HUDSON RIVER FISHING WITH RIVER BASIN SPORTS

Fishing Tackle for Hudson River Stripers and Black Bass Tournaments

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JOHN IMBESI DISPLAYS TWO NICE RIVER LARGEMOUTHS, 5.2 AND 
4 POUND FISH, CAUGHT IN THE TIDERUNNERS TOURNAMENT LAST WEEK
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OPEN TUESDAY THRU SATURDAY 8:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M.
CLOSED SUNDAYS AND MONDAYS 

There are some pictures of your fish at the bottom of this page and other lunker fish shots can be found on the "pictures" page.
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 - Fishing Reports - 

TODAY'S QUOTE FROM HUDSON RIVER FISHERMAN JOE BASS:

"YOU’LL NEVER CATCH A FISH WHILE SITTING AT A DESK"

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We appologize for the screwed up pictures at the bottom of this page and on the pictures page but at the present time the company handling this web site seems unable to do anything to correct the problem. They are laying the blame on Internet Explorer not interpreting their code properly, but say that they can't do anything to change their program so that the biggest web browser in the world can properly send it out to you. God, isn't technology great - that's one way to get rid of a problem, just sweep it under a rug by blaming someone else.

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Unfortunately we've been using this service for many years now so a transition to another firm would entail considerable effort. We'll try to see if there's a work around for this mess. 

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, July 22, 2010

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The river continues its summertime ways. Presently water temperature in the early mornings will tend to be in the 80 to 81 degree range, warming up to 83 by afternoon. Water clarity has improved tremendously during the past couple of weeks and in deeper sections can extend down to 4 or 5 feet (shallower areas will be cloudier due to bottom silt being stirred up by wave action). Summer breakup of peripheral water chestnut plants is continuing and you will likely see a few mats of these floating downriver. Additionally, copious amounts of loose strands of eelgrass will tend to gather on the surface on the downwind side of the river making the use of crankbaits and such impractical in those sections.

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We managed to hit the river three times so far this week and are planning to do so again today after work. The fishing has been pretty good around the weedbeds. If you can locate the right water chestnut beds at the right time of tide you should be able to have some decent largemouth fishing. Our most productive lures have been weedless spoons, tube baits and Senkos – all dragged across the edges of the chestnut beds.

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Surprisingly, we also found the smallmouths to be in close proximity to several chestnut locations. The same baits we were using for largemouths also produced smallies. Additionally, since we were fishing lower tides this week, we found Rebel Pop-r’s and spinnerbaits to be working real well for the smallies on isolated larger patches of eelgrass on the river’s flats (did require a considerable amount of casting, though).

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We ignored the harder structures this week since we were looking for a little variety in our fishing. However, any harder structures in the proximity of weedbeds will have a good chance of producing action and should not be ignored.

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This weekend’s best times for largemouths around the Catskill area should be from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. while the smallies should be most co-operative from noon to about 4 p.m.   Tom G

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Wednesday, July 14, 2010

 

With the Hudson River’s water temperature presently hovering between 80 and 83 degrees, here’s what the fishing prospects are:

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The mysterious sections of off-color water which we’ve been referring to for the past several weeks seem to be abating somewhat. Not that the water is now crystal clear by any means but now the bad sections can actually be described as just “off color.”

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The annual break-up of the peripheral water chestnut beds has begun. These weeds are seemingly not part of the actual large beds of vegetation we have out on the river but are the sparser plants that were scattered around points not actually suitable for mass growth. These lose plants are now bunching up in mats and drifting along with the tide.

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Boat traffic so far this summer seems to be somewhat diminished – don’t know if that’s been due to the economic conditions or to the spell of oppressive heat we’ve had.

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 Smallmouth bass appear to be scattered and, as I found out last weekend, were not to be found on most shallower hard structures… probably due to the 83 degree water temperature and the tidal effects of a new-moon phase. However I did find some of them relating to the edges of eelgrass beds on a couple of the larger flats. These fish were somewhat receptive to spinnerbaits. Additionally, I found action for them on deep-water-related hard structures but unfortunately most (but not all) of these were sub-fifteen inch fish. Drop shotting was the key to action here.

 

The largemouths are in the chestnut beds and adjacent hard structures and last week’s late morning low tide was perfect for the anglers that chose to try their luck there. Even though most of the bass taken were sub-four pounders there certainly is nothing wrong with a few limits averaging out to 3 pounds per fish. The winner of last Sunday’s NYTBF tournament with 13.87 pounds was Randy Phelan, a member of the local Tiderunners bass fishing club.

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For the past several weeks now we’ve been getting inquiries about when the blue crabs would be arriving in our area and now we can state that the first of them are here. It’s hard to tell what kind of run it will be this year, we’ll just have to wait and see.   Tom G

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, July 08, 2010

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This is a great time of the year to go swimming in the Hudson. When its waters get into the low 80 degree temperature range, as they are now, the water actually starts to feel warm. There really is nothing more relaxing than finding a nice sandy section of beach on one of the islands and just immersing oneself up to the chin in the river’s flow, feeling the minnows nibble at your toes. 2005 and 2007 each had a few weeks of this type of water heat wave and even 2008 had a few days but it doesn’t happen every year.

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Unfortunately though, the bass fishing really starts to suffer under such conditions. That’s what local anglers have been encountering for the past several days – just a few bites from some scattered fish – and this probably is what we’ll see out there for perhaps the next couple of weeks or more. Still, the largemouths will be relating to the river’s weeds, the edges of the chestnut beds in particular, and any related hard structure such as the rock-pile lighthouses.

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Although going up the feeder creeks becomes a very poor choice of location to fish during such heat the vicinity of the area where a creek flows into the main Hudson River is liable to put a few fish in the boat. Such locations where two waters merge are capable of producing fish at anytime but will really seem to shine when other spots slack off. As is the case with all hard structures in the river, they must be fished extra tight for best results.

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Smallmouth bass will still be around the rockier areas of the river but the larger fish will be far less in evidence. This is the time when trying to catch a limit of 15 inchers (that’s the minimum length for the tidewater Hudson) can seem to be a truly formidable task. It’s always really surprising to me when I find that these fish are often in the shallows… in 2 feet or less of water during such warm water periods.

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Right now my personal lure selection for largemouths consists mainly of tube baits, Senko style stickbaits, weedless spoons and frogs, and spinnerbaits. For smallmouths I’m favoring Rebel Pop-r’s, Tennessee shad colored crankbaits, Flukes and Gulp Minnows, smaller Senkos, and spinnerbaits. Of course, I’m always open to tying on something else if it seems appropriate.

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The catfishing out there has been pretty good lately… but it seems that such is usually the case on the river. Lots of channel cats in the 12 to 16 inch range, and always a chance at a 2 footer or better. While out there this past Sunday morning I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to catch a few more white cats than I’d been seeing during the past few years, including one that went over 20 inches. I was fishing fresh chunk shiner baits on the south side of the Cementon “tramway” and had plenty of action.

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The river is in great shape but the muddier off-color conditions we’ve been seeing in some areas during the past month still exist. Best times for largemouths in the Catskill area this weekend are from 8 a.m. to noon; smallie times are from 1 to 5 p.m.        Tom G

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, July 1, 2010

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This weekend will probably be one of the busiest we’ll have on the Hudson River this year. The forecast calls for the temperatures to go well into them 90’s, a sure indication that most everybody with a boat will probably want to enjoy the water. Our recommendation to the fishermen, as usual, is to hit the water early and get off by 11… if you want to preserve your sanity.

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This week we found the water temperature in the river to be in the 77 to 78 degree range which was pretty nice indeed. By the time the weekend ends it will probably be around the 80 degree mark. Floating hazardous debris in the waterway is minimal but every once in a while you will spot a log or some such.

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For anglers the puzzle of the off-color water out there still remains. You may find one side of the river to have a see-thru visibility of 3 feet or more while on the opposite side you’ll be lucky to see down 8 inches. We’ve really not seen anything similar to this as far back as we can recall, but during the past few weeks we certainly have discussed it a lot here at the River Basin. The reason for the discussion, of course, has been that the smallmouth bite on the off-color side of the waterway has been considerably diminished due to the lack of visibility.

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At present we are finding the smallmouths to be quite active on the gravel areas of the river but what we have now also observed is the departure of the larger fish. As is the case each summer most of the bigger ones, say those in the three pound range and larger, seem to disappear. It’s easy enough to realize that they must go deeper in the water column but as to specifics about their schooling tendencies, numbers, depths, locations, etc. … all this is just about as much of a mystery as to where in the river all those spring time walleyes disappear in the summer.

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For some reason the top water bite for the smallies has been very weak so far but using diminutive (3 to 4 inch) swimbait type lures, such as Zoom Flukes, Bass Assassins or Gulp Minnows has definitely been producing. Another tactic that worked well for us this past week was to seek out patches of eelgrass during lower tides and hit their corners with a spinnerbait (hard to do on the muddier side of the river).

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Looking at my logbook of fishing excursions this past week (more times out than usual since my wife had gone to a family reunion) there is no question that the falling tide far out produced any other time on the river. But it should be noted that most of my efforts were in pursuit of smallmouths not largemouths.

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There did also appear to be good action for largemouths around the weedbeds and close-by hard structures. The best largemouth we saw was taken by John Imbesi in the TIDERUNNERS bass club tournament. John’s win in the event was anchored by a 5.21 pound fish. Additional good sized largemouths were weighed in by Jon Rath Jr. (4.38 lb.) and Brian Lewis (4.28). The magic lure for most of the largemouth fishermen was the Senko style stickbait.

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For this weekend the prime time to fish for Hudson River smallmouth bass in the Catskill area should be in the mornings, particularly from about 7 to 10. The afternoon has a better largemouth tide and conditions should be best between 2 and 6.       Tom G

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, June 24, 2010

Going into this weekend we find the Hudson’s water to once more be in the mid 70 degree range - a 75 to 76 degree reading is normal for this time of year. The amounts of both flotsam and jetsam in the water are also normal, not too bad. The chestnut beds are still not at full development and therefore are somewhat easier to fish since their edges tend to be more broken up.

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The one factor which still is somewhat of a puzzle is the water color. In some areas you will have a see-thru visibility of 2 to 3 feet while in others you’ll be lucky to see down 8 inches. Smallmouth action appears to be somewhat lessened in those areas with least visibility.

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The weekend boat traffic has not been too bad so far this year but this is due to change. As schools close for the summer and more people take their vacations the weekend afternoons on the river and at the boat launch sites tend to turn into a real cage of monkeys (unless it rains).

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Smallmouth bass action on the river is good. I’ve been on the water three mornings this week and had good luck with smaller Senkos, spinnerbaits, and medium size crankbaits. The most disappointing lures for me have been poppers, Rebel Pop-r’s specifically. Although these lures have produced a few fish the results still have not been up to what I expect. Locations to fish? The best smallie locations for us this week have all had good water flow and gravel bottoms.

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Hefty largemouths can still be found hanging around some spawning areas - 5 or 6 inch Senko’s seem to be working just fine. We also located some nice fish on the rock pile lighthouses in the river. If you fish these structures remember that they MUST be fished tight in the rocks for best results (this tactic isn’t bad for business at the River Basin Sports shop either, thank you). Our best tide for the rock pile bigmouths was 1 to 2 hours into the rise; the weed related fish were best at about ½ out and falling.

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Last Sunday’s TIDERUNNERS bass tournament almost finished with a tie for first place as Imbesi’s 14.66 pounds was bested by Gentalen’s 14.96. However Gentalen’s 4.02 pound lunker was relegated to second best as Imbesi weighed in a 4.16 pounder and took that honor by a mere 1.4 ounces. Both anglers scored by using Senkos in 3 to 6 feet of water in areas close to this year’s spawning locations.

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Channel cats on the river seem to be quite aggressive at present and catching a 3 to 5 pounder is not unusual; lots of fun to be had catching smaller 1 to 3 pound fish too. Nightcrawlers or minnows (cut these in half for best results) are excellent baits but if you have some herring left over from striper season it also makes an excellent, if stinky, bait.

Additionally, there are still a few stripers around -  I took a nice 24 incher a couple of mornings ago. Yet other action can occasionally be had such a catching a 2 foot walleye on a crankbait like I saw Russ Burton of Greenville  do the other day.

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On local Sleepy Hollow Lake the property owners will be holding their 2010 bass tournament this Saturday while the TIDERUNNERS bass club will be holding another of their club’s tournaments on the Hudson on Sunday. On July 11, the TIDERUNNERS parent organization, the “New York The Bass Federation” comes into Catskill for their Hudson River event.      See you on the water – Tom G

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Tuesday, June 15, 2010 -

  

As we prepare to enter New York’s black bass season (it starts this Saturday) we find the Hudson’s waters to be pretty much prime.

 

As of earlier this week the early morning water temperature was running in the 71 to 72 degree range, 4 to 5 degrees cooler than it was just barely a week earlier. The water clarity is somewhat of an enigma with one side or other of the river having a see-thru visibility of about 3 feet while the opposite may have only 8 inches – can’t really quite figure out why.

 

Floating hazardous debris is minimal but one must be ever-vigilant on this tidal river. If the weekend’s weather is good you will see more of a hazard from pleasure boaters (including canoes and kayaks) than from anything else. You can figure most of the pleasure boaters to be hitting the water from about 10:30 a.m. on.

 

The river’s weed beds are developing but still are not at their fullest. In some locations the water chestnuts are all the way to the surface on high tide while in other areas you’ll only see them at 3/4 full or less. Either way they are not at their thickest yet so finding those better sparser edges to fish is a good possibility.

 

“Early summer chestnuts” seem to be abundant (but not thick) on some harder, deeper bottom locations where they are generally not to be found and this might be a problem for anybody throwing crankbaits. However, these plants will start to break loose in two or three weeks and disappear.

 

Reports from the river are that the largemouths are already in most chestnut beds but the ones we’ve heard about have been “New York State” keepers, not the 15 inchers required for a legitimate river catch. This time of year it also pays to check out harder rock structure immediately adjacent to weedbeds since there are many largemouths still transitioning between spring and summer homes. Your regular array of lures should suffice for this but on the chestnuts throw some weedless rigged stuff at those sparser chestnut edges (Jawbreaker spoons, tubes, frogs and rats).

 

Smallies have been real active around the harder gravel and rock structures. It is reported that the 3 pound plus size fish are still quite apparent in the shallows, not having disappeared yet as they generally do for the summer. A couple of keys to finding smallmouth locations are gravel bottom and a decent water flow. Norman’s Deep Baby N or Little N crankbaits with the glo-gell colors work well as do Gitzits, grubs and smaller size Senkos.

 

The feeder creeks are still holding plenty of fish and should not be ignored. Try some spinner baits over shallower flats on high tide, crankbaits along any drop-off areas, and surface poppers anyplace you see something sticking out of the water. A favorite of ours at this time is to hop a pig and jig down any sloping bank. If you’re just trying to locate the fish for an upcoming tournament try drop-shotting (wacky or Texas rigged) some 3 inch Senkos – you can work these fairly fast and locate the better locations with pretty good accuracy; our favorites for early season are pink or white. Don’t ignore the mouths of the creeks where they enter the river – these can be hot spots at any time of the year.

 

This weekend’s prime largemouth fishing in the Catskill area should take place from about daybreak until 7 a.m. and the smallies should be most receptive from 9 to noon.

 

Best of luck to the members of Catskill’s new TIDERUNNERS BASS CLUB, an affiliate of the NYTBF which is a chapter of the FLW. They’ll be fishing their first ever tournament on the river this Sunday.      Tom G

 

 

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RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST FINAL REPORT, Sunday, May 30, 2010

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Although there are still stripers out here in the river by Catskill, our striped bass contest is over. It was a great year and on a whole considerably better than any year we’ve seen in the past few. We probably had three times the amount of stripers brought through the shop as we did in 2009.

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The top six winners (7 considering the tie for 6th place) remain as they were for the past 10 days and are listed below. Congratulations to all of you and I’m sure we’ll see you again next year.

At this time the River Basin resumes its normal summertime schedule, being closed on Sundays and Mondays and open from 8:30 to 5 during the rest of the week. We’ll continue to post river fishing updates here for the duration of the 2010 fishing season, at least when we have something of interest to post.

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Our next seasonal thing on the river will be the opening of the state’s black bass season on the third Saturday of June, an event that the local members of the Greene County Bassmasters and members of Catskill’s Tiderunners Fishing Club have been anticipating for months. It should be a good year coming up.             Tom G

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SIZEANGLER
147  Borchert, Eric
246.75Shilkaunas, Rob
346.25  Green, Frank
445.5 Walt Chudkosky
544.25  Stallman, Randy
644 tieDelMonte - Biniek
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  AWARDS –1st   $6,030; 2nd  $2,050; 3rd  $1,567; 4th  $1,085; 5th  $ 723; 6th  $301.50 & $301.50 - tie split

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RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST REPORT, Wednesday, May 26, 2010

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The final few days of this contest are the hardest. No, not really for the 99% of our entrants who have already resolved to try again next year but rather - for the 7 people now in the running for the top six payback slots. Will their fish hold onto their present standing, or will someone sneak in a striper just a quarter inch longer and cost them what could be thousands of dollars?  But this questioning all comes to an end this upcoming Sunday at 12 noon when our contest ends.

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It appears that the greatest likely threat to the leaders would be from some angler down on the lower half of the tidal Hudson, say from Kingston south.  Oh, fish are still being caught all the way from Kingston up to Albany – I’m aware of at least a dozen caught during the past couple of days just here in the Catskill area… but these were all sub-36 inch stripers, great eating but certainly not contest material.

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The larger, mostly spawned out fish are now heading back to their saltwater summer haunts but they still have to run the gauntlet of the stalwart fishermen trying for a few minutes of recognition for their efforts during this springtime ritual. And… it could just happen since we’re aware of an even larger fish than the one which won our event a few years back - caught just a scant few days after that year’s contest ended. Badly paraphrasing Yogi’s famous words – It’s not over yet!

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Even so, we do have the following reminders for our present contest leaders

As I am sure most of the 604 anglers entered in our contest already know, our 23rd annual striped bass event will come to a conclusion at 12 noon this Sunday (May 30). But with the abundance of fish yet in the river the contest standings are liable to change right up to the last minute. If you do catch a big fish on Sunday just remember the following part of the rules – “Any fish brought in after 12 noon Sunday, May 30, 2010 will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered for contest ranking.” We will post a final standings result here as soon as possible after the conclusion of the event.

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The award winners, with the exception of the Number One angler, may stop through the River Basin Sports Shop any time after noon Sunday to collect their prizes. Winners, please remember that we will need your driver’s license and social security number before we can conclude the winning transaction. The top man, who at the present time appears to be Eric Borchert with his 47 inch striper, should contact us for details regarding his payback. Below are the “PROBABLE” award finishers for 2010.             

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SIZEANGLER
147  Borchert, Eric
246.75Shilkaunas, Rob
346.25  Green, Frank
445.5 Chudkosky, Walt
544.25  Stallman, Randy
644 tieDelMonte - Biniek
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AWARDS –1st   $6,030
                      2nd  $2,050
                      3rd  $1,567
                      4th  $1,085
                      5th  $ 723
                      6th  $301.50 & $301.50 tie split.

At this time we’d also like to remind all our customers that the River Basin Sports Shop will be switching back to its normal summertime hours of operation AFTER this Sunday. Yup, we’ve been open 7 days a week since the start of March but now will be closed on Sundays (my fishing day) and Mondays (my sweetie's day), opening Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. It’s been a great spring and it was great meeting all of you as you came through the shop. We hope to see you all next spring when we can go through this marvelous madness of striper season again.               Tom G

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Hudson River, RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST REPORT, Saturday, May 22, 2010

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Night fishing is still paying off on the main Hudson River and it’s surprising how many guys there actually are out there moving around in the dark. We talked to one of them this morning, Ed, and even though he reported having boated only one fish all night long, a sub-30 incher, he said it was just glorious out there. There were spawning fish all around during the night – he could see them surface right next to the boat at times but just couldn’t get any of the big guys to hit.

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Although Ed failed to catch his “Moby Striper” there was one angler who did boat a worthwhile fish early this morning. The angler was our past 2008 contest winner Wally Chudkosky and his 45 ½ inch striper moves him into fourth place in our River Basin Sports striped bass contest standings.

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Wally was fishing a live eel down in the Wappingers area when the big spawned-out striper grabbed his bait. This angler, who once held the state record for striped bass, uses 20 lb. test as his main line and usually hangs a 2 ounce sinker on the end. Additionally, he feels rather confident that he might be able to nail an even larger striper before our contest comes to an end on May 30th.

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The placement of this fish into the 4th spot in our standings moves Randy Stallman into 5th and creates a tie for sixth between DelMonte  and Biniek. With just 8 days to go in our event we see that there still are plenty of decent stripers around, but they mainly seem to be located from Stockport to the south. The fellas in the very southern limit of our contest perimeter  have a good shot at this time to pick up some of those large spawned-out females moseying their way back to the ocean – such was probably the story behind Chudkosky’s fish. The new contest standings are below. Tom G          

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SIZEANGLER
147  Borchert, Eric
246.75Shilkaunas, Rob
346.25  Green, Frank
445.5 Walt Chudkosky
544.25  Stallman, R.
644 tieDelMonte-Biniek

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Hudson River, RIVER BASIN STRIPER REPORT, Friday, May 21, 2010

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Man, the striper fishing up in the Albany Troy area must really have turned off. All of a sudden the multiple reports we had been receiving from that region have dried up. Even so we did have an observation of a surface spawn taking place in Menands on Wednesday and a couple of other reports of some sub-34” stripers being caught up there. Even though there were loads of herring up there to catch for bait it appears to have been a somewhat disappointing year for the majority of anglers.

As disappointing as it might have been we’re aware of a few real hogs that were landed in that upper tidal section (i.e.: Gary Sottosani – 40”; Greg Forgea – 41 ¼”). The definite lack of larger 40 inch plus stripers this year made a path downriver all the way from Troy through Bethlehem, Castleton, Selkirk, and Stuyvesant. Finally we started to see some bigger fish to the south of Coxsackie and from the Stockport Creek area downriver the chances of tying onto one of those trophies wasn’t too bad.

44+ inch fish are never plentiful and the few we did see were all from Catskill to the south. Catskill and Malden had some, as did Tivoli but the real giants came from even further downriver this year.  The top two stripers this year were taken from the Port Ewen, Esopus Meadows section to the south of Kingston.

In the minds of many fishermen the bait to use for the stripers is live herring, and probably 90% of our anglers do so. Exceptions such as Robert Shilkaunas, who trolled a Rapala to catch the 46 ¾ incher that is in second place in our striper contest at present, do exist but generally the trolled fish will average out to be considerably smaller in size than those that have been bait-caught.

However, percentage wise of all anglers fishing it is probably those using “cut” or “chunk” bait that actually seem to do the best. While we estimate that only about 25% of  anglers are using such baits we see that 40% of all the stripers over 40 inches that have been entered in our contest have all been taken on “chunk.”

So, even though this striper season continues to wind down we know from past years that it is still possible to catch that contest winning fish… but the odds of doing so are quickly decreasing each day. This weekend could be your final shot at it – good luck. The contest standings have not changed since our last report.     Tom G  

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Hudson River, RIVER BASIN UPDATE, Tuesday, May 18, 2010

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In years past there have been but two stripers caught on artificials that have made it onto our River Basin Sports Top 20 Record listing. The first of these was a 46 ¼ incher caught by Gary Sperl back on May 13, 1995. The lure that did the trick for him was a Bomber 25A in a gold color.

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The second fish was even larger… actually huge. It measured 4 feet long (48”) and was caught on the 19th of May, 1997 on a Mann’s Stretch 25+ by Bob Koziol of Pleasant Valley.

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Both of these fish won our Striped Bass Contest in those years. This year the string of wins by artificials will be broken, even though we do now enter a third “artificial caught” striper into our top twenty list.

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The lucky angler this time is Robert Shilkaunas of Poughkeepsie and this time the lure is a Rapala. Bob and his dad had been trolling in the Port Ewen area of the river today when they landed this 46 ¾ inch cow. Yes, we did throw it onto a scale and it pushed the needle all the way up to the 47.7 pound mark. Bob now leaps up into second place in our standings, just missing tying Borchert's 47 inch first place striper.

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Bob reported having spotted some spawning fish all during the day so we see that the spawn is still ongoing. These were smaller individual spot spawns he was seeing, not like the large mass spawn that occurred in Glasco over the weekend.

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This catch pushes Brad Holmes’ 43 ¼ incher off the contest’s leader board and puts Fred DelMonte and Sylvia Biniek into a tie for 5th place. The next 4 or 5 days just may see some more huge fish caught so if you have the opportunity get out there now. The new leader board is below.                   Tom G

#

SIZE

ANGLER

1

47

Borchert, Eric

2

46.75

Robert Shilkaunas

3

46.25

Green, Frank

4

44.25

Stallman, Randy

5

44

DelMonte, Fred

tie

Biniek, Sylvia

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Hudson River, RIVER BASIN UPDATE, Tuesday, May 18, 2010

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Present striper reports from the river are of slowing action, not only on the waters north of Catskill but also to the south. Anglers who had boated a dozen fish or more the previous week are now somewhat mystified as to what happened to all those stripers. Additionally, although a few decent fish are being caught most of what is biting now are smaller males, 22 to 34 inches.

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The reason for this slowdown is that the spawn is now strongly underway. This past weekend saw a definite spike upwards in striper activity since the fish were in a hyper active state. A large scale spawn was reported to have taken place on the Glasco flats and spawning stripers were doing their thing right next to the deep water shoreline at West Camp.

There still are plenty of stripers left in the river that have yet to spawn, lots of them with very green eggs. This is because the water temperature has remained in the low 60’s. Additionally, although it is late in the run, it always appears that there are some fish late to arrive for this annual ritual.

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You can expect to catch some decent sized stripers in the river right into the beginning of June but their numbers will be on the decline from this point on. Right now here at the River Basin we are expecting the arrival of a striped bass for contest measurement and if the angler who called has taken a somewhat accurate measurement we should see some kind of change in the standings coming up. We’ll let you know.                      Tom G

  .

 

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Hudson River, RIVER BASIN UPDATE, Sunday, May 16, 2010

 .

It was just one of those days for Capt. George Murphy of Hudson River Charters. Getting a late start on the fishing was something he usually wasn’t inclined to do but yet that was reality today. Fishing with his lady friend Sylvia Biniek down in the Tivoli area was a regular occurance for him… but having her beat him to a rod that was “singing a striper tune” cost him his shot at making an appearance  on the River Basin Sports Contest leader board today.

 .

Sylvia grabbed the bouncing rod, set the hook and then engaged in a tug of war with what turned out to be a 44 inch striped bass. No problem for her to land the fish – she’s obviously an old hand at this game.

 .

Sylvia’s fish moves her into a tie for fourth place with Fred DelMonte and moves Brad Holmes’ 43.25 incher into sixth place. DelMonte, who fishes the same area as Murphy and Biniek, phoned the shop as today’s fish was being measured and promised that he’d guard their secret spot against intrusion by other anglers. He was willing to sacrifice his afternoon and sit right on it… perhaps just dangling his line in the water a little bit… to pass the time.

  .

#

SIZEANGLER
147  Borchert, Eric
246.25  Green, Frank
344.25 Stallman, Randy
444 tie  DelMonte, Fred
    Biniek, Sylvia
643.25  Holmes, Brad

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 .

Hudson River, RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST update - Saturday, May 15, 2010, 6 p.m.

It was a busy day here at the River Basin Sports Shop. In between selling lots of striped bass stuff such as herring chunk, sinkers, hooks, stoolies, scap nets, etc., etc., we also had to measure in two big contest fish.

 .

The first one was brought in early this morning by Randy Stallman but was caught late yesterday in what has become one of the more popular local shoreline locations, the Greendale rocks. Randy caught his 44 ¼ inch striper on a live herring and was in 2nd position in our contest for … almost an hour.

 .

Yup, just about an hour after Randy left it was Frank Green who dragged a huge striper to the measuring board at the back of our shop. Randy’s fish was then relegated to compete for the bronze medal 3rd spot on our leader board. Frank had been fishing chunk bait early this morning, down in the vicinity of the Rhinecliff Bridge when this 46 1/4 incher just couldn’t resist the aroma of his fresh dead herring chunk… Bingo! Second Place.

There definitely are bigger fish in the area at the present time although the quantity of smaller fish seems to be down. Hang in there and keep trying. The present standings are below.          Tom G

 .    .

#

SIZEANGLER
147  Borchert, Eric
246.25  Green, Frank
344.25  Stallman, Randy
444  DelMonte, Fred
543.25  Holmes, Brad
642.75  Tim Haas

.

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 .

Hudson River, RIVER BASIN FLASH UPDATE - Saturday May 15, 2010,  10 a.m. -

.

Another standings change - 2nd now is 46 1/4

You now need 42 3/4 inches to get into the standings by tying for sixth place.

First still is 47.

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 Hudson River, RIVER BASIN FLASH UPDATE - Saturday May 15, 2010,  9 a.m. -

Just measured in a new 2nd place fish - 44 1/4 inches; you now need 42.25 inches to tie for 6th place.

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 .

Hudson River, RIVER BASIN NEWS, Thursday, May 13, 2010

As you can see from the ad above we have now finalized the payback schedule for our 2010 Striped Bass Contest. Things were a little bit different as far as funding sources were concerned this year. We are still paying back 100% of all the entry registration fees as prizes to the top six finishers in the event but this year the River Basin Spo rt Shop itself is augmenting that payback by contributing an additional $3,000 to the pot. We also want to thank the Greene County Tourism and Promotion Department for all the help and assistance they rendered us in helping to set up the whole affair.

The fishing has been somewhat spotty for the past few days, ever since the water temperature plunged about six degrees. Still, there are fish being taken and we are anticipating a fairly good and productive weekend with the stripers coming up.   Tom G

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Wednesday, May 12, 2010

What a difference just a couple of days can make. Leading into this past weekend it seemed that the fishing couldn’t have been any better on our river. Then came Saturday, Sunday and Monday with high winds and a real strong cold front and, for most anglers, the river just seemed to shut down. The Hudson itself, which had been running at a 61 – 62 degree temperature, dropped down 5 degrees and presently is at the 56 – 57 degree level.

Dennis up at Bethlehem reports that his Saturday derby up there was won with a 24 pounder which measured just about 40 inches. Most of the other fish weighed in there went under 20 pounds. Sunday was just about a blowout, literally, and most sane anglers did not venture out onto the river where there were gale force winds gusting.

By the way, if you saw something up at the Bethelehem Castleton area that looked like a seal, you weren’t imagining things. There’s been at least one of them up there for 2 to 3 weeks.

Herring in the Bethlehem Albany area seem to be plentiful but down here at Catskill the schools of those great baitfish seem to have diminished since the weekend. Still, it all depends on which person you’re talking too – we’re going by a consensus of opinion here but if you’re in the right place at the right time you’ll think there’s no end to these silvery fish.

All up and down the river we’re seeing a lot of shore bound anglers, more than ever. The railroad bed on the east shore makes for easy access to this fishing but sometimes the CONRAIL cops will give these fishermen a hard time – keep this in mind.

Although things in Catskill also slowed down after the weekend things were starting to pick up again by Tuesday. A spot which has not been hit by too many anglers this year is the mouth of Catskill Creek. On two separate occasions anglers have reported getting skunked on the Bridge Run and  then trying the creek mouth… and hanging a couple of decent linesiders there.

Marc asked about the occurrence of the extremely low tide at present. We find that 2 to 3 days either side of a full or new moon we’ll experience abnormally low tides. If you have a strong north wind blowing at the same time it will be an even more radical change. We’ve actually seen it so low that there was no water for about 30 feet past the end of the floating docks at Catskill’s ramp.

On Monday Captain R. Booth of Reel Happy Charters reported boating one striper at Catskill that was oozing ripe eggs, so we know that some spawn is now ongoing. However there are plenty of fish still out there with “green” eggs, and still many more yet entering the river system so, considering the drop in the water temperature, the good fishing should still last another couple of weeks.

We had one report of boated stripers upchucking some stuff that looked like squid. Never heard of anything such as that before but if anybody else has we’d be interested in hearing about it.

With the Troy tournament going on this coming weekend it will probably be a complete zoo up on that section of the Hudson. If you are not a participant in that event you might want to consider going somewhere else to fish. Still, I figure that those northern fish should turn on again by the weekend so the results there could be quite impressive.

Remember that the NYS limit on the upper Hudson is just one fish a day, 18 inches or larger. I don’t really feel sorry for any of you guys out there who complain that the fishing is slow or bad especially after you boat “only” one or two legal fish. After all, for goodness sake – you LIMITED OUT!

Speaking of limiting out – just now I measured in a 44 ¾ inch striped bass for John Cammer who was fishing with Captain George Murphy of Hudson River Charters. Although the fish seemed to have a large belly it had obviously already spawned since it weighed 35 lbs 1 oz instead of the 40 pound plus that a fish of this size usually goes prior to spawning. This fish would have been long enough to boost John into 2nd place in our contest but… unfortunately he was not a registered contestant.

The striper contest standings are below. There’s been no change as of today. Now, it’s late and I’m going home.               Tom G

  

#

SIZEANGLER
 47Borchert, Eric
 44DelMonte, Fred
 43.25Holmes, Brad
 42.75Tim Haas
 42.25Coby, Steve
 41.5Longo, Vince
  .

 

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Saturday, May 08, 2010

.

It was kind of a miserable day today even if the sun did come out in the afternoon to brighten things up. Striper action was excellent all the way from Kingston to Albany although lots of smaller fish (18 to 24 inches) made a pest of themselves with their hit, run and escape tactics. Sufficient numbers of stripers up to 40 inches in length are being caught all around but there seemed to be a switch among many anglers from whole herring baits to chunks.

There was one change in our contest standings this afternoon when Tim Haas boated a 42 ¾ incher that took his herring chunk bait. Tim was fishing from a boat in the Catskill area. His fish moved him up into fourth spot on our event leader board. A picture of his fish is at the bottom of this page, new standings immediately below.       Tom G

#

SIZEANGLER
 47Borchert, Eric
 44DelMonte, Fred
 43.25Holmes, Brad
 42.75Tim Haas
 42.25Coby, Steve
 41.5Longo, Vince
  .

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Friday, May 07, 2010

.

Even with a year like this when the striper fishing has possibly been the best we’ve seen in the past eight years or so we’ve been somewhat disappointed. Oh sure, lots of fish, but we’ve been missing the real big ones – you know, the ones when you lift them you have to tell yourself to be careful of your back. They’re the ones that go over 46 inches in length and usually bust the scale to over 45 pounds. Well, that size is no longer missing this year. It was Eric Borchart of High Falls that changed that whole scenario when he walked into the River Basin Sports Shop and said he had a fish to measure in.

.

As soon as we eyeballed the striper it was obvious we had a new contest leader – this was one BIG fish. On the contest’s measuring board the tip of that striper’s tail reached all the way to the 47 inch mark – definitely a new contest leader, and one that’s going to be a tough one for the other 603 participants to beat.

.

Eric had been fishing the Esopus Meadows section at 6:30 a.m. today. He had been trolling a bit but then decided to try a little bit of chunk baiting for a while. That turned out to be a good move for the fisherman since the piece of herring chunk was precisely what the huge striper had been looking for - it was an easy meal that required little effort to catch.

.

Since we were all rather curious as to what the fish might weigh I hoisted it onto the shop’s big scale… and that’s when I just might have strained my back. The needle on the scale went around and finally stopped on the 47.1 pound mark. And that’s when I felt a little twinge on my back side. I’ll know tomorrow if my back is alright, but Eric knows right now that his fish holds first place and is going to be very hard to best.

.

NOTE - We’ve been informed that this weekend will see law enforcement out on the river in one of their seemingly all out blitzes of regulations enforcement. Be sure that all your boating safety gear is up to snuff – it’s annoying enough to be pulled over but it’s really maddening to receive a ticket for something such as a date expired flare.     

Below are the new standings.                      Tom G

 

#SIZEANGLER 
147  Borchert, Eric
244  DelMonte, Fred
343.25  Holmes, Brad
442.25  Coby, Steve
541.5  Longo, Vince
641.25  Forgea, Greg 

.

 

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 .

Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Thursday, May 06, 2010

 .

The inevitable has started to happen. We have received out first reports of striper spawning activity taking place. Both Jim and Harry have reported observing spawning activity taking place on the waters to the immediate south of Kingston, and this has been going on for several days now.

What this means to anglers is that fishing success should now be approaching the peak of this year’s run. This activity is definitely a week to 10 days earlier than in an average year and is almost like a huge flashing billboard out there telling fishermen to get out there this weekend. Any tournaments being held should measure in lots of fish.

 .

With the cooler weekend weather forecast we should see some moderation in the spawn and aid in prolonging the entire process over a couple of weeks or so. Make plans to get out there as soon as you can.           Tom G

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 .

Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Wednesday, May 5, 2010

 .

Although we’ve had several reports of stripers 44 inches long or greater coming in none of them were from any of the over 600 entrants in our RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS CONTEST. Too bad for those (un)lucky ones since they are missing out on the chance to win big in this event which pays back the top 6 fish and this year guarantees a minimum payment of at least $4,530 for the top spot.

 .

But their absence is definitely better luck for anglers such as Fred Del Monte. Today Fred moved into first place on our contest leader board by bringing in the first legitimate 44 inch striped bass of 2010 we've seen.

Fred was fishing in the area of the Hudson which we crowned the ”Magic Triangle” a few years back. Today he was fishing shallow, as of a matter of fact his live herring was only in about 6 feet of water when the fish struck and the battle was on. When he arrived at the River Basin Sports Shop he was all pumped up, and rightly so since his fish covered the official measuring board all the way to the 44 inch mark. This put Fred into the contest lead.

.

The ”Magic Triangle” is formed in the river with Malden being its southernmost point, Germantown the second and Catskill the third terminus. Overall, throughout the years this area seems to have consistently produced the majority of the largest stripers we have measured in. Oh, most certainly not all of the big ones are caught here – Kingston produces some huge fish annually and we even see some giants from the Albany area but… on an overall annual basis the most seem to be pulled from this section of the river.

 .

At the present time 3 out of the top 6 fish of 2010 to be brought in have come from here. Additionally, last year’s winning fish came from here and our overall shop record striper was also caught in this stretch of water. Must mean something - for whatever its worth.    The new standings are immediately below.                      Tom G 

 .

#

SIZEANGLER
144DelMonte, Fred
243.25Holmes, Brad
342.25Coby, Steve
441.5Longo, Vince
541.25Forgea, Greg
640.50Schram, Paul

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Tuesday May 4, 2010

.

Although it seems as if we’re probably having the best striped bass run of the past 7 or 8 years there is a point of particular concern to us at present. This regards the river’s water temperature, which we took at 6 a.m. this morning and found to be at just about the 60 degree mark.

 .

Now, that might seem just about right, a comfortable range for most anglers… and that’s just the problem. Right now we are but a scant couple of degrees below the temperature that stripers seem to find most comfortable for procreation – the spawn. Everything seems to be happening about 2 weeks early this year. Generally speaking we want the spawn delayed as long as possible in order to have the fish remain here. We do not ever want it to take place early since once they spawn there is no longer any reason for them to hang around. They start to wend their way back toward the Atlantic.

Although we do sometimes witness occasions of a mass spawn taking place where the stripers beat the surface of the river to a froth in a location perhaps acres across, this is still just a small percentage of all the fish around. There are plenty of others whose eggs are still “green”, needing additional time to develop.

Also, there may and probably will be late arrivals to our area – the fish don’t all arrive at the same time. These late comers will still require time for their eggs to mature so they will be hanging around until their freshwater chores are completed. Some years will see sporadic late spawns continue right into the beginning of June. The point here is that even after the main spawn has taken place there will be stripers around to be caught for several weeks afterward, but… there will be fewer of them each day.

 .

Striped bass spawn in the main Hudson River – I’ve never seen or heard of a spawn taking place in the tributary creeks. Usually the spawns take place just off the main channel itself, in sections of slightly reduced water flow, but on a few occasions I have witnessed groups of only 3 or 4 fish spawning in the main channel.

 .

When a mass of these fish gather for the spawn they churn up acres of surface water in their excitement. Since they are just about oblivious to everything else going on it is extremely important for any boater witnessing such an event to NOT cruise into that melee - doing so will just chop up those surfacing fish. Occasionally, when such a spawn happens on a weekend, the carnage caused by uninformed boaters will be seen drifting down with the tide – multitudes of propeller chopped stripers.

 .

Although the spawning stripers will not hit your bait or lures, the same area is still hot for fishing. Underneath those surface thrashing fish are numerous others not so engaged and they WILL hit your offerings. You can try to just drift fish through the activity area.

 .

A sign of immediate pre-spawn is seeing 2 or 3 smaller stripers follow a larger hooked one to the boat. Sometimes the act of netting the hooked fish may also result in the inadvertent netting of one or two of such following stripers. If you should witness such a happening, or see any ongoing surface spawn, please let us know where and when it occurred. You can drop us an E-mail at TOMGRIVER at YAHOO dot COM or if you have a cell phone, and it’s during the day, you could even give us a call at 943-2111.

.

TODAYS COMMENTS

.

Last Friday’s fishing reports from Coeymans to Troy were of really good fishing. So what happened last Saturday and Sunday when the fishing died off? The only thing we can think of was that the Federal Lock at Troy was opened for the year. That event flushed all kinds of timber and other debris downriver causing great consternation amongst anglers there. Ehh – happens every year.

 .

Just another small point to mention before we close this down for today. Shallow water action has been paying great dividends for many of our striper anglers. It might be worth your while, if deep water fishing isn’t paying off, to try the 6 to 8 foot levels with either chunk, live herring or trolling shallow running plugs.

.

We had two contest standing changes today. The first one was Captain Bob Lewis moving into a tie for sixth place with a 40 inch striper. However Bob’s place on the leader board only lasted a scant 3 hours. That’s when Steve Coby, our contest winner from back in 1999 and 2002, showed up with his 42 ¼ inch entry and took over second place, pushing Lewis and Sottosanti out of the standings. Pictures tomorrow.

 .

The following are the contest standings as of Wednesday, 5 pm, May 05, 2010,     Tom G

.

#

SIZEANGLER
 143.25Holmes, Brad
 242.25Coby, Steve
 341.5Longo, Vince
 441.25Forgea, Greg
 540.50Schram, Paul
 640.25Fahrenkopf, Dustin
   

              

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT, Saturday, May 01, 2010

.

If one were to look at the standings for the River Basin Sport Shop’s striped bass contest there’d be no question that larger fish are now moving into our mid-Hudson Valley area. To get onto our leader board at the present time your striper would have to measure a minimum of 40 inches long… and we’ve got the distinct feeling that within the next few days you’ll have to do quite a bit better than that.

.

The latest standing shake up was led off by Dustin Fahrenkopf of Cairo N.Y. Dustin decided to spend an all-nighter on the shore of the Hudson  just to the north of Catskill and at around 3 a.m. this morning it paid off for him - he hooked and landed a 40 ¼ inch linesider using chunk herring for bait. And we know that he hooked it right around 3 a.m. since a boater nearby heard the hooting and hollering at just that time and related that to us at the shop. Additionally, Dustin reported losing yet another fish which he felt was bigger than what he showed us at the River Basin.

 .

The second beauty of the day was brought in by Vince Longo, the brother of last year’s contest winner Pete Longo. Vinnie and Pete, fishing the river to the south of Saugerties, had boated several fish during the course of the morning when their largest striper of the day decided to commit suicide by hitting Vinnie’s rig. The fish covered the gradients on our official contest measuring board to the 41 ½ inche mark and secured the happy fisherman a second place standing.

.

The action up and down the river has been pretty good, at least from the reports we’ve been receiving. But as of the past few days the section from Coeymans north to Albany, in particular, has been seeing good action. However, the larger fish presently seem to be located between the Hogs Back at Ulster Landing and the Rip VanWinkle Bridge at Catskill. Herring are spotty around Catskill but seem to be abundant in the water around Albany.

 .

The following are the contest standings through Saturday, May 01, 2010,     Tom G

.

#

SIZEANGLER
 143.25Holmes, Brad
 241.5Longo, Vince
 341.25Forgea, Greg
 440.50Schram, Paul
 540.25Fahrenkopf, Dustin
 640Sottosani, Gary
   

              

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT – Friday, April 30, 2010

.

Even though fishing today was reported to be spotty we saw several nice fish come in, including a new second place standing in our contest. The up-to-date standings are below and the new pictures are to be found on the “PICTURES” page.      Tom G

.

1

43.25Holmes, Brad
241.25Forgea, Greg
340.50Schram, Paul
440Sottosani, Gary
539.75Shutter, Tim
 39.75Bishop, Brian
 39.75McGilvray, Taylor

 .

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER REPORT – Thursday, April 29, 2010

.

It seems that the fishing action has slowed down a little bit from what it had been last week but that still has not deterred the more determined, hardier fishermen from having a go of it. One such angler was Brian Bishop.

Brian was one of the first entries in our striper contest this past week and had been sitting in as high as third place with his 38 ¾ incher. Of course things can change very quickly in this contest and so, yesterday, Brian got knocked off the top-six leader board when Brad Holmes measured in his contest leading 43 ¼ incher.

Nevertheless, Brian didn’t give up. Last night he hit the river again and this morning he measured in a 39 ¾ inch fish and was again boosted up in the standings – all the way into a tie for third place with Tim Shutter. But it was only a temporary rise as you will see.

Another angler, one who braved today’s wind storm and was rewarded, was Rensselaer’s Greg Forgea. Greg was on the river at Albany when his reel started singing its glorious “it’s a bite” song. It wasn’t too long afterward when he landed a 41 ¼ incher and catapulted himself into second place in our standings, knocking Brian back into a tie for fourth. Greg’s bait of choice was a piece of chunk herring.

So, here’s the way the standings shape up as of the end of today:

#

SIZEANGLER
143.25Holmes, Brad
241.25Forgea, Greg
340Sottosani, Gary
439.75Shutter, Tim
 39.75Bishop, Brian
639.5Conn, Mike
 39.5Barnum, Joe

Looks like a great weekend coming up – be sure to take advantage of it.   Tom G

 .

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 .

Hudson River NEW STRIPER LEADER REPORT – Wednesday, April 28, 2010

.

Last night was miserable. The air was cold and the wind was biting. With a scenario such as that it was just a too perfect a night not to sit on the river bank and fish. At least that’s what Brad Holmes thought as he clambered over the rocks and flung his herring into the Hudson’s waters just a wee bit south of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge at Catskill.

.

Not only was Brad rewarded with the glorious sights and scenes of the Hudson River at night but he received yet another bonus for his outing and efforts – the new lead in the River Basin Sports striped bass contest. The 43 ¼ inch  striped bass which Brad landed places him more than three inches ahead of the next largest fish, a 40 incher caught by Gary Sottosanti just 4 days previous.

This catch by Brad signifies more than just his taking the contest lead, it’s a sign that the larger stripers are finally arriving here in the mid-Hudson Valley region. Several other fish around the 39 inch size were also reportedly caught last night. We anticipate measuring in more such large fish during the next two to three week period as the 2010 striper run proceeds to it’s culmination in mid May.

As a smaller side note we should mention that some herring had already started “beating the banks” about 5 to 6 days ago when the river’s water temperature was at about the 56 degree level. Not only was this spawning behavior apparent with the herring but we also had a reliable source report witnessing some real early pre-spawn activity down in the Newburgh area at about the same time.

Fortunately, although some of you might disagree with this, the colder miserable weather that has just arrived is beneficial since it will keep the waters cooler and help prolong the time until the striper spawn when everything starts to wind down.

.

The following is the new list of Striped Bass Contest leaders. We have lost Brian Bishop and Eric Miller who had been tied for sixth place with 38 ¾ inch fish.          Tom G

.

            1)         43 ¼”  Bradley Holmes

2)         40”      Gary Sottosanti

            3)         39 ¾”  Tim Shutter

            4) tie    39 ½”  Mike Conn

                        39 ½” Joe Barnum

6)         39 ¼”  Brett Williams

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Hudson River STRIPER REPORT – Tuesday, April 27, 2010

.

With the Hudson’s water temperature running at approximately the 56 degree mark it seems that the fishing from Malden to the north has really outdone itself so far this year. Some anglers have even reported catches of half a dozen or more fish during the course of an outing. And these aren’t all the smaller sub-thirty inch stripers either… most of them range between 30 to 39 inches and weigh 22 to 28 pounds. Saturday was exceptionally productive.

.

Locations from which we’ve been receiving better reports right through this past weekend have been Germantown, Linlithgo, Stockport, 4 Mile Point, Coxsackie Cliffs, Selkirk, Bethlehem and Albany. The upper area of the river, from Bethlehem north, seems to have received a fresh influx of stripers but most of these are under the 36 inch mark. We still have yet to see any of the real big cow stripers move in anywhere along the river but that should start to happen this coming week.

.

It’s somewhat surprising to hear that some members of our usually astute angling fraternity are not yet aware that no matter which fish you might say you are pursuing in the Hudson a license of some type is required. If you are after, say herring or stripers for instance, then you need the marine species license, and if you’re pursuing any regular non-saltwater species then you need the general N.Y. State fishing license. Remember that the man in the “green uniform” will be out there checking. 

.

Herring have become somewhat spotty but the usual better locations in streams and the main river still produce for the scappers and the jiggers. Shad appear to be overly abundant this year and the fellows using the herring Sabiki rigs are reporting lots of surprise action on them.

.

LATEST CONTEST STANDINGS

.

These are the official standings for our striper contest which are accurate through the end of the day Monday, April 26.

.

1)         40”      Gary Sottosanti

            2)         39 ¾”  Tim Shutter

            3) tie    39 ½”  Mike Conn

                        39 ½” Joe Barnum

5)         39 ¼”  Brett Williams

            6) tie    38 ¾”  Brian Bishop

                        38 ¾”  Eric Miller

.

A BIT OF LORE, AND A SORT OF DEAL…

.

Back about 20 years ago the prime place to catch your striper bait (herring) was in the tributary creeks to the Hudson. Here in Catskill the prime water was the Catskill Creek. And the primary method of doing this was by using smaller shad darts, either singly or tied tandem, that were cast out and then either reeled in or jigged vertically under a boat. In the beginning these worked just fine but as the popularity of striper fishing grew the creeks became rather crowded with boats, all trying for their day’s allotment of fishing bait. The resulting drop in the success rate for these bait fishermen was rather dramatic, since the bait now had to be shared between far more anglers.

.

At the River Basin there was a lure, a “Wally Whale” rig, that had been sitting on our shelves for two or three years… and not a single one had ever been sold. But it always seemed to us that it had the potential to catch herring and alewives during their spring run.

.

The time then was mid-May, the weather had already turned warm and it seemed that most of the herring had completely deserted our local waterway – anglers were reporting efforts of 2-3 hours just to catch 2 or 3 herring. One such day as one of the more adept local anglers was about to leave the shop for his daily fix of striper fishing, we offered him a few of these dust covered lures to try. He took them figuring he had nothing to lose, and we certainly felt the same way since they were just sitting there.

.

Our angler friend went down on the creek and headed up to the High School Dock area, which was considered to be the most likely location to catch bait in the creek. He tossed his darts for about an hour and had the same luck as the other half dozen boats fishing there – zip! He moved down the creek further, trying the Hop-O-Nose Hole and then any other place he could think of, all to no avail. Disgusted, he was ready to call it a day when he spied the lures we had given him to try. “What the heck” he figured, and tied one on.

.

He took a couple of casts with no luck and then, after retrieving his third cast, rather than pulling in his line he just left it dangling in the water 5-6 feet under the boat. All of a sudden, much to his surprise… the tip of his rod started bouncing up and down. He yanked on the rod, felt some resistance, then pulled in not one but TWO of the precious herring. HOLY SMOKE!

.

In the next 15 minutes this magic lure let him load up his herring-well with over 2 dozen of the gorgeous bait, much to the consternation of the dumbfounded fishermen in several other boats looking on. Since our angler was the only one there catching bait, and very ably so, he was suddenly surrounded by curious fishermen straining to see what his magic lure was.

.

Well, actually the lure was only magic to us freshwater anglers - saltwater fishermen had been using similar creations for a long time. It was a “herring/smelt” rig, also called a “Sabiki” – six different bare gold hooks tied onto a central leader, each having a tiny brightly colored (red or green) bead placed just in front of the eye - and it was dynamite.

.

The word quickly spread and our meager supply was completely gone by the end of the next day, but an emergency shipment had already been ordered. When that new supply arrived eager fishermen quickly snatched them up. Fortunately for us (or perhaps unfortunately) the striper run was already at its end, leaving us plenty of time to prepare for the next year.

.

When the next year’s striper run began we were all stocked up with the magic “herring rigs” and our fishermen were happy. Of course, the smaller shad darts still worked to catch herring but, in most situations, it seemed that nothing was quite as effective as those special rigs. In the years in between we’ve carried lots of other styles (and still do) here at the shop, some of which have garnered their own following as being the “best”. But, overall, it seems that the most effective rig, the one that outsells all others by about 20 to1 here, remains that original one from 15 years ago.

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Often anglers come in and pick up these “Wally Whale” rigs a dozen at a pop – just to make sure that they don’t run out during the striper run. Yet others will order a few dozen of them months in advance for just the same reason. This makes sense since they do have a habit of getting stuck on the bottom, and quite often the tiny hooks will actually break when the angler tries to remove them from a fish (or from their shirtsleeve) – anyhow, smart anglers never go out with just one.

 If you happen to be one of these fanatical Wally Whale anglers, or just wish to pick some of these up to distribute amongst your fishing buddies, we’ll make you a special “website only” deal on just these rigs – purchase a dozen at the store and we’ll throw 2 more in for free. That’s right, purchase 12 and receive 14. They aren’t that cheap - $3.75 a pop, so you’re looking at $45.00 (plus tax, of course) as a total… but you do save about $7.50 on the transaction.

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To get this deal you must come to the RIVER BASIN (no mail or phone orders), and even at the shop it will not be posted – you must ASK to receive it. If you’re serious about your striper fishing you should have at least a couple of these Wally Whale rigs on your boat even if you don’t want to swing for the 12/14 deal. This deal will be good through May 22, 2010.

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WHAT? ANOTHER DEAL?

.

We are now listing another deal for our striper fishermen, this one a rod and reel combination. It’s perfect if you need either a backup outfit or you just want your first baitrunner rig. Here we’re pairing up our most popular striper pole, the 7 foot Pinnacle Coastal Power spinning rod (40 pound rating) and a Tica Baitrunner 4507 reel.

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This reel was produced as a limited run of only 1,500 by Tica and was specifically made for striped bass fishing. They call it their hit and run “Striper collector series.” It has 7 ball bearings, a 5.2 to 1 gear ratio and is rated to hold 180 yards of 20 pound test line. Also included here is a reel bag, extra spool and a small, nifty, special collector series pocket knife.

.

Purchased separately at the store this rod and reel would cost you $149 but our special price is $99.99. Keep in mind that we’ve only got a handful of these to offer and that we’re also advertising them at the shop so don’t expect them to last too long.   Tom G

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER LEADER REPORT – Monday, April 26, 2010

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First off we’d like to apologize to those of you who have noticed things amiss with our web site during the past couple of days. The company hosting our web page decided to change its entire setup and we’re trying very hard to make the proper adjustments here. It could take a few more days.

.

Still, below we are posting the official standings for our striper contest which are accurate through the end of the day Monday, April 26.

.

1)         40”      Gary Sottosanti

            2)         39 ¾”  Tim Shutter

            3)tie     39 ½”  Mike Conn

                        39 ½” Joe Barnum

5)         39 ¼”  Brett Williams

            6)tie     38 ¾”  Brian Bishop

                        38 ¾”  Eric Miller

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Late Contest Standings Change Sunday, April 25, 2010

Below are the official contest standings as of 1:30 p.m. Sunday April 25, 2010

            1)         40”      Gary Sottosanti

            2)         39 ¾”  Tim Shutter

            3)         39 ½”  Mike Conn

            4)         39 ¼”  Brett Williams

            5)         38 ¾”  Brian Bishop

            6)         38.75”  Eric Miller

 

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER LEADER REPORT – Sunday, April 24, 2010

 .

Saturday was quite a productive day on the river and lots of fish were reported caught. The day saw all six of the payback slots in our 2010 striped bass contest filled, albeit with not a single one of those fish measuring over 40 inches. After several position changes the following standings are what we are left with – plenty of room for improvement.

 .

            1)         40”      Gary Sottosanti

            2)         39 ¾”  Tim Shutter

            3)         39 ½”  Mike Conn

            4)         39 ¼”  Brett Williams

            5)         38 ¾”  Brian Bishop

            6)         38 ½”  John Munno

 .Since all six contest slots are now filled there is no longer any need to bring in fish smaller than 38 ½ inches for ranking. We’re still waiting for the first real biggie to show up this year, something around the 46 inch mark. Maybe yours?          Tom G 

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Hudson River NEW STRIPER LEADER REPORT – Saturday, April 24, 2010

 .

Although the past week’s striper reports were largely on the cheerful and positive side there also were a few disappointed anglers in the mix. Still, there is no denying that this is probably the best striper run we’ve seen in the past 3 or 4 years.

As of this weekend the largest fish were running at just below the 40 inch mark… and there were plenty of them reported in that slot range from 37 to 39 inches. Reports from Kingston and the Saugerties area were a bit too scanty to draw any conclusions but the Germantown to Catskill area was very productive, even for trollers.

 .

From Catskill all the way past Stockport / 4 mile Point to the Coxsackie Cliffs the fishing was good to excellent and the reports from the Coeymans Brickyard to the Thruway Bridge were also of good action. From there thru Bethlehem and past Albany the fishing is also very good but a lot of reports are of the herring being somewhat scarcer up there now.

Anyway you look at it the present fishing is great. Do it, and don’t forget to wear your life jackets – it’s the law until the start of May.

 .

Our present contest standings are:

1)                  39 ¾    Tim Shutter     

2)         39 ¼    Brett Williams

3)         38 ¾    Brian Bishop

4)         38 ½    John Munn

 .
We’re waiting to see our first 40+ inch of this year’s run.         Tom G        
 .
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Hudson River NEW STRIPER LEADER REPORT – Tuesday, April 20, 2010

 

We now have a new leader in our striped bass contest. This 39 ¼ inch striper was caught by Brett Williams of Hudson and gives him his chance to be on the leader board this year. Brett was using a live herring in the Stuyvesant area when he caught this good looking fish.

 

The reports from up and down the river continue to be good. There seems to be quite few of these early stripers around so far, mostly now in the 24 to 38 inch range and in territory all the way up top Troy. Although some anglers report the herring to be somewhat spotty the general impression we get is that there is presently quite a goodly number around, and that number will be ever increasing from this point on. We should remember that in a usual year right NOW is when the striper runs really start… not two weeks ago as occurred this year. This leads to some wild speculation as to what might happen in the next week or two when the really big fish traditionally arrive. This could really get wild.

 

This morning, as has been the case so far this week, there was a good early morning bite on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge run at Catskill. We are aware of several anglers who boated 2, 3, or even 4 fish in that magical two hour period at the start of daylight. Make no mistake, that has always been the prime time to be on the water.      

 

So our present contest standings are:

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1)         39 ¼”  Brett Williams

1)         38 ½”  John Munno

.

Go get ‘em.      Tom G

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Hudson River STRIPER REPORT – Monday, April 19, 2010

Well, it didn’t take too long to get our striped bass contest off to a good start. Early this morning at the crack of dawn John Munno, our past 2006 contest winner, hit the waters of the Hudson River in the vicinity of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and discovered that yes, indeed, the stripers are here. Using herring as bait over a rock-gravel bottom in about 20 feet of water he landed a 34 incher, lost a couple of others that were hooked and then boated the first contest entry of 2010 – a 38 ½ inch beauty.

Now, John knows, just as well as we here at the River Basin Sports shop do, that there is no way this fish has a prayer of finishing in the money but it was his first striper outing of 2010 and - the first contest entry of the year is always a premiere accomplishment here. Since it was the first fish to be entered we also threw it on the shop scale and saw it tip the needle at 21 lbs 13 ounces.

Fishing action in the Catskill – Stockport area of the river continues to be fair to good. Slightly further south, around Germantown, decent action is also reported. We received a report from the Castleton T-way bridge area of good action there over the weekend with fish up into the low 30 inch mark. And even up in the Albany-Troy area there is decent action with a few stripers reported to be running up to around the 3 foot size although one report from there is that the herring have become a little bit spotty.

Our Striped Bass Contest  sign-ups concluded with a RECORD number of registrants – 604. As our participants are probably aware - we are paying back 100% of the entry monies as prizes 1 through 6 to the entrants bringing in the top six fish (length). That means that at least $9,060 will go to the winners. Further, the chances are good that there will be an even greater payback than that since we have received assurances of additional support from another source. But in these times of economic turmoil when things can change overnight we do not want to promise anything specific at present – you know the old saying… “A fish in the net is worth two swimming in the river.”

Anyhow, just on the basis of the registration fees taken in, the payback for 2010 is as follows:

.

1)      $4,530.00

2)      $1,540.00

3)      $1,177.00

4)      $ 815.00

5)      $ 543.00

6)      $ 453.00

If we do receive the anticipated extra support then the first place payback would exceed $6,000, second would be over $2,000, and so on down the line.

Here’s a little bit of good news for those of you who had been looking for that one Sabiki rig that was our top seller for the past 15 years but was not to be found in 2010. This little jigging rig is considered to be the top one by many of the herring jiggers… it’s the renowned “WALLY WHALE” and we just received a brand new shipment from China (no doubt, it was on a the proverbial “slow boat from China”.)           Tom G

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Striped Bass Contest Note - Monday, April 19, 2010

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Just a quick note - we have a leader in our 23rd Annual Striped Bass Contest: a 38 1/2 incher. We'll post more details a little later.

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Hudson River Report - Saturday, April 17, 2010

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Tomorrow is the final day to register for our 23rd Annual Striped Bass Contest. The event, which starts on Monday, pays back for the top 6 longest fish with a guaranteed minimum payment of $3,000.00 for the largest. The event runs through the end of May. Last year we paid out more than $11,000 in prize money and first place earned $5,730. As of this minute the total number of entrants in our 100% pay-back event is 523. It appears a certainty that we will exceed last year's 564 participants.

 .

This morning the river at Catskill was running at 53 degrees and was classified as stained. The first striped bass of the year was brought into the shop this afternoon by Ed Perez of Athens. It was a 37 1/2 incher caught on a herring at 4 Mile Point to the north of Athens. The picture of Ed can be found at the bottom of this page. Striper action so far has been fair all the way up and down the river. The 3 foot long and longer fish appear to have started to show up during the past two days and we are expecting the real big cow fish to start arriving next week. Good Luck.    Tom G 

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Hudson River Update – Wednesday, April 14, 2010

  .

When we took the river’s water temperature this morning and found it to be at the 53 degree mark we were somewhat pleased – it had dropped about 2 degrees from what it had been several days ago. This is still warmer than what we usually expect at this time of year by about 4 or 5 degrees, so we are actually running about 10 days or more ahead of normal.

We always want the water to warm up rapidly in the early spring so as to hasten the arrival of the herring and stripers but, of course, that already happened about a week and a half ago. From that arrival point onward we want the water temperature to rise as slowly as possible. This is to delay the future start of the striper spawn. Since the spawn takes place after the water warms to a few degrees above 60 and THAT’S when the stripers start to leave you can see the rationale for this desire. But… that’s all a month in the future.

 .

The striper reports we have been getting lately cover the river from about Poughkeepsie north to Troy and they have been quite uniform in content. There are stripers scattered all throughout the waterway, but the keyword here is “scattered”.

 .

A couple of locations where there appear to be somewhat larger groupings of them are apparent. One such location is down around the Kingston area and the other is at the Athens 4 Mile Point / Stockport Creek location. Still, as most of our early-run striper fishermen have discovered the action could be a heck of a lot better - the fish are still sparse. Most of the reported catch we’ve heard about has ranged between 22 and 34 inches.

 .

The one fish that seems to have been quite numerous during the past 3 or 4 days has been the shad. Even though there now is a ban on catching and keeping… heck, a ban on even trying to catch a shad, a few have been inadvertently caught by anglers using herring Sabiki rigs. And, judging from what we’ve been hearing so far, it appears that the shad numbers are way up.

 .

Since we are no longer allowed to use shad for bait and presently the herring have become extremely difficult to catch, one other bait to use for stripers is “bloodworms.” This saltwater worm exudes an aroma which really seems to turn the stripers on, even though these squirmy, many legged critters most certainly are not native to our freshwater Hudson. You kind of hook them the same way you would a regular nightcrawler except MUCH loser – you leave all kinds of worm loops dangling off the hook.

 .

The main problem with bloodworms is that they do have a set of pinchers in their front end which, on a real large worm, are capable of giving you a good shot of pain. Another problem is that all the other fish out there like to eat them too… and they ain’t cheap. We just received our first shipment of them for this year and have them available – a dozen for $11.00 plus tax.

The cooler weather we have been getting the past 4 days or so has somewhat further slowed the action for both herring and stripers. I mean, it was slow to start with but now is even slower. This will improve soon

.

We’re gonna cut this report short right now. Presently striper contest entries are up around the 425 entrant mark; registration deadline is this Sunday and the contest starts on Monday the 19th. Don’t hesitate to send your striper reports to us at “tomgriver at yahoo dot com.”   Tom G

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Hudson River Update – Sunday, April 11, 2010

Following the initial bulge of herring that almost literally blew upriver this past week the first stripers of the 2010 run also made a better showing than we had anticipated. Rather than the one or two scattered early-April fish that we are accustomed to hearing about - this year we have been received numerous reports of catches being made all the way from Newburgh to Troy.

The early run of herring appears to be far larger than we have seen in the past few years but the colder weather of the past 2 days seems to have temporarily slowed the herring fishing down.

Although the stripers ARE around you should try to restrain your enthusiasm a bit during this early part of the run. There just are NOT THAT MANY of them… yet.  Look upon the stripers as sand in an hourglass – as time passes more and more of these fish will gather here in our area. Their number grows and so does your chance of catching them.

Most of the stripers being caught so far have ranged in size between 24 and 34 inches. Yesterday Greg down in the Esopus Meadows section of the river reports having boated several between 28 and 30 inches while 25 miles further upriver in the 4 Mile Point / Stockport Creek area Zach landed a 34 and several others in the 25 to 33 inch range were taken. The previous day even the boys further upriver at New Baltimore brought some 24 to 30 inchers to shore. Success was also reported from the Bethlehem and Troy locations. The fish were being caught on both chunk and live herring.

So far we have not heard of any stripers over the 3 foot size being taken but we are anticipating their arrival in the next week or two.

Entries in our 2010 STRIPED BASS CONTEST passed the 325 contestant mark yesterday. You have until the 18th to register for this 100% payback event – just 1 week left! It pays back cash prizes to the top 6 finishers and guarantees a minimum payment of $3,000 for the top fish.     Tom G

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Hudson River Update – Thursday, April 08, 2010

 .

As if right on cue, the stripers have now shown up in the Catskill – Stockport section of the river. Herring fishermen have reported some small stripers showing up in their herring nets and we are aware of a couple of fish in the 24 inch range having been taken.

This morning’s water temperature in the river outside of Catskill Creek was around the 53 -54 degree mark – very warm for this early in April.

 .

If this year’s run follows previous patterns we should see a period of one to two weeks from the time of the stripers’ first arrival until the larger fish start to show up. By larger I’m referring to 3 foot or longer specimens. However, considering the earliness and the strength of the first surge of herring to arrive the delay until the arrival of the bigger stripers might be considerably less.

 .

Days until the start of the River Basin Sports Shop’s 23rd annual striped bass contest – 11.    Tom G

 

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Hudson River Update – Tuesday P.M., April 7, 2010

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Herring are reported to be thick in the Postenkill as of yesterday, in the Albany area.   Tom G
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 .

Hudson River Report – Tuesday, April 7, 2010

.

Things are really starting to shape up as far as river conditions around the Catskill area go. This morning the river temperature in the vicinity of the Catskill Creek mouth was running around 51 – 52 degrees and the water see-thru visibility had improved to about 1 foot. Even though this now is definitely fishable water one must still be extremely careful of the plentiful floating debris in the waterway.

.

As we already reported, the herring are now in the river – and more than likely in the Albany area by this time. On Monday the reports from Stockport were of huge schools of herring having entered that creek and we’ve already had reports of them having arrived in the New Baltimore area.

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And yes, we do have the first herring of the year NOW available for sale at the River Basin Sports Shop. Since the present rules prevent us from selling to you in a live form (motor vehicle transport would be illegal) we have them available in bags of three fresh (not alive) salted which can be legally transported.

.

Although some anglers use these dead herring whole they are most commonly cut into 3 pieces and used as “chunk” bait. It’s important to remember that the fresh smell of these chunks will wash out fairly quickly while fishing so the chunk should be replaced about every 10-15 minutes. For best success you should try to keep the fresh herring smell in the water at all times.

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Don’t forget to sign up for our striped bass contest before the end of registration on April 18th. As of the start of business this morning we already had 242 entries in this 100% payback event… and as we have been writing this update more have been coming in. We are guaranteeing a minimum first place payback of $3,000.00 in this event. The contest itself starts on April 19th.

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For those of you looking to get your gill net license for catching herring: the most immediate thing for you to do is to obtain the net application form. The folks down on Long Island who handle this task are very helpful and are quick to respond to requests, so call them ASAP and ask one to be sent to you. If you don’t already have a net you can get it later, but you have to get that registration form in soon. The phone number for getting the form is (631) 444-0470; ask for the Hudson River herring gill net application. The “scap nets” we sell at the River Basin or the “cast nets” (under 36 square feet in area) do not require you to have any separate license as long as you are using them to gather herring just for your own use.

.

As always we welcome your striper related fishing reports from both up and down the river and we try to get this information back out to you in a timely manner. This helps all of us to better enjoy what’s become a premiere event here in the Hudson River valley – the annual striped bass run. Although we welcome your reports you shouldn’t expect much of a reply from us since, at times, we wind up with dozens of reports. Time just won’t allow this. The E-mail address to send your reports is TOMGRIVER at YAHOO dot COM.

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So - now the herring are here and we know that the stripers will be close behind. Now we know that the winter is finally over!     Tom G 

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Hudson River Report – Monday, April 05, 2010

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It’s starting to happen. Yesterday I got a call from Wally Chudkoski downriver in the Wappingers area. He reported that the river temperature down there was running in the 43 – 44 degree range and that the Wappingers Creek was in the low 50’s… and that herring were there along with some smaller stripers.

.

This morning in Catskill the amount of floating debris in the creek and river had visibly diminished and the muddiness was definitely less than what we saw at the end of last week. The Catskill Creek was measuring a temperature in the low 50’s and its smaller feeder streams, such as the Vosenkill, were now feeding in clear water. And… the first herring of the 2010 run were HERE!

.

OK, boys and girls – it’s almost SHOW TIME.  Stop procrastinating and get your gear ready. The stripers will be here very soon… if they’re not here already.   Tom G

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Hudson River Report – Friday, April 02, 2010

 .

At just about sunrise this morning, standing at the launch facility at Catskill and looking out over the Hudson River, one was confronted with a scene that was probably the inspiration for the Hudson River School of art. Just fantastic! No wonder that famous artists such as Catskill’s Thomas Cole and his across-river student Frederick Church took up residence here.

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But then, looking down into the water itself kind of woke me up to the reality of the situation – it was mud. I could actually see the swirls of mud in the passing water flow... that’s about as bad as it gets. Most certainly this was not a good sign for all of us who have been anticipating an early arrival of this year’s herring and stripers.

.

Since even under the best of times it takes the main river at Catskill about two weeks to clear up it seems that, wishfully thinking, the striper run will probably occur at just about its NORMAL time this year. So now we’re thinking that, other than perhaps for a few “scout” fish arriving earlier, sometime in the third or fourth week we’ll see the first stripers from the main spring run caught here at our location. The herring will be here somewhat earlier, no doubt, but won’t really be sighted until the water clarity improves.

 .

Still in all, on the bright side of things, the river’s temperature this morning was 43 degrees. At this temperature we’ve definitely seen stripers arriving in years past even though the calendar may indicate that it’s still somewhat early. Presently we have no new reports of any action proceeding up or down the river.

 .

Also on the bright side is the fact that the launch ramp floats at Catskill’s Dutchman’s Landing Park were installed yesterday. Even though only about half of the full length of the docks are in you can now launch and retrieve your fishing boat without getting your feet wet. Still, be careful at low tides if your craft has a deeper draft and requires more water to float.

.

REMINDER

Licenses are required if you are going to fish in the Hudson River. If you are fishing ONLY for “salt water species” of fish (striped bass, herring, etc.) you must have the Marine Species License. The annual cost is $10 for N.Y. residents and $15 for non-residents. A regular N.Y. fishing license is not required.

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If you are going to fish ONLY for fresh water species (catfish, black bass, yellow perch, etc.) you must now (starting this year) have a N.Y. fishing license. The annual cost for residents is $29; non-residents $70. A Marine Species license is not required.

.

That’s right, now a license of one type or another is required to fish the Hudson. We’ve been expecting this requirement to be set in place for the past 3 decades and now, finally, it’s here. Both of these licenses can be purchased at the River Basin, but keep in mind that license purchases are cash only. Yeah, I know…  I love New York!

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TACKLE

Your response to our web special baitrunner combo was fantastic these past couple of weeks, but that deal has now concluded. We’ll try to get some similar stock in for that outfit and if we succeed perhaps can offer it again in a few weeks.  In the meantime, we do have another 8 – 10 different striper baitrunner combos already set up at the shop to choose from. Stop in and take a look or perhaps take advantage of the following offer.

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For any of you that want to pick up another baitrunner outfit for this year, here's the deal. Pair up any striped bass size baitrunner reel in the shop with any striped bass rod and we’ll knock off an additional 10% on the price. This is not on any of the combos we already have on display at the shop since these are already discounted. Again, this is just on striper combos that you make up and is a web special – you must tell us you saw it on the web or else you won’t get it.

.

Additionally, when coming to the shop do yourself a favor and bring in the spools from your striper reels to have us fill them for you. For striper fishing with either chunk or live herring we recommend a minimum of 20 pound test mono line but 25 or 30 pound can also be used if such is your preference. The charge is $8.00 for up to 200 yards (per spool). Any additional yardage needed to fill the spool is 3 cents a yard. Level-wind (bait casting) reels require an additional $1.00 set-up charge. Just leave your old line on the spools – we’ll strip it off and dispose of it for you. This is really the only way to go.

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SPRINGTIME HOURS

Starting this weekend the River Basin will be operating on its spring striper-run schedule. We will be open 7 days a week – Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the entire rest of the week from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This schedule will be in effect right through to the end of our striped bass contest on May 31 when we will change back to our normal hours and be closed on Sundays and Mondays.

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STRIPED BASS CONTEST

As of this morning the number of our 23rd annual striped bass contest entries was just shy of the 200 entrant mark. We are expecting that number to more than double by the time the registration period ends on April 18th. To participate in our contest you must have your $15 registration fee paid by that time – the contest starts the very next day, April 19th.       Tom G

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Hudson River Report – Thursday, March 25, 2010

.

This has been sort of quiet week as far as any striped bass reports go.  Judging by the calendar though we’re presently at a point just about a week earlier than a few of the dates we’ve seen the first herring show up in the past. When we checked our records we find four instances during the past 30 years when they’ve been in the Catskill Creek prior to the start of April. Those dates were:

 1987 - March 30

 1998 - March 30

 2002 - March 29

 2006 - March 31.

 It seems that the past decade or so has been seeing early arrivals of herring far more often than prior to that. And now… the time IS getting short.

.

Two weeks ago things were looking really great. The season appeared to be running about two weeks earlier than the norm… and then came a horrendous snowstorm that dumped over 6 feet of snow onto some locations in our watershed. Fortunately the east side of the river was spared the brunt of the snow but the Catskills got clobbered – even now there are, literally, “feet” of snow at some locations up there. And, the melting of that white stuff will definitely keep our water temperature lower than what we’d hope for during the next few weeks.

.

Still, there are a couple of bright spots. One of these was that last week there was a definite preliminary pick up in the striper action. The stripers in the Peekskill area seemed to turn on. Granted, these were mostly smaller fish purportedly 10 pounders or less, but they WERE active.

 .

Now don’t get too excited - keep in mind that there are actually at least two separate populations of stripers using the river and these active fish might have just been what are considered to be the “resident” group. They actually over-winter down in that lower saltier-water area of the Hudson. The fish we wait for here are actually the “sea-run” group.

.

The other bright spot was during that real warm spell last week when the air temperatures hit the low 70’s. It was then that a few of the more meandering feeder creeks were actually dumping 48-49 degree water into the river and the main river in those sections  was giving us temperature readings of 43 to 44 degrees. Man… that’s just about fishing time… but now the present cold snap has kind of put that on delay and today’s report was of those same creeks cooling back to 43 degrees..

.

The main questions for all of us striper fans along the upper tidal Hudson is when will the waters warm sufficiently again and how much of a delay in the stripers arrival will the muddy melt waters cause. But any way you look at it - you’d better start getting your gear ready.

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Speaking of gear, lots of you have been taking advantage of our web special $99.99 striped bass combo (see our previous week’s report). We still have enough of this Okuma 65 / Pinnacle 40 lb. baitrunner outfit available so as to continue to offer it until April 1. After that it reverts back to its regular combo price of $116.99 - which is already 10% below the normal single item price. Remember that you have to ask for the “special” web price in order to get it. It’s not displayed in the store or advertised anywhere else.

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Entries for our striped bass contest surpassed the 100 mark at the beginning of this past week and everything seems to be going well. Remember that your $15 entry fee must be paid by April 18th and that the contest starts the following day, the 19th. Who knows just what the final payoff will be this year since everything is dependent on the total number of entries. We pay back 100% of all monies taken in to the top 6 finishers and we do guarantee a minimum payback of $3,000.00 to the winning fish. Full details and rules are listed on the entry form which is available at the shop.

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Presently the River Basin’s business hours are Tuesday thru Saturday from 9:30 to 5, but after April 1st we will be open 7 days a week – 8:30 to 5 except on Sundays when we’ll be here from 9 to 1 p.m. This will be in effect thru May 30th.       Tom G

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Hudson River Report – Wednesday P.M., March 17, 2010

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Last week there were reports of a seal being spotted in the Hudson about 20 miles south of Catskill. We hear such reports from time to time – as of a matter of fact just last year there was a similar sighting. As interesting as such observations are there probably is an even greater significance that is less apparent to the casual observer.

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It’s quite likely that seal last week was following one of the first schools of herring to come upriver this year. Just following its food supply, and here in the river that would be the same as that for one of our migratory river fish species, the one whose arrival hundreds of anglers eagerly await each year – the striped bass.

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This winter the weather in our Hudson Valley region has been somewhat milder than usual. Here in the Catskill/ Athens area we only had 4 or 5 minor snowfalls and the snow from only one of them lasted longer than a week. It seems that weather wise we’re running 1 to 2 weeks warmer than normal. This seems to be a portent of good things to come for all striper fishermen... at least if the herring and striper runs are soon follow. The sighting of the river seal also seems to bear this out.  

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The River Basin has kept track of the striped bass arrival to the Catskill area for more than 30 years, all the way back to 1979. We track and log in the earliest verifiable dates of their arrival. From observation we see that often the first to arrive apparently are loner fish, sometimes called “scouts.” These may arrive up to 2 weeks earlier than any larger grouping of stripers. Sometimes, if the river conditions are ideal, they will shoot right upriver all the way to Albany. But… if they encounter muddier or colder water on the way up they’ll stop and seem to hold at the last ideal location for a while.

Again, from observation here in the Catskill area we see that there can be a lag time of 2 to 7 days from the time the first herring are reported to when the first grouping of catchable stripers seems to arrive. Usually the herring get here sometime during the first 2 weeks of April usually being followed by stripers toward the middle of the month. Exceptions always exist, such as in 2006 when both, the first stripers and herring, were caught to the north of us, from the Stockport Creek on March 31.

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Water temperature is an important factor in the upriver migration of the fish. Generally we find the fish to start arriving when the river is somewhere between 41 and 45 degrees. This morning I took the river temperature and found it to be 41. With the warm weather predicted for the next few days this will probably warm up a little more yet. Considering the other earlier than normal season indicators mentioned above, it’s possible we might see herring, or stripers, here earlier than we’ve ever logged in before. Sounds good to me, but then again it’s probably just this bout of spring fever that’s affecting me.

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Each year at this time the River Basin puts together different combos, rods and reels, just for striper fishing. The combo prices are generally 10 to 15% lower than if you were to buy the items separately so it’s a good deal. But, also at this time of year we put together a special deal just for those of you who read to this web site. This combo price is not advertised or displayed at the store – you have to ask for it in order to get it.

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This year’s special includes our very best selling striper rod, a Pinnacle Coastal Power, 7 foot, “blue tip” stick rated for up to 40 pound test line. This rod has an interesting history.

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A few years ago the cosmetics (guide wraps, guides, colors, real seat, etc.) on the pole had it appearing very similar to its much costlier cousin, the Shakespeare Ugly Stick. Pinnacle even included the “clear tip” trademark that is found on its competitor and went one step further by extending their factory warrantee - for 2 years longer than the Ugly Stick!

Needless to say the fight was on. The word is that Shakespeare was going to take them to court and that the dispute was settled by having Pinnacle change the rod so it no longer looked like an Ugly Stick. Now the guide wraps on the Pinnacle are a sharp looking teal blue and the clear tip has become clear “blue”. Further, although the strength and durability of the rod have remained as before, it seems that the settlement must have forced them to not match the warrantee of the Ugly Stick. But this made no difference – the rod turns out to still be the same GREAT rod.

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For our combo we’re pairing the above rod with our best selling, striper sized, Okuma baitrunner reel – the Avenger ABF-65. As anybody who has fished a “baitrunner” for stripers in a tidal flow river such as the Hudson will tell you – this type of reel is absolutely necessary equipment. It really shines when you use either chunk or live bait but can still effectively troll or cast lures. This is a perfect back-up reel if you only have one striper outfit but for the majority of anglers it is their primary reel of choice.

The Okuma will handle line weights up to 40 pound test with ease and shows a spool capacity of 320 yards of 20 pound test monofilament. It has 6 ball bearings plus one roller bearing and its 4.5:1 gears are ideal for this type of fishing. Throw an extra free spool into the box and you have a great setup.

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Buying this rod and reel separately would cost you $127.00 at the shop. We do combo it up for $116. For you, on our “web special”, the price is only $99.99 , a price that will only be good until April 1st - or until we run out of either the rod or reel. It’s possible that we might get to offer this deal again later on, but that’s only if we are able to obtain more of them. Remember that you must ask for this special price to get it.

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 .TIDERUNNERS BASS CLUB 

We have a new bass fishing club that’s been formed here in the Catskill area – the TIDERUNNERS BASS CLUB. This new organization has an affiliation with the nationwide “FLW” group and with its new New York State affiliate, the “NYTBF” federation.

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The formation of the Tiderunners was brought about by the dissatisfaction of many members of the local Greene County Bassmasters group with the state BASS Federation. It seems that for just about the past decade ever increasing amounts of dues monies have been funneled up to the national and state level but none of their events have been coming here to our mid-Hudson region. When it was announced that the NYTBF would hold an event here this year on July 11th, most of the present club members decided to join the new group and support of their effort at bringing an event closer to our home base.

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If you have a qualified fishing boat and are interested in joining either of the two groups feel free to stop through the River Basin and ask me any questions you have. I’ll be glad to tell you whatever I can.

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THE SKINNY ON THE NEW RIVER LICENSES  

As most of us are aware new license rules for fishing the Hudson’s waters are in effect this year… but it’s all dependent on where you look to discover which licenses are really required. If you look in the wrong place you might wind up in trouble, and… even if you look in the right place you might still wind up in trouble.

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At the present time if you go onto the DEC website - you will get wrong information. And, if you thoroughly read the Freshwater Fishing regulations guide that’s available where you buy your fishing license, you still might get the wrong information. There’s contradictory data there also.

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Here’s the scoop for the waters of the Hudson north of the Tappan Zee Bridge, all the way up to Troy:

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If you are going to fish for ANY saltwater species, such as striped bass, herring, shad, tommy cod, bluefish, etc. – you MUST have a special $10 (for residents) Marine Species license. If you are fishing these same waters for any freshwater species (catfish, black bass, crappie, white perch, etc.) you MUST now also have a regular NYS fishing license ($29 for residents).

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On the opposite side of the fence, if you are fishing these waters only for the freshwater species you do NOT need to posses the Marine Species license. Further, if you are fishing the waters north from the Tappan Zee Bridge all the way up to the head of tidewater at Troy just for the salt water species, you do NOT need to posses the regular NY fishing license.

This is the way it was explained to me. On the brighter side of things, even though the fishing regulations as printed in the present rules booklet might be incorrect, somehow I’m sure that all the paid advertising filling its pages is entirely as it should be.    Tom G

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Catskill Area Fishing Report – Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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Walleye Season Now Closed

This past Monday saw the closing of the 2010 New York walleye season. It will reopen again on the 1st of May this year - a time when our creek walleyes will have returned to the main Hudson River and won’t be such easy prey for the anglers. The tidewater Catskill Creek, along with several other tributaries on the lower Hudson River, experienced a good run of them this year. Most popular baits were yellow, chartreuse or white Mr. Twister style curly tail grubs fished with 1/8 or ¼ ounce jig heads.

Reports were of some truly magnificent fish being caught, the biggest ones in the 10 to 14 pound range. Fortunately most of these giants were taken by our more experienced anglers and were returned to the water. Hopefully they’ll be caught again a year or two down the line – a time when they’ll weigh in closer to the state record size of 16 pounds 9 ounces. This gives all of us something to shoot for in the next few years.

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Trout

Although a good 3 feet or more of snow is still on the ground on some parts of the Catskill Mountains even that is being quickly beat down by the warm temperatures we are seeing this week. With the start of trout season barely 2 weeks away we can be sure that the streams will have enough water to provide excellent fishing for us. Of course, any kind of prolonged rain spell will bring on small stream flooding and kind of throw a monkey wrench into many an angler's plan. We’ll just wait and see. Our top trout streams for the opener, if the snows will allow access – Batavia Kill, Schoharie and the Basic Creek; our baits of choice – nightcrawlers or Blue Fox spinners in size 0 or 1. Don’t forget to get into our trout contest – entry fee is only $3.00.

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Stripers

We’re preparing some stuff on stripers right now but don’t quite now when we’ll be able to finish and post it – a day or two more perhaps. Check back.       Tom G

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Hudson River Fishing Report – Tuesday, March 09, 2010
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 HERRING MEETING RESCHEDULED
Even though we originally posted the mailing we received from NYS ENCON regarding river herring meetings down below, now it seems that, for whatever reason, the dates have changed. The new date for the Bethlehem meeting is on April 21 and the revised date for New Paltz is April 15th. Thanks to those of you who dropped a line to us at TOMGRIVER @ YAHOO dot COM for letting us know. That Email address can be used to send us striper reports once the run starts, but if you use it for other matters you won’t get much of a reply. We found that it was just impossible to answer all your Emails since we were getting dozens a day so please just use it for fishing reports. Thanks.    Tom G 
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 A NEW YEAR

Boy, didn’t the end of winter come fast here in Catskill - on the 26th of February the ice in the Catskill Creek departed without the seemingly usual spring flooding. This is the 8th earliest date that we here at the River Basin have recorded for the event during the 30 years we’ve been keeping records of such. Of course, included in that figure are the years of 1998 and 2008 when the creek ice never got thick enough to support an ice fisherman. Those were considered to be “no ice” years. The two years which saw the ice hang on the longest were 1994, March 22, and 1993 when it started to appear that it would last till summer but finally melted out on March 28.

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The multi-day snowstorm 2 weeks ago had very little effect here in Catskill Village. We got 2 to 3 inches at a time of the white stuff but it basically melted or was washed away by rain within a day or so. Unfortunately for our locals living at slightly higher altitudes such as the mountaintop or in the Greenville Westerlo area, they got clobbered by 5 to 6 feet of snow during the same period. When our trout season opens on April 1st this year we can expect all the streams to be running quite high since it’s going to take a while for all that snow at those higher altitudes to melt.

 TROUT CONTEST

As is our tradition when trout season rolls around, the River Basin will be holding its annual trout contest. This year it will run from daybreak on April 1st through noon Saturday April 17th. Registration fee for the event is $3. This contest pays back prizes for the 2 longest trout brought back – the top angler gets an ultra light Shakespeare Ugly Stick rod and reel  trout combo while the runner-up receives a small pocket-size Plano 3213 lure/tackle box. This contest is not meant to be a big thing, rather just something a little extra for our trout anglers to shoot for. Registration fee for the event is $3 and the entry forms, which must be submitted BEFORE April 1st, are available at the shop.

 WALLEYES

With just a week to go before the close of the walleye season on March 15th most of the reports of action on the tidewater Catskill Creek have been fair to good. It appears that the boaters are having the best luck but some shore-bound anglers have also caught their share. Most productive sections are up at the very head of tidewater in the old Rushmore area and again on the very lowest part of the creek from the Hop-O-Nose Point down to the junction with the Hudson River. Rumor is of one fish weighing over 14 lbs. being caught… and then released. The angler who caught it feels confident that there is a possibility that the next state record walleye (presently 16 lbs 9 oz) might come out of our water.

Most of our local anglers are very conservation minded when it comes to the creek’s walleye run – I’ll bet that truly 98% of the fish landed are released.  Best baits appear to be curly tail grubs fished slowly along the bottom, and the same method holds true for fishing with either medium size minnows or nightcrawlers. Rapalas trolled down at about the 10 foot level will also produce if you can find some suspended walleyes in any area.

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 STRIPER CONTEST

On the day that our walleye season closes, March 15th, our New York striped bass season opens. The pursuit of these fish has become somewhat akin to what might have been the scene at the start of the California gold rush. Hundreds of anglers all the way from West Point to the south and up as far north as the head of tidewater at Troy take to the Hudson’s waters in pursuit of this delicious table fare. Many of these same anglers will also be seeking one of the top six prizes in the RIVER BASIN’S 23rd ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST. Last year the event set a new participant record - 564 entrants.

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 The contest’s top six places paid back more than $11,000 in 2009. The final results were as follows: 1) Peter Longo, Kingston, N.Y. - 46 ¾”, $5,730.00;  2) Kim Doyle, Chichester, N.Y. – 46 ½”, $1,948.20;  3 & 4) TIE – Gerard Uhrik, Tannersville, N.Y. and Walt Weglinski, Budd Lake, N.J. - 46”, split $2,521.20; 5) Steve Hopf, Saugerties, N.Y. - 45”, $687.00; 6) TIE – Dan Fitzgerald, Olive Bridge, N.Y. and Pat Dutkiewicz, Port Ewen, N.Y. - 44 ½”, split $573, 00. The above paybacks were all a part of the more than $11,000.00 contest payback. The competition will run from April 19th thru May 30th this year.
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The event’s fishing range is between the Federal Lock at Troy and West Point to the south. The entry/registration fee $15. Minimum entry age is 14, but 14 and 15 year olds must present parental permission. You must be registered by the close of business on April 18th. We pay back 100% of all entry fees, and guarantee a minimum of $3,000 payback for the top (longest) place fish. Final payback amounts are determined by the total number of fishermen entering and usually are considerably higher than expected. Could you find a use for that money if you won? – last year’s winner used his for a down payment on a house. You could probably find something just as noteworthy to use it for. 
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STRIPER ARRIVAL AND EQUIPMENT
Of course the stripers will be absent here at the time of their season opener. Their usual arrival is in the month of April with an occasional rare report of a “scout” fish being caught at the very end of March or in the first week of April when the water is still in the 41 - 42 degree range. More fish start to show up after mid-April and then we start seeing some of the big cow stripers arriving during the final week of the same month. Overall we’d have to say that your best odds of getting a 40 pound or larger fish would be during the period starting the last week of April and extending into the third week of May.
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 We here at the shop are just about set with all the equipment and tackle you’ll need to take on the big linesiders when they arrive. Presently the River Basin has 27 different “baitrunner” reels on its shelves to choose from. If you use spinning gear to bait-fish for stripers, as about 90 of the anglers do, then you really should be using one of these reels – they make the whole affair much easier. If you don’t know what we’re talking about then stop thru the shop and we’ll be glad to demonstrate how they work. Besides these reels we have a plentiful supply of heavy duty striper rods to match. For the big fish in the river we suggest using those rated for up to 30 or 40 pound test line. Striper hooks and rigs of all kinds are also in stock as are river sinkers, huge landing nets, herring (Sabiki) rigs, herring gill and scap nets, herring holding pens and live tanks, river maps, stoolies, and a plethora of heavy duty snaps, swivels, slides and lines. Additionally, we can re-spool your reels with premium Berkley Trilene or Big Game lines of up to 30 pound test. Other essentials such as river maps and both the NY State fishing license and the Marine Species license are available at the store.
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River report - Sunday Feb. 28, 2010

The ice went out of the Catskill Creek on February 26, 2010. We're aware of several anglers trying for walleyes but have not heard of any successful outing as of yet.  .

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Hudson River Short note - Thursday February 25, 2010
The ice in the lower Catskill Creek appears poised to go. It's been breaking up from the river upstream towards Riverview Marine but still is hanging on - definitely not safe to go on. Further up the Creek there now is open water by the Catskill High School dock and the possibility for some walleye fishing now exists. Keep in mind that walleye season closes March 15.
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Here at the shop we finally received the shipment of herring scap nets that we ordered back in December but it will still be a couple of weeks before we have them ready to sell.
The notice at the top of this missive if of ENCON meetings to be held in regard to the use of herring from the Hudson. The determination of the amount of herring catch and use is supposed to be formulated at such meetings but many anglers feel that they are just a "show" farce. Still, you should try to attend and voice your concerns. There are NO changes in the herring regulations for this year.         Tom G
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Catskill / Hudson River Fishing Rumor Report – Friday, February 12, 2010

 

Lately rumors have been circulating about the possibility of the imposition of a special permit (a.k.a. – license) for catching (possessing?) herring. Additionally - there might be a limit on how many herring you are allowed to have. Wouldn’t that be just great on top of the already ridiculous herring transport restrictions and the license fee increases that have hit our striped bass anglers this year. All that we’ve heard so far have been rumors – hopefully they’ll remain so.

 

Here at the shop we already have some of this year’s striped bass contest entry forms ready for dispersal. You can stop thru and pick up whatever you need. We’re working hard to get this years tackle inventoried, logged onto the computer and out onto display and making some headway but this is a process that won’t be totally completed for weeks.

 

“Herring pens” are now available and we have a few herring “live” tanks out on the floor. Unfortunately this year’s scap net shipment is seemingly lost somewhere out in UPS land right now and we don’t really know when to expect those to arrive. The gal handling this messed-up net transaction actually yelled at me over the phone yesterday so I figure I’ll cool my heels until next week before calling her again. Of course – they already charged my card for this merchandise over a month ago. Enjoy the end of winter.        Tom G

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STRIPED BASS NOTE, Feb 4, 2010 - One of our readers (Bobb) forewarded this following correspondence to us. It might be worth your while reading it and perhaps taking action on it.    Tom G 
 
Stripers Forever members – some great news from the State of New York.  A4112, a bill to prohibit commercial fishing for striped bass in the Hudson River – effectively making it a game fish there - has already passed the Assembly.  S4948, the Senate version of this bill, is coming up for a hearing before the Environmental Conservation Committee on Feb. 23.  The bill is sponsored by Senator Antoine M. Thompson, the Chairman of the committee.  The Hudson is the second largest spawning ground for striped bass; keeping it free from the pressures of commercial gill netting is vital to the health of the striper population.  We all need to get behind this bill now to make sure it takes effect.


 

Here is what you can do to help:
  • If you are a NY State resident you should e-mail or even better, phone, write and e-mail the office of your state senator today and tell him or her that you want their  support  for S4948, the bill to protect Hudson River striped bass from the pressures of commercial fishing.  You should also send a copy of your e-mail or letter to all Senators on the Environmental Conservation committee.
  • If you are not a NY State resident you should still e-mail or write the Senators on the committee and tell them that striped bass spawned in the Hudson are important to the whole coastal fishery, and that they should be protected from commercial harvest.  If you fish the Hudson for stripers, especially if you travel to get there, stay in a hotel, or fish with a guide, please be sure to point this out in your communication.  The economic benefits are key rationale for this bill.
Here are the e-mail links that you will need:
Be aware that a handful of shad gill netters on the Hudson are clamoring to be allowed to net stripers now that the shad are gone.  They have their supporters; we must make sure that this additional pressure is not put on the already struggling striped bass population.  With the fishing pressure and disease issues that persist in the Chesapeake Bay striper stocks, we can’t allow the Hudson to go back to the commercial striper fishing that nearly wiped it out more than 30 years ago.


 

NY residents, here is a sample letter to copy, paste, and send to your senator.  Please feel free to modify it into your own words, and to add whatever additional comments you want.  Your letters to senators on the Committee can be essentially the same except for not saying that you live in their district.


 

Dear Senator (name):


 

My name is (your name) and I live in your district in the town of ( your town).
The future of striped bass is very important to me.  Thirty years ago Hudson River stripers were almost wiped out by commercial fishing pressure.  The fishery has been closed to commercial fishing since 1976, and the population has recovered, though breeding age fish are under intense fishing pressure in the ocean.  Striped bass support a robust recreational fishery that is very valuable to the economies of the towns from Troy to Manhattan.  Senate bill S4948 has been referred to the Environmental Conservation Committee.  It is very important to me that you support this bill.  


 

Sincerely,
Your Name, Town, State
your e-mail address and phone number



 

For those residing outside of NY, here is a sample letter to copy, paste, and send to members of the Environmental Conservation Committee.  Please feel free to modify it into your own words, and to add whatever additional comments you want.  Please try to send it to every member of the committee.
My name is (your name) and I live (town, state).  I am writing to urge you to support S4948, the bill to protect Hudson River striped bass from the resumption of commercial fishing.  The Hudson River is one of the major spawning areas for the migratory East coast striped bass stock.  This is the most important recreational salt water species in America.  Like all saltwater species, stripers are already threatened by intense fishing pressure and pollution.  Thirty years ago Hudson River stripers were almost wiped out by commercial fishing pressure.  This fishery has been closed to commercial harvest since 1976, and the population has recovered, though breeding age fish are under heavy fishing pressure in the ocean.  Senate bill S4948 has been referred to the Environmental Conservation Committee.  It is very important to me that you support this bill.  


 

Sincerely,
Your Name, Town, State
your e-mail address and phone number 

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Catskill / Hudson River Fishing Report – Tuesday, February 2, 2010

 

It’s ground hog day today and, true to tradition, they dragged ole’ Punxsutawney Phil out of his cage down there in Pennsylvania.  I didn’t hear if he saw his shadow or not since I had the TV on mute this morning. I was just watching to see if the critter would bite the guy holding him. That’s what happened last year. I don’t think it happened today… but the guy wasn’t taking any chances – he was wearing gloves.

 

Here in the Catskill area our first sign of spring occurred last week on January 25th when all the ice on the lower Catskill Creek went out. The creek has once more frozen over since then but not thick enough yet to bear the weight of an ice fisherman. Just the day before the ice went out however I did observe 4 or 5 guys down there trying their luck. I doubt if they caught much since they were too far down towards the Hudson – the better ice fishing generally occurs several hundred yards further up the creek.

 

Here at the RIVER BASIN we’re preparing to re-open the shop this Thursday after a month long closure. The closure occurs each year at this time as my wife Linda and I attend several different sporting goods shows up and down the east coast to order supplies for the coming year. All that stuff, many thousands of individual items, is starting to arrive now and as it gets stacked up in the back room it seems like an overwhelming task in front of us to get checked in and onto the shop floor. It’s a task that will, in actuality, take many weeks.

 

The first items we’ll try to get out will be striped bass and trout gear - this will be the most in demand for our early season, the striper stuff in particular. During the past 20 years striper tackle has become the priority merchandise for us and we’ll have tons of it. Glancing over my shoulder at the fishing reels I can count 20 DIFFERENT “baitrunner” models for the linesiders already here, in stock… and there are others yet to arrive. Heavy duty rods, heavy river sinkers, herring catcher rigs (sabikis), large octopus and J hooks, different terminal tackle rigs, large striper plugs, huge striper boat nets, herring throw nets and gill nets and all kinds of miscellaneous tackle – all this is either already here or on it’s way.

 

Keep in mind that the state has changed a couple of items of interest to you striper fishermen. One of these is a prohibition of the catching of any shad (some anglers preferred the use of shad chunks as striper bait).  So, all two dozen of you sport fishing shad guys up and down the 120 miles of Hudson river shoreline that actually get out once or twice a year to try for shad – you’d better change your plans. And, oh yes – the commercial gill netters who were allowed to net them wholesale last year while the poor sport anglers were restricted to 1 fish a day (zero if you went and read and believed the state’s on-line web site), those guys have also lost their privilege.

 

The second change affecting you river anglers is the mandate that you now MUST possess a standard New York fishing license as well as an ADDITIONAL special license if you are going to fish for any species considered to possibly have entered the waterway from salt water. Species included here would be striped bass, herring, shad, tommy cod, etc. Note - if you fish the waterway just for “freshwater” species such as black bass, catfish, yellow perch, etc. – you do NOT have to have this additional license.

 

By the way, if you have yet to buy your fishing license be prepared to shell out more money. Starting this 2010 season the resident NY license costs $29 and the non-resident license has jumped the $70… welcome to New York… and, don’t forget to tack on an additional $10 for the new marine species license. By the way – this IS a “marine species” license which is supposed to apply to ANY body of water in the state. So, to us it sounds as if you were to catch a striped bass out of some reservoir or quarry hole where somebody might have released it you must have one of these salt water licenses. Boy, won’t the game wardens be having fun this year.

 

We received our first 2010 shipment of certified live bait (golden shiners) at the shop today so we’ll be ready for business when we reopen for business on this Thursday, February the 4th. We also have nightcrawlers and mousee grubs in stock, should you need them.

 

Our on-line updates here will be somewhat sporadic until we get further along into the fishing season. We’ll post information about this year’s upcoming striped bass contest as soon as we have a little more time to work out the details but can let you know that the event this year will run from April 19th through May 30th (12 noon). Last year this event drew 564 participants and paid back over $11,000 in prizes for the top 6 fish including $5,730 for first place, $1,948 for second and $1,489 for third.     Tom G

  
  
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BE SURE TO GO TO THE "PICTURES" PAGE TO SEE ADDITIONAL SHOTS OF GREAT FISH!

For FISHING REPORTS from earlier this year, visit our archives at "HUDSONRIVERFISHING.COM".

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Kevin Clarke

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Jonny Rath

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Steve Daley

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Eric took the $6,030 first prize in our Striped Bass contest with this beaut.

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Brian Lewis

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Jon Rath

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Russ Burton

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$2050 for 2nd place went to Bob for this striper.