Here's a good article. It's written by John Vargo who is the guru for the Hudson.
Hudon river fishing came up in some posts recently so I thought this may help.
Finally, its Spring... Striper Fishing Time
By John H. Vargo
Lets go, from shore or boat, its time to visit the greatest success story on the East Coast, the Hudson River and the Spring spawning run of Striped Bass.
The River is alive, well, and as you know by the fishing on the North and South shores of Long Island, lower New York Harbor and the Jersey Coast, the River is supplying stripers to fisherman with the best action they have seen in years from the Spring spawning run.
You don't have to wait until late Spring, Summer or Fall to take advantage of these fish, the Hudson River has its own unique type of fishing and plenty of it in early Spring. Starting with the opening day of fishing on the River, (March 16th from the George Washington Bridge North) the Stripers will begin accumulating in and around the Piermont Pier and the Tappan Zee Bridge. The bass, moving up from their wintering grounds in Lower New York Harbor begin to feel the rising temperature changes, gather in schools, according to year classes, (basically the same size in each school) and follow the warming water. Because the West side of the River near the Piermont Pier is shallow it warms up much faster than any other place on the River. Thus even with snow on the ground, or flying in the air, with air temperatures in the 30's, the fishing can still be excellent from shore or boat in this area during mid March. Incoming tides work best anywhere along this mile long pier. The pier (really a long dirt causeway built to load GI's during WW 11) is owned and operated by the Village of Piermont. While you need a permit to drive out on it, you can park at the entrance and leisurely walk out on the black top road. Some people bring their bikes and haul everything out in baskets.
Blood worms work best, however, because this is the incubator of the Hudson River, (most stripers grow up in this area until they are three years old or approximately 18 inches in length), you are going to get a lot of small stripers on worms. Many fisherman freeze bunker or herring from the previous year and use that. The common dominator is that the larger the bait the bigger the fish. Chunk bunker or if it is possible to get it Alwifes or Blueback Herring is the bait of choice. This holds true for the entire Spring Striper fishing on the River, no matter where you are fishing. Ells, drifted off the bottom are killers as well. From shore sliding sinker rigs work best, while from a boat slip sinkers with three foot 30 pound test leaders and #2 or larger hooks are the method of choice. (A new type hook, circle hooks are coming on strong, see the article in another part this issue.)
If you have never fished or visited this area before I suggest that you take a ride over to this area, fishing rod in hand, and, try the early Spring fishing. To locate this area on your map find the Tappan Zee Bridge, look to the South on the West side of the River and you will see this long finger pier. To get to this area from North or South take Route 87, The New York Thruway, to the Nyack exit. Follow signs for Route 9W South. This is tricky so pay attention...3.5 miles from the NY Thruway exit you will see a sign that says "Piermont Business District". Turn here go to the stop sign, turn right and go down the steep hill to Piermont Ave. Piermont Pier is close by.
Since water temperatures are very important to Striper fishing, (the best feeding temperatures are above 48 degrees) there are a number of ways that you can find out what the temperature is on any given day during the Spring season. One way is to call 1-900-Striper, updated every two or three days, it reports on exactly where the bass are, what they are hitting, the boat ramps that are opened, water conditions, including temperature, and bait and tackle shops that are opened and supplying bait. The other is to call the bait and tackle shops listed in this article. Since it is still early and the local communities are not even thinking about the River, some, unfortunately will dump there excess snow in front of the ramps, it may be difficult to find a launch ramp where you can put your boat in, however, by the first week in April this will change and you will be able to use the Nyack Boat Ramp in Nyack as well as the ramp near the Ossining railroad station and Georges Island Ramp both on the East shore. While these ramps may not have their docks in, with a little ingenuity you can launch your boat here. There is no charge for these ramps this early in the season. Again, everything is in a state of flux at this time of year so call before dragging your boat to the River.
For you fisherman that are serious about fishing from your boats , something new and timely is being offered by a few marinas. Recognizing the need for temporary boat slips for Striper fisherman both Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton and the Tarrytown Marina in Tarrytown are offering temporary slips. (Both are on the East shore of the River.) On the West shore Tappan Zee Marina in Piermont, as well as T & R Marina, also in Piermont, Telephone number is (914) 359-6308 are offering temporary boat slips. Further, Petersons Boat Yard, managing the marina at the foot of Burd Street, next to the restaurant is offering temporary boat slips as well. Telephone number is (914) 358-2100. From any of these locations you are only a few minutes from where the action is. On Haverstraw Bay, Haverstraw Marina, and Stony Point Marina are also offering temporary boat slips. Haverstraw Marina's number is (914) 429-2001. Stony Point Marina telephone number is 786-3700. While at Haverstraw Marina either by boat or car you can obtain a veriety of striper baits, including frozen herring, bunker and live blood worms at Samalot Marine's Ship Store located right on the Haverstraw Marina's grounds. Smalot's telephone number is (914) 429-0404.
An example of one group taking advantage of these temporary boat slips are the Moonies, (Reverend Sun Young Moons followers) who keep their Mako's at Half Moon Bay. The skippers of these boats are excellent fisherman, moving around constantly over the schools. If you see one of their boats fishing surely the bass are underneath. The telephone number for Half Moon Bay Marina, (on the East shore near Croton Point) is (914) 562-0860 The telephone number for Teddy the Dockmaster at Tarrytown Marina, (near the Tappan Zee Bridge on the East shore) is (914) 631-1300. Interestingly enough there is a restaurant at the Tarrytown Marina called Striped Bass. The food is reasonable and they even serve farm raised Stripers. The Tarrytown Marina also sells fuel.
By Mid April the water temperatures will be in the high forty's and the bass will be in and around Croton Point. Fishing from shore or boat is excellent. The best suggestion if you are in a boat is to listen to your radio, (although sometimes the fisherman catching the most fish are not talking) or follow the over hundred boats that will be dotting the area on any given day. The waters to the North of Croton Point are only 15 foot deep and the bottom, covered with oyster shells from the 17th century, is as flat as a table top. Schools of bass will move into this area from the channel on an incoming tide. Running the engine only scares them. Best bet is to drift and then, once they start hitting, quietly drop anchor.
From shore the entire south and north ends of Croton Point are excellent fishing with Tellers Point, the South end being the favorite area. The superintendent of this Westchester County Park is Mr. Tino Martin and he is very pro fisherman. He will go out of his way to help you. Further there are cabins that rent by the day or week which you can use. Nothing fancy, however, if your fishing all the time who cares and most importantly they rent for less than two hundred dollars for the week. You can call Mr. Tino Martin or one of his employees at (914) 271-3293 for all the details. If you bring a boat arrangements can be made to keep it at Half Moon Bay which is at the entrance to the park. Fishing at the end of the point in the evening hours is a wonderful, with the views and atmosphere similar to what you would find on Montauk...only in micro size.
Another wonderful shore fishing location is just to the North of the Croton Yacht Club where the rocky shoreline parallels the railroad tracks for about a half mile. This property, while it looks like Metro North Property is really owned by the Village of Croton. Anywhere along it is excellent fishing. Best of all you can pull your car right up to the rocks and fish. To get to this location take route 9 to Croton. Turn off at the Route 129 exit, towards the River and then left to a very low tunnel under the railroad tracks. Then "slowly" follow the tracks to the North. You will eventually see others fishing along the tracks as well. A little secret. There is a very nice sandy beach where you can easily launch a 16 foot boat without fear of swamping it here. If the weather is fairly calm you can go out from this spot, fish and, if the weather turns nasty, dive for cover behind the rocks which protect the sandy beach. I do not recommend launching anything bigger than a 16 foot here, you cannot get out between the rocks. Croton Bait and Tackle, located in a house on Riverside Drive opposite this site has anything you will need in the way of bait, tackle or information. Pat Ferris is always there, the store opens early. Pat and Rich will answer all your questions. Their telephone number is (914) 271-3675. Choice Pets, inc. Located in the Arcadian Shopping Center, Route 9, Ossining, (914) 762-4848 also has a complete line of bait and tackle. Another bait and tackle shop is located about a mile to the North on Route 9 called Buchanan Sports. Their telephone number is (914) 739-0772.
By mid April the huge schools of bass will be above Newburgh, the River, much narrower here, tends to concentrate the bass. The water depths varies from over 70 feet near Cornwall to 35 feet in the channel under the Newburgh/Beacon Bridge. The bass stratify at certain levels in huge schools. Drifting live bait, Blood Worms, whole or chunk Herring and Eels accounts for most of the bass caught. Interestingly enough, the way you place the Blood Worm on the hook, once through the head, with the balance hanging off the hook, has a lot to do with how many hits you will get. It is possible to catch 5 or 6 bass on a single drift. Lures such as Bombers, Repalla's, Rattletraps, etc. used in connection with downriggers is the method of choice for trollers. I have seen the bass so thick in this area that the downrigger balls passing through the schools actually bounce off the fish as though you were hitting bottom.
You are only allowed to keep one bass over eighteen inches above the George Washington Bridge. While the schools lay at certain levels, usually eighteen or twenty four feet, the bigger bass tend to be loaners and either hang near the bottom or in shallow water. Striper fisherman such as Wally Chudkosky who holds the fresh water record at forty six pounds, eleven ounces, fishes with whole Herring on rigs that are made up of thirty pound test line, strong boat rods, and level winding Penn reels. Wally fishes with a vengeance. Catching and releasing as many fish as he can in as short a time as possible. Always trying to beat his own record. Of the eight big contests held each Spring, Wally usually finishes in the money in all of them.
In the Newburgh area there is really only one boat launching ramp. This ramp, located near Gully's Restaurant on the west shore at the foot of Washington St. and is scheduled to be renovated in the Spring of "98". Whether or not it will be able to be utilized is up in the air at this time. Telephoning any of the bait and tackle stores in the area or 1-900-Striper will keep you informed. In Wappinger Falls on the East shore there is a bait and tackle store called Fisherman World. This store sells more live Herring than anyone else in the area. It is very important that if you want to reserve some for your fishing trip that you call ahead. Their telephone number (914) 297-9664. On the west side of the River at Fort Montgomery, (just above the Bear Mountain Bridge) is Gary's Bait and Tackle Shop, Route 9W, Ft. Montgomery Telephone (914) 446-Fish. Further up Route 9W on the west side of the River in Cornwall is Ceely's Bait and Tackle. Telephone (914) 534-3495. Ask for Carol. Located right on a fresh water creek, they usually have live herring in a tub in there back yard. Of course they also have eels, frozen bunker and herring as well as blood worms in stock.
By the end of April the bass will have reached all the way up to Catskill. Kingston and Rondout Creek, half way to Catskill is my favorite place to be at this time of year. The waters of the River in this area are one hundred percent salt free. As a matter of fact a number of cities use the water for drinking. Certified Marine, located on the south shore of Rondout Creek, plays host to many striper fisherman. It has bait, tackle, even an outside shower open 24 hours a day for the fisherman who fish all night... like myself. (Night fishing on Rondout Creek can be fantastic, especially up at the falls.) I and others leave their boats right at the dock for the week and come back at any time of the day or night to fish. Sharon Jones the owner of this marina cannot do enough for you. Call Sharon at (914) 339-3060 to reserve room for your boat.
The king of all commercial Herring fisherman on the River is John Sullivan of Saugerties, NY. With his huge scap nets, he captures and sells significant amounts of live Herring to serious fisherman. This area of the River has more big bass than any other. It is almost like the big Stripers leave here and head directly to Montauk. The two top Striper fisherman in last years contests spent fifty to one hundred dollars a day on bait knowing full well that this bait is consistently the best for huge Stripers. They fished until they dropped from Saugerties South to the Kingston/Rhinecliff Bridge. One of the two fisherman was so enthused that he sent his girl friend home on a bus, so that he could stay and fish. Needless to say they won the main contest, the Dutchess Federation contest with two huge bass. Johns telephone number is (914) 246-9449.
There are a number of ways that you can fish from boats without dragging yours along.
Six pack charters over the past few years have become very popular. While they are usually booked up way in advance it is wise to call them for cancellations that come up from time to time. In addition, last year for the first time a party boat that can carry up to 35 people, the Waverly, with Captain Greg Hanchow aboard operates out of Haverstraw Marina. His telephone number is (914) 348-7788. To get to the Haverstraw Marina take Route 9W, North or South to East Main Street, turn towards the River, Haverstraw Marina is two miles.
