 worms enough for a day when there biting good and your dropping 144.00 dollars just for bait !!! was wondering if anyone here is familiar with the fishery down there and if regular nitecrawlers would work or something from power bait Co .or maybe a fishbite along with a nitecrawler .

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I've thought about taking the down-riggers down and trying them but you see very few guys trolling if any and the bloodworms definitely work the best . Hudson river bait shop is way north of the area we fish , there is only one bait shop where we fish and they can't keep up with the demand  and won't put any aside for you to pick up when you get there , its first come first serve , I'm going to try regular nitecrawlers with fishbites and see how it works was hoping someone had tried it already or found something similar that might work 

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you can try using chunk/live herring or troll.lots of guys troll down south in the newburgh/Kingston area.we fish the catskill area and the only time we use worms is early in the season before the herring show up,but once the herring are around,thats all we use.river basin sports shop in catskill has everything you need.

Edited by finsntins
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As a backup try using the longest plastic worms scented or unscented in black or dark blue you can find and use on a a three-way swivel rig.

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We fish mainly live herring on the flats but some guys do very well with chunk, only problem with chunk is catfish and eels also like it. Night crawlers may work but I think you would be fighting mostly catfish and eels again. Trolling with big stick baits on channel breaks or even in the channel will usually get you more fish but they lack in size compared to using bait.

 

Edited by Firechief48
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Been fishing the Hudson for stripers out of Kingston for at least 15 years. What kind of set-up do you use that you are using 144 worms a day? 20 stripers a day usually means about 36-48 worms for me.... FYI I've never had much luck with the crawlers or the fake stuff.

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Hey Lunderdog nice striper there , we are drifting with blood worms two people running 4 rods , hooked and played close to 40 stripers including alot of small jacks which as you know always steal your worm landed a couple in the 32" to 34 " range and got two nice slot fish in the 22' range and lost quite a few . Using circle hooks with egg sinkers , still looking for the 40 incher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'to 34'' range

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Good deal, sounds like you are doing everything right. Try Certified Marine for worms in Connely, or if they are out I have driven up to Red Hook (about 15 minutes away) to a tackle shop there. He always had worms. I fish the stretch from the Esopus light house south to the park on the West side. Where do you fish?

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Spring Striper fishing techniques are pretty location specific. In general baits begin to diverge as you go down river. The Kingston area is where you see the most trolling. It's a great way to cover water and use gear you may already have. Schoolies (small to medium fish) can produce a lot of action and we have certainly caught big fish trolling as well. So there is a lot of ways to skin a cat on the Hudson. Just remember it's really all about having fun

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Chugbug. 

It sounds like you are fishing the Newburgh area. Bloods are the bait of choice here. I do know guys that double up a piece of blood worm with a night crawler. It does work but at the end of the day I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort. Bottom line is blood worms work best. 

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Yes I am fishing the Newburgh area , how far north would I have to go to get into some good trolling areas , beautiful pics !!!

North of the Poughkeepsie bridge to Kingston area. Most of the trolling is good from esopus island to the esopus light house.


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I've been fishing the Hudson for stripers for the last 30 years.  Bloods and live herring (chunk at night) are the preferred baits but I am a die hard down rigger and dipsey diver fisherman and do very well.  I have fished from Newburgh to Kingston trolling stick baits. Now, there are a lot of shorts caught but that's a trend I've noticed over the last 7 or 8 years plus I'm not feeding them $1 blood worms.  I've also have caught my share of 40+ pounders.

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