|
| MORE DETAILS ON BOTTOM OF "HOME" PAGE |
RIVER BASIN'S 2012 STRIPED BASS CONTEST PRESENT STANDINGS
SCOREBOARD update May 16 2012; 12:30 pm
1) William Walsh -----------------------47 3/4" 2) Nick Kulick ---------------------------46
1/2" 3)
Randy Brockett ---------------------45 3/4" 4) Marc Palazzo -----------------------44 3/4" 5) Dan
Keyser -------------------------44 1/4"
***********************************************************
OPEN MONDAY THRU SATURDAY 8:30 TO 5 SUNDAY
9:30 TO 1 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.
***********************************************************
Lots of anglers come to this website to check our reports about the fishing conditions on the
river. The information they find is just what you and other anglers have told us. Your input is needed to keep these fishing/river
reports up to date. And although we are not able to reply to the reports you send in they are all read. This information is
then returned here, to you, on a larger scale which will, hopefully, be of assistance in your fishing efforts. SEND YOUR REPORTS TO TOMGWEB @YAHOO.COM
******************************************** .
- Fishing
Report -
************************************************************
RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS RUN UPDATE – Friday, May 18, 2012 . Just a quick note as we enter the weekend – . The striped
bass spawn continues. The past two days have seen a definite lack of anglers on the water but the ones out there report great
fishing with multiple fish landings. If you haven’t caught a striper yet this year the next few days might be your best
shot at doing so. . After the rainstorms earlier this week muddied everything up now it seems that most of the tidewater feeder creeks
should be in excellent shape for fishing this weekend. The Catskill Creek was already fishable yesterday. We’re heading
into the finish of this year’s striper run so now’s the time to get out there.
Tom G . ***********************************************************************8 . RIVER BASIN STRIPED
BASS RUN UPDATE – Wednesday, May 16, 2012 . The striped bass spawn continues apace throughout the tidal Hudson River, and
this includes the sections right up to Albany and beyond where some night and early morning anglers did fairly well a couple
of days ago with some smaller fish. As of this morning however, reports were that the action had slowed down as dirtier water
from above started to arrive. If you’re not getting action where you are fishing – find another location. . Dan Keyser of Germantown has now
taken over fifth place in our contest standings. Dan measured in a 44 ¼” spawned-out striper this morning. That
fish was the second half of a double he hooked. Upon quickly landing and releasing the first (approx. 34”) he then landed
the second fish which was worthy of contest recognition. He was using chunk herring as bait while fishing the area to the
north of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. . This morning we see that the Catskill Creek is running muddy from the rains of the past two days but the main
river itself is OK… except for the floating debris that’s still out there. This week will, most likely, be the
peak of the spawn and just may give you your best fishing of the year. Try to get out there as soon as you can.
Tom G . **************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPED
BASS RUN UPDATE – Tuesday, May 15, 2012 From what we
can ascertain it seems that the striper fishing could best be called spotty during the past two days. If you were in the proper
location you caught some fish, if you were in a “super-duper” location you absolutely creamed them. And, if you
were up in the Bethlehem area on Saturday… you hummed a song to yourself as you watched the debris from the locks go
floating by! . The annual fishing derby that goes out of the upper tidal river Bethlehem launch site really seemed to get waylaid
this year, either due to the copious amount of debris being released from further upriver or perhaps just by those upriver
stripers developing lockjaw. Although we figured that the event would really crock them this year the final results were extremely
dismal. . Dennis, who organizes the event, tells us that there were 119 boats entered and that was fantastic. But - the
results were totally shocking – only 4 fish were weighed in, and fifth place was left vacant. The top four fish weighed
15, 12.9, 11 and 11 pounds respectively. . One possible reason for this poor catch could have been the lack of herring up
there on Saturday. Let’s face it, the bulk of those linesiders will be following their food source and if
the main school of herring isn’t around all you’re going to be fishing for are straggler stripers (strange as
it may seem, the herring appeared to be back there on Sunday). . The Hudson’s water temperature is the big thing right now
– yesterday we saw the temp in most locations from Coxsackie to the south either playing with or exceeding the 62 degree
mark (the Albany area appeared to be running about three degrees cooler). For the more experienced striper fishermen this
means just one thing – the spawn will have started and will be proceeding apace from this point on. . Yesterday (Monday)
we became aware of two areas where some spawning took place – Germantown and Glasco, and there might have been yet another
spawn in the Poughkeepsie area. These spot spawns will more than likely be an ongoing thing during this next week and should
see a definite uptick in number a few days from now when we get those weekend 70+ degree temperatures that are being predicted. . Even
though the main spawn will likely be done by the end of next week I know I’ll be hearing about stripers with “green”
eggs for the remainder of the month, and that’s entirely normal. Not all stripers will ripen their roe at the same time,
and there is even one train of thought that some of the females might not even drop their eggs in the river but rather head
on back out to the ocean and reabsorb them. Whatever… it is what it is. . As far as the timing of the spawn goes it
appears to be occuring right during the normal established time span. Over the past 28 years we’ve observed the spawn
to start as late as May 23 and as early as May 5 as it did last year, with the bulk of the years seeing it between May 13
and 16. It does appear that the trend during the past 15 years has been toward a slightly earlier spawn, perhaps as much as
a week earlier than 25 years ago. These figures may not be “officially” accurate but are derived from our own
personal observation notes kept since 1984. . As far as fishing for the stripers during the actual spawn - you will find it
can be excellent. Of course the fish in the act of spawning will not be receptive to your baits but there usually are lots
of other fish holding beneath those surfacing stripers. These deeper fish will definitely hit. . The one caution we
do want to throw out to you is to not run your boat through an area of spawning fish. Those surfacing fish are just about
completely oblivious to boats, and motors, and slashing propellers - many get needlessly damaged by overly zealous anglers
who run their boat right into the middle of an ongoing spawn. The annual striped bass run is peaking this week. . Our contest
standings remain the same as they were at the close of April 29th, the day when the top three fish in our event
were caught. At present, taking into account the number of small fish which have been around this year, it sure seems as if
William Walsh’s 47 ¾ inch linesider has a lock on first place. But of course past experience has shown that such
is not the case at all – there always are some huge fish around at the end of May that are liable to be brought in.
Year 2011 proved that when the first place fish was taken on May 26 (49 ¼”) and the second place fish on June
1 (48 ¼”). Lots of time to land that lunker yet – good luck.
Tom G . ******************************************************** . HUDSON RIVER UPDATE, SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2012,
11 A.M. . The striper action during the past two days has been rather slow. The debris field was still working
its way south from Catskill - lots of timber. Even so, fishermen were picking up a striper here and there. Of particular
note is Bill Buck's 42 3/4 inch striper - it was the first contest fish brought in that was taken on an artificial
lure, a RAPALA. Nice catch. . This morning's reports from the water were that the temperature was running in the
60 - 61 degree range. We consider this to be just about the immediate pre-spawn range and also are aware of a boated striper
today that was running some roe. It seems likely that spawns will be starting this week, anytime now. . When the spawning
stripers congregate in localized areas the fishing action can be fantastic. Certainly most of the fish will be concentrating
on spawning but there will also be lots of others very receptive to biting on hook and line. If you spot surface
spawning activity drop us a note as to where and when you observed it. It's not hard to distinguish - the fish
will be seen thrashing about at the surface of the water, sometimes in areas encompassing acres of water.
Tom G . **************************************************************** . RIVER BULLETIN - Friday, May 11, 2012 . We
have reports of a real nasty debris field working downriver from the Catskill area - huge logs, etc. Use caution. Tom G . ******************************************************* . RIVER
BASIN STRIPED BASS RUN UPDATE – Thursday, May 10, 2012 . The striper fishing action continues to be red-hot in the Hudson,
with anglers reporting multiple hook-ups and landings in the section between Malden and Troy. Most of these fish are ranging
between 24 and 39 inches in length with just a smattering of even larger fish that hit the measuring board somewhere in the
low 40’s. . The Glasco area was reporting some good action about a week ago but we’ve heard nothing since so we’d
have to guess that the action has slowed down. The flats both north and south of the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge have been
producing but the few reports we received were of slower action with smaller fish. From Kingston south we’ll also have
to surmise that the present action is slower since reports from there are definitely lacking. . The morning bite here
at Catskill has been excellent with some mid-week trips boating 15 – 16 fish, most of them measuring in the three foot
range and a couple of 42’s. We’re aware of a few 40 inchers reported from the 4 Mile Point area to the north of
Athens but have not heard much from Stockport right across the river from there. This is somewhat similar to the lack of better
action from the boys fishing at Greendale, right across the river from Catskill. . Further upriver in the New Baltimore –
Ravena area the fishing has reportedly been good with many anglers boating multiple, but smaller, fish; we had a couple of
reports of debris in the water there - be careful. Up in Bethlehem the same appears to be holding true even though some fishermen
may be complaining that they “only” got two or three fish to the boat; haven’t heard
anything from the Troy area – we can’t tell you what’s going on unless you tell us first. . Our over-all
perception right now is that we are very rapidly approaching the peak of the run, at least here in our Catskill area. The
present water temp is in the 58 – 59 degree range, a range that generally tends to put the fish into a definite heightened
activity mood. The peak fishing time here has been in the morning, generally best during the first three hours of the fall.
Initial reports from the water this A.M. were of slower action but that was prior to the start of ebb - generally the first
two hours of daylight produce the best. . Good fishing was to be had from the Catskill launch north to the Rip Van Winkle
Bridge and then continuing about an equal distance to the north of the bridge (to where the houses end), a stretch known to
some locals as the “Bridge Run”. . As we are in a slightly cooler weather pattern right now the main striper spawn
should be delayed by a few days but now it would appear to be about a week away. Of course, not all the fish spawn at the
same time - you should have a good chance to get in on some of the best fishing of the year during the next 7 days and then
see a slackening of action during the rest of the month. The exception at that time will be the Albany Troy area which usually
sees a later peak. . Those of you lunker hunters out there should keep in mind that very often the largest fish of the year will be
taken at the very end of the striper run. For instance, last year the second place fish was taken in the last week of May
and the winning striper actually was caught in the first week of June (both were taken on chunk bait). . Also, we’ve
been hearing rumors of huge stripers being caught. These will remain as rumors until we measure any such fish. If any of these
tales should be true then they definitely were not caught by any of our 753 contest participants. . For any of you
salt water anglers out there we do have a closeout special here at the shop you might be interested in. It’s on a Penn
rod and reel combo. The reel is a salt water (non-baitrunner) PENN 750SSm and is “factory matched” to a PENN SLAMMER
SL1530S70F, 7 foot, 1 piece rod rated for up to 30 pound test line. The reel itself normally sells for $121 while the combo
goes for around $165. Our close-out price for the outfit is $99.98.
Best of luck - Tom G. . ********************************************************************* . RIVER
BASIN STRIPED BASS RUN UPDATE – Monday, May 7, 2012 . After Saturday initiated a relatively slow start to last weekend
it was Sunday that opened the door to some really terrific striped bass fishing on our Hudson. Furthermore, the good fishing
has continued all the way through Monday and, unless the weather shuts it down, should run right through this coming weekend. . Anglers
are reporting multiple landings and releases of stripers (up to about 39 inches in length) with double as well as triple hook-ups
not being unusual. While herring were rather sparse last week a huge swarm of them appeared to move upriver during the weekend
and, sure enough, the stripers were right there with them. The water temperature in our area of the main river ranges between
55 and 58 degrees and is somewhat off-color but not that bad. . The way that the intensity of the catch is being reported right
now appears to be what we refer to as the “early pre-spawn” stage, even though the water temperature is somewhat
cooler than we usually find during that phase. It could just be that there are simply more stripers in the river than we usually
see and therefore we are getting all this great striper action. Though extremely hard to predict this year it appears that
the spawn is one to two weeks away and the fishing should get better and better as we move along this time frame. As some
of the bays to the sides of the main river start to warm up “spot spawns” will be seen starting at any time now,
especially in areas to the south of Catskill. . The mystery right now is – to where did that pack of huge stripers that
arrived about a week ago disappear? I know that Fred up in New Baltimore found one of them – a 43
¼ incher, but the others are still lost. When they once more make their appearance our contest standing board is sure
to see some dramatic changes.
Tom G . **************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS
RUN UPDATE – Thursday, May 03, 2012 . Even though we know that a contingent of larger striped bass arrived here in our
mid-Hudson River valley last weekend they now seem to have disappeared into the river’s swirling depths. While it’s
true that most of our contest entrants no longer bring sub-43 inch fish into the shop (they’re too small) we have always
received reports of such fish being caught – but not this week! We’ve only heard reports of scattered smaller
fish throughout our area. . In the meantime, Dennis further up in Albany reports that the bite up there has been turning
back on. At the Troy dam the first-light bite seems to have been particularly good. Although there are some reports
of plenty of herring in those upper reaches, not all anglers find that to be the case - we have been selling bagged herring
to many of them who can’t seem to find any there. . By the way, if any of you purchase so-called
herring in frozen vacuum packs that turn out to be complete mush and won’t even stay on the hook – those
are not our specie of Hudson River herring. They are some sort of Pacific ocean fish that have been tagged as herring but
are far, far away from what you need to catch stripers. They don’t even seem to be very good eel bait – get local
stuff. . The river’s water temperature throughout most of our section ranges between 52 and 54 degrees, actually
quite an ideal range for striped bass activity. But, many local anglers feel that the colder nights we’ve had this past
week really turned those fish off, making them go deeper into the river’s depths. If that truly is the case then we
should see a rapid recovery of the action by this weekend - the forecast calls for milder temperatures. . Although most
feeder creeks into the Hudson are now flowing normally the main river itself is off-color due to the flow-down
of muddier water from the river’s northern reaches. To add to the nastiness of the off-color water, now is also the
time when the river’s locks from Troy upstream are opened up. This usually brings a torrent of winter accumulated timbers
and trash downriver and makes it imperative that you keep a watchful eye while navigating this waterway. . Despite the
weather and debris the fishing this weekend should be good. Weeks ago when we were in the midst of that warming spell our
worries were that the annual striper spawn would occur perhaps as early as the start of May and those fish that had spawned
would already be leaving our waterway. Obviously this has not happened and now it appears that the spawn is probably at least
two to three weeks away. In the meantime the number of stripers in the river will continue to increase as more and more ocean
fish enter each day. . Our bait of choice under the present conditions would have to be chunk herring,
at least if we were interested in trying to catch the biggest, meanest striper in the river. Many of the more experienced
anglers feel that those big “cow” stripers are just too lazy to want to chase down a meal of fast swimming herring
– they much prefer to gulp up a tidbit that’s just lying there in front of them. But make no mistake, should a
live herring venture too close they will definitely scoff it up. . To bear witness
to this “chunk bait preference” just check out what our present contest leader William Walsh used as bait to catch
his 47 ¾ incher – it was chunk. Additionally, last year’s winner Tom Borchert used chunk bait to win our
striped bass event with his 49 ¼ inch behemoth. I know that many of you think that live herring is the only way to
go but I suggest you play it smart – since you are allowed the use of three rods this year, throw at least one out baited
with chunk. Tom G . ************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS CONTEST UPDATE – Sunday, April 29, 2012 . In our previous
report we said that “The big ones are coming!” Well, those stripers now are here. . Late this morning a
large grouping of BIG fish moved upriver through the Norrie Point area and north past Kingston into the vicinity of the Kingston
Rhinecliff Bridge. There several of our contest anglers picked off some real beauts. Among the big fish caught there today
are the three new leaders in our striped bass standings. . Since we closed at 1 p.m. today there wasn't
time to get all the pictures up until now but here they are. We have posted William Walsh’s now-contest-leading 47 ¾
inch striper picture above for everyone else to drool over. This fish is definitely a contest contender. Walsh
caught his fish below Kingston using chunk herring for bait. . The other two big fish today were taken by Nick Kulick (46 ½”),
and Randy Brockett (45 ¾”). With these fish being entered we now have a higher mark for everybody else
to shoot at. It also negates any reason to bring any striped bass smaller than 43 inches in to the River Basin. In the
next few days we'll see just how big a school of these larger fish we have moving upriver.
Tom G. . ****************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN
STRIPED BASS CONTEST UPDATE – Thursday, April 26, 2012, 5 P.M. . 5 P.M., end of the day… and a brand
new leader in our striper contest! This is just a quick update; we’ll have a picture up tomorrow. .
Marc Palazzo of Germantown (his picture is already
posted here with his previous 41 ¾ inch entry… which now fades away into the sunset---- -- -) nailed a gorgeous
44 ¾ incher late this afternoon. It was the first “over 44 inch” fish we’ve seen this year. He was
fishing the start of a rising tide in the “Golden Triangle” (Catskill – Germantown – Malden)
with a live herring when the 40.3 pound striper inhaled his bait. The big ones are coming! Tom G . ************************************************************** . Hudson
River Striper Bulletin Report – Thursday, April 26, 2012 . Even though we’ve seen a goodly number of 40+ inch stripers
caught this year it’s still apparent that the real big fish have not arrived. Those huge 44 inch or longer stripers
that will just about knock your socks off are still off somewhere, on their way up. . Of course this always brings up the thought
that perhaps those larger fish might be absent this year. After all, with the present plethora of stripers ranging in size
from 18 to 39 inches inundating the river perhaps this just is the year that the “big’uns” take a breather
and not show up. . Nah, that in itself is an unlikely scenario. After all, the “big fish time” has not even arrived
yet. In checking back in the River Basin’s records book (which dates back to 1979) we see that of the top 25 largest
striped bass that we have recorded as being brought in the shop… 22 have been caught in May (1 in June, 2012)! This
tells us that we are right on the cusp of being inundated by huge stripers. So if you are planning to be out there fishing
you had better spool on some heavier line and get an even bigger net cause the “good times” are just about to
start. . The heavy rains we had earlier this week certainly did a job of messing up the present appearance of the river.
The transition from a condition of “I can’t believe the water is so clear” to the “Man, did it get
dirty fast” took approximately 2 days to accomplish. The reason it took so long was that the dirty water from way further
upriver had to work its way down to us… and now it’s here. . The good news is that the stripers are already
here – and they won’t be going back for some weeks yet. Therefore, the good fishing we’ve been experiencing
should continue even though the water might not appear to be as pretty anymore. The water temperature this morning was at
52 degrees in the Catskill Creek and 54 in the Hudson itself – an excellent level for good striper fishing action. . Even
though the local feeder creeks should be in decent shape for the weekend the main river itself will remain muddy. You might
want to concentrate a little bit more on using “chunk” herring baits rather than whole herring. Even before the
water dirtied up chunk baits were doing well as evidenced by the fact that the top three fish in our contest all were caught
on chunk bait. Just remember to change that chunk often, about every ten minutes is ideal for keeping that fresh “come
hither” smell in the water. Any longer than that and the chunk washes out and its effectiveness diminishes rapidly. . By
the way, the new leading fish in our contest, Jesse Sperl’s 43 incher, which was taken on chunk bait in the Saugerties
area, weighed 37.8 pounds. That is the heaviest fish we’ve weighed in so far this year. . As we were getting
ready to post this update to our website Dave Handlowich Jr. of Ancram arrived to have us log-in a striper he had just caught.
Dave was using chunk bait on Catskill’s Hudson River “Bridge Run” when he nailed this 42 ¾ inch beaut
. This now places him in second place in our contest standings. Tom
G *********************************************************************** . Hudson River Striper
Bulletin Report - Saturday, April 21, 2012 . As we end the first week of our 25th Annual Striped Bass Contest we see that Dan Swartout’s
42 ¼ inch striper is still leading the pack. Dan was fishing chunk herring baits in the section of the Hudson between
Athens and Coxsackie when he hooked the fish. The 2nd thru 5th positions are still in a constant state of flux
at this early stage of the contest but even so, we will make sure that the standings shown above are up to date
- even if we do not get a chance to post a new report here . . As it now turns out, most of the larger fish we’ve seen coming
in appear to have been caught in the river between Cheviot and Hudson. Both live and chunk herring baits have been working
well. Prime fishing time has been early morning, approximately the first two hours of daylight, and then again starting at
about an hour before dark and continuing right into the night. Here in Catskill the area around the Rip Van Winkle Bridge,
particularly the north side, seems to have been producing the best. . The reports we’ve been getting from downriver around the Kingston Rhinecliff
Bridge have been of meager action and quite a few of those anglers have been coming further north in hopes of finding some
quality fish. The Rondout Creek has a goodly share of stripers and herring. The reports from down in the Newburgh area have
been of mostly smaller fish. . The
Albany area is producing well, news already well-put-out since you can now see the “Albany Armada” back on the
river – 50 to 100 striper boats jammed into the narrow confines of the river up there. Stripers appear to be plentiful
although obtaining bait seems to be a rather “iffy” proposition. The word we’ve been getting from lots of
anglers up there is that if you can get the bait, you’ll get the fish. The only downside is that the larger fish seem
to be lacking – plenty of 24 to 36 inchers but a paucity of larger ones. . We’re seeing plenty of contest entry fish come through at present but it’s
quite obvious that the real big “cow” stripers still have not made their appearance in the river. The 40 to 42
inch range seems to make up a healthy proportion of the striper run so far but we have yet to see a 44 incher or longer. . We want to thank all of you who have
come through the shop, both locals as well as out of town visitors. You have made this spring the very best one we’ve
had in over 35 years of business and we appreciate it. Hopefully we’ll yet have about another month of this striper
run and we’ll get a chance to meet even more of you. Tom G . ******************************************************* . Striper
Note, Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - .
We're way behind schedule on lots of things here
at the store so our postings will be somewhat delayed. The scoreboard at the top of this page will reflect the actual contest
standings and we'll make sure that those standings are correct. .
The river fishing for stripers has to be, without
a doubt, the best we've seen in the past 15 years. True, the real large fish still appear not to have shown
up but what's out there, fish up to about 39 inches, are there in numbers. Chunk bait as well as live has been working fine.
Stripers are all over, from Newburgh to Troy. Tom G. . *************************************************************** . The RIVER BASIN'S 2012 STRIPED BASS CONTEST lead was taken over early on the
first day with Dan Swartout's 42 1/4" inch fish. Dan caught the striper in the Coxsackie area while using chunk herring
bait. The second place fish, a 40 incher caught on chunk by Aaron Crewell, also came from the Coxsackie area. Jerry Rowell
was the first to hold the #1 slot with a 38 1/2 incher taken next to the Rip VanWinkle Bridge at Catskill but was quickly
deposed by Swartout and Crewell. A record of 753 entrants are vying for contention in this year's contest which is paying
back more than $11,000 in prizes to the top 5 fish (see pay schedule below). . ******************************************************************* . Hudson
River Striper Bulletin Report II – Monday, April 16, 2012 .
Present contest standings: . 1) 42 ¼” Dan
Swartout chunk bait
Coxsackie 2) 40”
Aaron Crewell chunk bait
Coxsackie 3) 38 ½” Jerry
Rowell Sr herring
Catskill, RVW Br. .
Great weather for fishing
Tom G . ********************************************************* . Hudson River Striper Bulletin Report
– Monday, April 16, 2012 . First fish entered in our contest this morning – 38 ½”
by Jerry Rowell, caught on live herring at Rip VanWinkle Bridge. . Contest went off with a record breaking 753 anglers; paybacks as follow: .
1) $6,221 2)
$1,923 3) $1,470 4)
$1,018 5) $ 678 .
Bigger fish due to come in right now per phone call. Check
back. Tom G. . ***************************************************************************** . Hudson
River Fishing Report – Friday, April 13, 2012 .THE FISH ARE HERE . The time is
here, just in time for our striper contest we’re now getting dynamite reports of striped bass activity all the way up
the river to the Troy dam. Even though the striper fishing in the Albany area is really turning on with stripers up to about
36” and about 24 lbs. in weight it seems that the herring may still be somewhat spotty up there. Some anglers report
no problem getting them but others are having problems. Today we had several Albany area anglers drive down here to Catskill
to buy baitfish which they couldn’t get up there. .
The action between Albany and Coxsackie appeared somewhat
slower but that was probably due to a lack of anglers plying those waters. Coxsackie itself was good and just a few miles
further south in the Stockport / 4 Mile Point section the fishing appeared to be excellent with some stripers up to 42 inches
long being measured. . Around Hudson the action was also improving with the “shanty town” area being good
and the “towers” continuing to produce fish just as it has for the past couple of weeks. Heading southward toward
Catskill the fishing again was very good in the vicinity of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and along the “bridge run”
extending southward to the Catskill launch ramp. The mouth of the Catskill Creek has produced a few decent fish as has the
creek itself although these have generally been less than 3 feet in length. . Across from Catskill the shore bound anglers
along the railroad tracks in Greendale have been having fair action as has those guys in the Roe-Jan section. The Catskill
Germantown Malden triangle has turned on. The area of the Green Flats to the south of Cheviot has accounted for numerous good
fish including a 47 ½ incher caught a tad too early for our contest and therefore released, perhaps to find another
contestant’s hook this coming week. . Saugerties and the Glasco flats have been producing numerous fish for anglers. Unfortunately we’ve had
a lack of reports from the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge area. The Rondout Creek is producing enough stripers to keep those anglers
there satisfied. Present reports to the south of there are lacking. . CONTEST RECORD READY TO TOPPLE. Tomorrow
will be the final day for entry into our striped bass contest. You must get your $15 registration fee to us no later than
this Sunday when we will extend our usual closing time to 5 p.m. There will be no acceptance of late registrations after then. . Presently it appears that we will be
setting yet another contest record both as far as the number of registrants and the amount of money to be paid back as prizes.
Going over 700 sign-ups appears to be an almost certainty now, so naturally the awards will also set a record. .
We’ve been going through “bait runner striper
combos” like wildfire here at the shop and have just received additional rods and reels to refresh our offerings. The
combos at the shop are already discounted below their individual-piece prices and so afford an excellent opportunity for you
to pick up a decent striper outfit at a good price. Check them out when you come through. Best of luck
to all our contest entrants when the event starts this coming Monday.
Tom G. . ******************************************************** . Hudson
River Fishing Report – Wednesday, April 11, 2012 . FINAL DAYS TO ENTER THE RIVER BASIN’S STRIPER CONTEST . This Sunday April 15th will be the final day for you to sign-up for
our 25th Annual Striped Bass Contest. The event itself starts at 12:01 a.m. on the 16th.
Registration for the 100% payback event will only cost you $15 which is far less than for any other river contests
held at this time of year… and our paybacks are definitely far far better than for any of the others. . Even though
we won’t be able to tell you the exact amount of paybacks until after the sign-up period is over (since we pay back
100% of all entry monies), the sum will be greater than what we have shown below. As of the close of business today the payback
schedule was as follows: . 1)
$4,686.00 2) $1,448.00 3)
$1,107.00 4) $ 766.00 5)
$ 511.00 . Don’t forget to sign up. . BIGGER FISH START TO ARRIVE - JUST IN TIME FOR THE CONTEST . The best news
of the year so far is here – the bigger fish have started to arrive! Stripers over 40 inches in length have now become
more than just a rumor and we’ve received verified reports on quite a few being taken. These larger fish have been in
our area since this past Monday and we know that they have already progressed upriver past the Coxsackie area. We’re
expecting to get reports of them being caught in Ravena and New Baltimore by this weekend. . It really appears to be
shaping up to be an excellent striper run, and for the Capital District area in particular. Our feeling is that the Albany
drought (lack of big fish) of the past three years will finally end this year and not only will the NUMBERS of fish reappear
there but so will QUALITY fish such as Lori Lash’s 2005 contest winning 44 ¾ incher, caught at the Port of Albany. . Down
here the best fishing locations during the past couple of days appear to have been in the Catskill / Germantown / Malden “Golden
Triangle”, and around the Stockport Creek locale. Multiple fish up to about the 42 inch range have been caught at these
locations. We’ve been waiting to have somebody bring a striper of larger than 40 inches to the shop but have yet to
actually see one here. If you get one like that which you’re keeping and are in the vicinity, stop thru for a measurement
and let us take a picture of it (we only use pictures of fish which we see and measure) for the web site. . WHAT’S WITH THE HERRING? . It’s
been almost a full month since the first of this year’s herring arrived in the upper reaches of the tidewater Hudson
River. This arrival was so much earlier than anybody here could remember although it seems likely that it must have happened
at some previous times. . Still, it even seemed to catch the members of ENCON’s Hudson River herring seine crew
by surprise. Back in March, while checking in the lower reaches of the Hudson, they just weren’t seeing any herring,
at least not until about the end of the month. This lack of herring was a definite cause of concern. Of course, what they
appeared to not be aware of was that the first run of herring had ALREADY blown past their netting locations… and that
some of those fish were already as far north as Albany. . Even so, it must be said that the herring run has been somewhat
spotty at most of our mid-Hudson locations. Our herring suppliers tell me that there seem to be plenty of herring in the tributary
creeks but the main river population is still somewhat iffy – plenty one day and just about nil a day or two later as
the schools of fish pass through. . Shore bound anglers are barely managing to capture enough to fish with by luring
those silvery little devils in with stoolies and then scapping them. Sometimes one color stoolie will work better than another
– it pays to experiment. Although they are working better in the creeks, in the river Sabiki rigs still have not really
come into their own – they work best in slightly warmer water. . If you go out this weekend make sure that you have some fresh “chunk”
with you so that you can be fishing even while trying to catch bait. You are allowed the use of three rods this year so bait
up two for the stripers and jig with the third. Naturally, here at the River Basin we do have fresh bait herring you can purchase
– either frozen or salted, but NOT alive. This stuff has been working real well. . We’ve been seeing
some smaller herring start to show up now – these should probably chunked into just two pieces rather than the three
that you can make out of some of the larger alewives. Keep in mind that you should refresh your chunk bait about every 10
minutes, 15 at the very longest. If you examine your chunk after just 10 minutes of use you’ll see why it should be
changed – it’s all washed out. Keep fresh smell in the water for best results with the stripers! . What do you
do with that washed out piece of chunk you pull in? Take it and cut it into small pieces. Then intermittently throw it out
behind the boat as chum. Sometimes this works real well but at other times it just seems to attract catfish and eels. You’ll
have to judge for yourself if it’s worth the effort. But you’ll never know until you try. See you at the shop
– Tom G . **************************************************************
Hudson River Fishing
Report – Sunday, April 08, 2012 . NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS Our old E-mail address was hijacked by some spammer so now
we have a new one – “tomgweb at yahoo”. Please don’t use the old one anymore since we will not be
checking it – and should you receive any correspondence from it just hit delete. . PRESENT
STATUS OF THE RUN After
being at a seeming stand-still for most of last week our striper run finally appeared to take a turn for the better. Reports
of increased fish activity from south of Kingston started to come in last Thursday and Friday. Saturday the fishing activity
at Kingston was reported to be good. The Germantown / Tivoli area was even producing for some trollers as well as the guys
fishing from the bank. Here in Catskill and Greendale across the river Thursday saw a definite improvement in action as fish
up to, and surpassing, three feet in length started to show up. On Saturday we were receiving some reports of fish up to 40
inches in length. The best action was being had on “chunk” herring even though it seemed that catfish were taking
most of that bait. . Columbiaville / Stockport, to the north of
Catskill, was reporting that the herring had moved back up into that creek in decent numbers and that striper action in that
area was actually rather good – most of the fish were around the 30 inch size with a few going into the high 30’s. . Further up the river reports of fish became much spottier. Herring appeared
to be rather sparse but they definitely were there in places like the Postenkill. The trick is to be there when the herring
are – they usually tend to enter and move up on a rising tide. Even though harder to come by, stripers of 22 to 30 inches
in length are being caught in the Albany Troy area… at least judging from the pictures many of you have been sending
us. . Of course we still have to remember that we are seeing the
striper action uncommonly early here at Catskill. Our striped bass contest starting date, which is next Monday, April 16th,
has always been picked to be approximately a week prior to the arrival of the main striped bass run and, although we have
seen plenty of smaller fish here, we figure the main migration arrival is still a week to two weeks in the future. . THE RIVER’S CONDITION This Easter Sunday morning at daybreak the Hudson’s water temperature at the Catskill launch ramp was
a chilly 47 degrees – chilly for us but just about ideal for the linesiders to make a big push upriver. Due to the fact
that we’ve had no springtime flooding the water clarity is rather unusual for this time of year – we could see
down a good 2 ½ to 3 feet. . CONTEST STATUS – ENTRY IS $15 As of right now we have just one week remaining
for you to register for our 25th ANNUAL RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS CONTEST. The deadline to sign up is April 15th.
If the registration were to close today the paybacks to the top 5 fish would be as follows: . 1)
$4,015.00 2) $1,241.00 3) $ 949.00 4) $ 657.00 5) $ 438.00 . Not too shabby. But – the registration won’t close today
so the posted amounts will get even larger as the final week’s rush to enter reaches it’s peak. It’ll be
interesting to see what kind of effect today’s $4.10 a gallon gasoline price has on the total number of people traveling
here to fish. We’ll let you know if anything new breaks. Tom G . ********************************************************************* . Hudson River Fishing Report – Monday, April 02, 2012 . Even though our striper-herring run this year appeared to get off to the earliest start we’ve
seen in the past thirty five years it's progress at the present time appears to have come to a screeching halt. Yes, there
are herring and stripers in our waters right now, all the way upriver to Troy but they are just the meager start to this year’s
fish migration which will really get pumped up and under way in about the next two to three weeks. . The
record breaking warm spell we had a few weeks ago really faked out the fish and had a lot of us anglers thinking that the
number of fish would just keep increasing as we are accustomed to seeing in a typical year. Nope! Mother Nature put the brakes
on that with some really frigid temperatures last week. This brought the early advance to a standstill and, it appears, will
bring the main 2012 run just about back on to schedule. . One topic of discussion we’ve been
having here at the River Basin Sport Shop has been as to the composition of those first stripers that did make the trip upriver.
These fish were not of the same status which we’ve seen first to arrive in our waters during the past twenty five years.
They are smaller, what we commonly refer to as “schoolies”, ranging mostly in size from 18 to 32 inches and weighing
up to about 15 pounds. Yes, there have been a few bigger fish caught but these have been scarce exceptions. Our usual spring
runs of the past two decades have been seen to START with fish of 30 inches and longer in size. . Back
about 25 years and longer ago, by the time the river’s striper run reached us it was more or less a hodge-podge of smaller
fish - a “big” fish then was considered to be anything larger than 30 inches. This is a size not even worth a
second look at present. Most of the larger stripers back then, those between 30 and 46 inches in length, had been captured
by commercial gill netters on the flats down in the lower salt/brackish sections of the Hudson. From mid-1970 on it took almost
a decade for the striper fishery to recover to the point where larger fish once more became abundant here in the upper tidal
section of the river. . So what happened this year? The local consensus of opinion is one of two things: 1) that the
larger fish just weren’t hanging around the mouth of the Hudson when the unusually warm weather triggered the herring
to enter the waterway. Smaller stripers were and they pursued their food supply upriver, or 2) the stripers
that arrived up here were not the ocean migrating stripers but rather the smaller (in number and size), resident Hudson River
population that spends each winter down in the salty Haverstraw Bay region of the Hudson. . It’s
really impossible for us “non-fisheries biologists” to know for sure which stripers we presently see here but
it sure has been great to get an early start on the 2012 season… and to anticipate the main run which is yet to come
in the next 2 to 3 weeks. . If you want to go out and give it a try you DO have a shot at catching
a striper at present. We do receive daily reports of fish being caught all up and down our waterway. And, needless to say,
if you need any bait or proper tackle for the stripers we do have it all in stock. Best baits to use at present – chunk
herring or bloodworms. Get yourself tuned up for the heavier action yet to come this month. . There
is no doubt that striper fishermen are all psyched-up and raring to go this year. We’ve seen plenty of them, all fired
up, come through the shop already. Most of the interest so far has been in the many different “baitrunner” reels
of a size for stripers. We stock more of this type than any other shop we are aware of – there are fully two dozen different
baitrunners on the shelf at the time of this writing, ranging in price from $49.98 (too small for stripers but ideal for reservoir
fishing) to $199.98 (superb Shimano creations if you can swing the price). .
Despite the dour economic forecast
for this coming year we’ve gone ahead and stocked a full assortment of these “bad boys”. Many of them are
available even further discounted if purchased as a rod/reel combo. And, as usual, we have a full stock of all striper gear
waiting for you – rigs, hooks, slides, floats, heavy duty swivels, sinkers, landing nets, gill nets, scap nets, herring
pens, striper rods, line, etc. . Although we always do a lot of bulk-spooling of line for anglers it
surprises us when one of our regular customers seems to finally “discover” that this service is available. This
is particularly noticeable with our striper fishermen who require heavier lines for their equipment and usually do it once
or twice each annual run. For those of you who have been wondering how often it should be done – at a minimum you should
re-spool your line once each year, more often if you fish a lot. .
Generally speaking, the total cost
of having us re-spool a spinning reel with 20, 25 or 30 (or even 40) pound Berkley Big Game monofilament (up to 200 yards)
is $9 plus tax. This is all PREMIUM line and winds up costing less than if you purchased the line separately. The
spool will be properly filled, there’ll be no left-over yardage of line that goes to waste, you won’t have to
wonder and ponder if the line came off the new spool in the proper direction so as to avoid line twist, and you won’t
have to ask your “significant other” to hold the spool on a pencil while you crank away.
Tom G. . ******************************************************************************* SPRINGTIME CATSKILL CREEK FISHING – THE END OF AN ERA?? .
The following is a copy of the letter we sent to both Catskill’s “THE DAILY MAIL”
newspaper and New York’s ENCON regarding plans to shut down a section of the Catskill Creek for springtime fishing. This
plan did not receive the endorsement of our local government officials but ENCON's final decision on this matter has
yet to be made. A great many local anglers fear that no matter what the truth of the matter is this rash decision will be
pushed through. . This is in reply to your article “Close the creek”
which appeared in the Daily Mail on Tuesday, April 12, 2011..I should like to reply to Mr. Bennett’s plans to place a section of the lower tide-water Catskill Creek off-limits
to fishing for an approximate 1 ½ month period each year. I, as a long time fisherman on that section of waterway and
as one of the founding fathers of three different nationally affiliated fishing clubs here in Catskill, and as the owner of
Catskill's River Basin Sport Shop fishing store for the past 33 years, wish to voice not only my opposition but the opposition
of a multitude of other anglers to such an undertaking. . During
the period of closure, which supposedly would encompass the second half of March and the entire month of April, the section
of the Catskill Creek from the Route 9W bridge upstream to Leeds has provided anglers with an amazingly varied fishery since
the area was originally settled in the 1600’s—one unequaled elsewhere. I personally have been
fishing this particular stretch of water during the proposed closure period for over 50 years, clambering over its rocks from
the time of my pre-teen years all the way to the present. Not only have I done so, but so also have multitudes of other local
fishermen and many customers from my business. What would be halted at this MOST productive time of the year is as follows: . Trout: This is the only period of the year when we have access to brown trout this
far down in our waterway. The springtime high waters and semi-floods always wash these fish from their haunts in the upper
reaches of the Catskill and Kaaterskill Creeks down into our area. Of importance for anyone fishing for them are the shoal
to deep areas that abound in this section and, in particular, where tidewater finally meets its match with the outflow from
our mountain streams. This section is locally known as the Edgemere and was dedicated over sixty years ago by Eleanore Roosevelt
for outdoor recreation use. . Yellow perch: Springtime has always meant
great yellow perch fishing in the Catskill Creek but nowhere on this waterway is there a location as conducive to the pleasures
of sitting on the bank and “yanking out” a few perch as in this tidal transition zone. It’s an experience
I, as well as countless others have enjoyed for, it seems, forever and it basically exists only during the proposed period
of closure. . Herring: Back in the 1950’s I recall watching beat-up wooden work boats dipping
their huge scap nets into the waters of this area and seeing those nets once more emerge, alive with the sparkling silver
of springtime alewives and herring. Although that time is long gone, as are those men and their boats, the herring and alewives
still continue their genetically programmed springtime run up into the Catskill Creek in impressive numbers. And, they are
still pursued by avid anglers, again in this accessible area where we find the shoal to deep hydrography. . Striped Bass: This tidal transition zone remains as just about the only section
in the Catskill Creek where anglers using artificial lures have a decent chance of catching striped bass. And, the best time
of the year for this opportunity is during the proposed closure period when those stripers pursue the herring upstream. Additionally,
the upper tidal transition zone is the only locally viable area where one can expect to successfully fish for striped bass
using fly fishing gear. It is a section used by this cadre of anglers as well as by licensed New York State guides to bring
their friends and clients. . I have fished the section of the Catskill
proposed for closure from ice-out through freeze-up (and, on occasion, even through the ice) from the early 1950’s right
up to the present time and have personally caught 30 species of fish there – legally, on hook and line. . The one fish I have never caught therein is the walleye. Oh, I know that walleye
can at times be found in that section of the creek. But just as I make no effort to catch any other game fish out of season
I most certainly make no effort to pursue this one. For any fisherman to be prohibited from fishing this section of the Catskill
Creek because a few rogue anglers may choose to do so illegally would truly be a crime in itself. . Surely
when such an unlawful condition exists it should be up to the law enforcement division of our Environmental Conservation Department
to handle it. The present, as well as past experiences, teach that if it does exist the handing out of a few citations will
handle it quickly enough once the word spread. Thanks to the picture the Daily Mail ran in the paper last week this has already
started to happen. . It seems that this whole situation has been
way overblown in its deleterious effect on our walleye fishery since this fishery, for all intents and purposes, does NOT
exist. The only time this species is in the creek is during its closed season – after that I am not aware of one single
fisherman that can actually go out and intentionally, for certain, catch one. These fish disappear into the depths of the
main Hudson River and are but rarely, and then only inadvertently, caught. The closure of this section of the waterway would
do nothing but cause ill will among the many legal anglers who enjoy fishing there. . Already there is limited public access for fishing in our area. To close off almost half of the creek’s water
for fishing certainly would make no sense. Rather than bring any people here to enjoy the splendor of our upper tidewater
creek it would do just the opposite. What sense is this? Closing off the creek because of a few lawbreakers would be akin
to closing off Rte. 9W because of a few speeders. Instead, let’s make sure law enforcement keeps doing its job. It should
be kept in mind that walleye fishing during this time is ALREADY illegal. . As an angler fishing the tidal Catskill Creek for more than 50 years, and as the owner of Catskill's River Basin Sport
Shop in contact with thousands of anglers each year, I urge the Greene County legislature and Mr. Bennett to forgo the idea
of closing this water and let us continue to enjoy our centuries old pastime of angling there. . Sincerely yours.Thomas Gentalen, angler River
Basin Sport Shop, proprietor (518)943-2111. . After we posted the above story we received several phone calls about who to contact in this regard.
You have until April 2 to send in your comments: . ******************************************************************************** . Hudson
River Fishing Report – Tuesday, March 27, 2012 . As we head into the second week of this year’s striper run
we’re still amazed that everything has popped so early. As near as we can tell from our sources the status of the run
has remained pretty much the same for the past 7 days - here’s what we hear from up and down the river: . The herring
are now all the way up to the Troy dam. The Postenkill, a favorite herring catcher spot, is said to be packed with them. This
is an interesting little creek with herring there in the daytime and then, after the sun sets, at this time of year spawning
walleyes move in. Of course, nowadays a similar herring / walleye scenario is played out in just about all the tributary streams
into the Hudson. . The one thing missing at the present time are the schools of smelt which used to run up the
river each March. They petered out about 25 years ago as the results of the mid-1970’s ban on commercial river fishing
for striped bass took hold and now, except for a rare sighting, these fish are virtually gone. Of course, their replacement
has been in the form of hundreds of thousands (maybe?) of stripers which probably looked upon them as bite-sized candy and
apparently sucked them right up. Looking at our records it appears that the striped bass population increased in number and
size right up into the late 1980’s before leveling out. . With the present river temperature at Catskill standing at 47 degrees,
the wind howling and the air temp having dropped down to the mid-20’s last night there is a good chance that some of
the creek herring will drop back into the deeper river waters for a day or so and become harder to catch. . The stripers
that have arrived in our mid-section of the tidal Hudson appear mostly to be in the 18 to 32 inch range (3 to 15 lbs.). This
does seem a wee bit strange to us since we are used to seeing somewhat larger fish arrive in the area first, those measuring
up to 38 inches. But since the action started here about three weeks early we won’t complain too much. Fish all the
way from the Newburgh area north up to Stockport appear to be pretty much in the same size range. . A normal patterning
for striper arrivals here in the Catskill area is to have the main run start approximately three weeks after the first of
the “scout” fish arrive. IF that should hold true in this non-typical year then we should expect to see a goodly
increase in the number of stripers, as well as in the size of the fish, sometime around the end of the first week in April.
If we revert back to our usual patterning then you could expect to see the better fishing start around the end of the third
week in April. In this very unique year it is truly hard to predict just what may happen – the big ones could move in
tomorrow. . Anyway, the time is here. The floats at Catskill’s free launch ramp have now been installed and are just
waiting for you and the parks are open for any shore-bound anglers. Here at the shop we have chunk herring bait as well as
bloodworms for you to try. Tackle? We have the best selection of striper tackle around. We can re-spool your striper reels
and issue your NY State fishing license as well as your mandatory Marine Species registration for the stripers. We have river
maps and can provide you with good solid fishing instruction and data, not just merely rumor. Come on over, we’ll be
glad to see you. Tom G . . *********************************************************************** . Hudson
River Fishing Report – Wednesday, March 21, 2012 . Reports abound of plentiful herring from both
up and down the river, and along with them– the striped bass! So far it seems that the herring have been running a bit
on the large side, at least somewhat chunky. The striped bass have mostly been measuring up to about the 32 inch range and
weighing in at around 15 pounds. A few reports of larger fish have come in but we have yet to see one of these. We did receive
a small shipment of fresh bait herring to sell here at the shop today but if you wish to try and catch your own it seems that
the Roe-Jan and Stockport Creeks have a pretty good run going at the present time. . Sign-ups for our 25th Annual Striped Bass
Contest are coming along real well and we are finally starting to log-in the entries now – unfortunately everything
in this regard seems to be progressing at about a two week delay this year. . As all our past contest entrants know all striper entries are ranked by length
as measured from the tip of the fish’s closed mouth to the furthest out tip of tail. Through the years we found that
this was the surest way to do it – weights can be fudged, and when you start talking about a number of entrants
like we have (last year we had almost 700 entrants)… it’s better to remove any temptation. Additionally,
there is but ONE official measuring board and that’s the one here at the RIVER BASIN - all fish are sized on that board
and in the same manner. . And,
of course, our paybacks will be to the largest 5 fish brought in. The amount of payback is determined by the total amount
of registration money – there is a 100% payback of all registration fees. The winner’s percentages are computed
after the $4,000 guaranteed first prize money has been taken in. Any ties will have the total amount of money that’s
up for consideration split between the tied contestants. Last year we paid back over $10,000. For a full list of rules and
particulars you’ll have to stop through and pick up the entry application. . Afternoon reports from the river today continued to tell of plentiful herring,
and perhaps somewhat fewer stripers up to about 32 inches in length, with a couple perhaps around the 40 inch range. Plenty
of herring and striper action down around the Kingston area also. The herring at the Roe-Jan are reported to be jumbo size
and we’ve had confirmed herring reports from as far upriver as New Baltimore. Bethlehem still seems to be lacking any
such action but that should be changing at any time now. The Hudson – Stockport area seems to have a particularly fairly
good number of stripers around. We’ll keep you posted. Tom G. . ************************************************************* . Hudson River Fishing Report – Monday,
March 19. 2012 . WE’VE STARTED . This past weekend was definitely the earliest
date (March 15) that we here at the RIVER BASIN SPORT SHOP have ever logged the annual arrival of the river herring at
Catskill. Furthermore, it was the first time we ever saw the stripers here prior to St. Patrick’s
Day – they arrived on March 15th (not too many in number or size but they had definitely arrived). Additionally,
this past weekend we received a report that the first of the herring might have already reached the Postenkill Creek in the
Albany area, but it was a night time observance, therefore somewhat iffy. . The first surge of herring to arrive made a good showing in both the Roeliff-Jansenkill Creek
and about 8 miles further upriver in the Stockport Creek at Columbiaville. From this time on, judging by past years, new schools
of herring will be entering the Hudson on a fairly regular basis, working their way upriver and usually hanging around any
feeder creeks they come to for a few days before pushing on further north toward the head of tidewater at Troy. Hopefully,
they will soon be followed by schools of large stripers. . We still have not received our first shipment of herring bait this year and won’t probably be getting
it until next week. All we have right now are some frozen baits from last year’s run. We’ll try to get some sandworms
or bloodworms for this coming weekend for any of you wanting to give it an early try. But – do remember that this is
just the start of the run and “usually” the good fishing won’t get started here until about three weeks
after the first herring passes under the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. . By the way, our striper contest starts on April 16th – anything caught before
that date does not count. Be sure to be registered for the event by April 15th. . Email Address . In order to try and give you a more thorough idea of what’s going on up and down the
river we’re once more going to re-try an old idea. A few years ago we were posting fishing reports on another web site
but had to stop doing it due to the amount of E-mail we were getting – it was taking half a day every day just to try
to respond to all the mail. We just couldn’t do that and finally had to stop it all together. Since that time we’ve
been duplicating that effort here on the RIVER BASIN SPORTS web site but with the provision that we won’t be replying
to any questions posed to us. . The
following Email address, “www.XXXX @XXXX.com” can be used to send us any fishing report you wish to contribute
to the whole effort of fishing in our area. We will use the reports you send us to let others perusing this website know what’s
going on. But again - there will be NO replies to any of the E-mails submitted other than as an acknowledgement of receipt.
If you wish to participate in this effort feel free to so. Your Email address will not be used for anything else at all –
no distribution of any kind! Thank You. Tom G . *********************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report – Saturday, March 17, 2012 . THERE’S HERRING AROUND . Pretty much as we figured the yearly run of herring reached
our area late Thursday, March 15, 2012, afternoon. Additional rumors of a few stripers having been caught were circulating
this morning but we did not see any of these fish… and our sources of information so far are unknown quantities to
us. .
We have no fresh herring bait in the shop as of yet but we've got plenty of supplies...
and we are open 7 days a week now. Check our hours, listed above. Tom G . *************************************************************** .
Hudson River Fishing Report – Friday March 16, 2012 . If
you’re a regular visitor to this site you already know that the doomsday-like changes to the herring fishing regulations
which we were all anticipating for 2012 did not materialize. This means that everything in that regard remains as it was in
2011. Here at the River Basin we all partook in a long sigh of relief… but have grave misgivings about the possible
consequences of this action next year, in 2013. All we can do is wait and see what happens. . THINGS ARE HEATING UP . At
the crack of dawn this morning a lone soul was to be seen standing down at Catskill’s launch ramp, shivering in the
strong cold wind blowing up the Hudson River Valley. And I’ll confess – it was me. The task at hand was to take
the river’s temperature, and that was completed without any wasted effort. . The reading on my thermometer appeared somewhat
unlikely… so I tossed it back into the waves again, same reading – just a smidgen below 43 degrees. Wow! The
river had reached the temperature at which we usually anticipate herring arriving at any time – and fully about two
weeks before normal. . Back at the shop we made a few phone calls and found that yes, indeed, the herring are now
in mid-river and are on their way here to us. Actually, considering the temperature, there is a good chance that a few of
the lead fish might already be here, and might even be past us. If so, we’ll know in the next few days and will let
you know right away. . Even so, our herring suppliers are anticipating going out to test the waters during the next
few days and if, and when, they meet with success we will have a fresh supply of this bait here at the shop (at present all
we have are some of last year’s frozen fish). We’ll know in just a few days. . HERRING JIGS . Of course,
if you just can’t wait for us to get them you can go out and try to jig up some of your own – but this is a tough
task at the very beginning of the run. Nevertheless, it is possible with the use of herring jig rigs (Sabikis). . Every few years
or so we like to relate the story of how we first discovered how well these little multi-hook fish catchers were locally put
into use and this seems like a good time to once more tell the story. . 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 10 to1 here,
remains that original one from 15 years ago. . 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 - $3.48 a pop, so you’re looking
at $41.76 (plus tax, of course) as a total… but you do save about $7.00 on the transaction. . 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 special will be good through April 30, 2012. (The
fishing regulations specify no more than 5 points on a rig so if you should happen to purchase a six hook rig… just
cut one off) Tom G . .************************************************************* Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, March 14, 2012 . IT’S
MAINLY ABOUT HERRING THIS YEAR . (SEE THE SEPARATE VERY IMPORTANT NEWS PARAGRAPH BELOW)
. Even
though we’ve already been getting reports of herring having arrived down in the lower brackish waters of the Hudson
River one of our most dependable sources of information there has yet to report any of them upriver as far as Wappingers.
Yet I’m sure that it won’t be long now until he does. The reports of loads of herring hanging around New York
Harbor for the past couple of months were not of the “river” herring which we see up here on the Hudson but rather
of another species more cylindrical in body shape than our alewives and bluebacks. . And it is the herring that has been the main
topic of discussion among our striper fishermen this year. We’ve had great fears that we might see a total shut-down
of the herring fishery but they were somewhat allayed due to the proposed implementation of New York’s herring management
plan… at least for the present. Such has not been the case in New Jersey this year. . Due to New
Jersey’s failure to develop a “sustainable management plan” for river herring (bluebacks and alewives),
that state’s anglers are now prohibited by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which has jurisdiction
over such affairs, from keeping these fish. The fine for possessing each herring is $30 per fish. . TIMELY PARAGRAPH INSERTION (added
after everything else for today had been written).The rest of this herring restriction report refers to
a “non-event”, one which did NOT happen. After I wrote all this up we decided to give it a final check and discovered
that even ENCON must bow to a higher power in this state - since NONE of these new regulations were approved on March
14th as planned. Furthermore, among some people involved there is the thought that all the stuff written about
below, as well as various other incidentals relating to it, will probably not even go into effect this year. What
the future consequences of this might mean should now be our main worry. . CONTINUATION OF ABOVE ARTICLE . Rather, it appears (although
not yet quite official at the time of this writing) that our strictures will include a limit of 10 herring, dead or alive,
which you may keep in one day. Once you have caught, or obtained, your 10 herring – that’s it! You may continue
to fish but must release any others you catch. Further, there is a maximum number of herring allowed on a boat - 10 per angler
up to a maximum of 50 herring. This rule also applies to charter boats. . But the one new restriction which they want
to impose this year, the one which will probably create a shortage of bait herring, will be the “no nets in creeks rule.”
Dip nets, scap nets, gill nets or any other type of net you can think of, according to a bulletin issued by ENCON,
may not be used to fish for herring in any of the Hudson’s tributaries. This includes netting a herring lured
in with a “stoolie.” The use of Sabiki rigs (herring rig jigs) in creeks is allowed but it seems that they are
emphasizing the “5 hook” limitation per rig this year – just clip one off if yours has six. . Up in the Albany
area it should be remembered that herring fishing is prohibited on the Waterford flight of locks / dams, from Guard gate 2
to lock 2). . Remember that you must have a separate “registration” (license) to fish for any saltwater species
(stripers, herring, etc.) in N.Y. If you are fishing strictly for any fresh-water species, even in the
Hudson, then the “salt license” is not required, rather the standard state fishing license is. The exception is
in the tributaries where, even if you are fishing only for salt-water species, you must have BOTH types of license. There
is no charge for the salt license – just bring your driver’s license into the shop and we will issue it to you.
The standard NY resident license costs $29. . Of course, here at the River Basin we sell all sorts of stuff to catch the herring
as well as the stripers. Yes, we have scoop nets, seines, the perfect scap net, stoolies, Sabiki’s, herring pens and
tanks, and gill nets. Out of this selection it is the gill net that requires a special commercial license, even if it is not
for commercial use – it is considered to be a commercial piece of equipment. It’s really no big thing to get this
license and the cost is minimal. If you want to give the netting thing a try get the license-permit first since that process
could take up to a couple of weeks. Then, if you find it necessary, you can just walk in and buy a gill net on the spot. To
get a gill net application you need to call ENCON’s Marine Division at 631-444-0470 and tell them you need the application
for a net on the Hudson River. These folks are usually very helpful and will get it out to you quickly. . Oh, one other
thing I don’t want to forget to mention is that you are allowed the use of three rods this year. No longer do you have
to worry about having two striper poles out while jigging for herring with a third – it’s now legal… at
least until this temporary permission runs out on December 31, 2013. Why’s and how-comes for this??? Who knows, just
go with the flow. (THIS IS ALREADY IN EFFECT FOR 2012). . Here at the River Basin we’re running somewhat behind on
getting our merchandise out on display since our main spring shipment was delayed several weeks. But now it’s here,
over 250 cases of tackle in our back storage room, overflowing into the shop itself. We’re rigging up all kinds of special
deals on striped bass baitrunner combos and reels and are getting more stuff out on display each day. WE HAVE MORE SPECIALIZED
STRIPER STUFF THAN ANYBODY ELSE WE ARE AWARE OF. . Here’s a limited time “super-duper” website-only
striper special you might take advantage of. A brand new, real sharp looking, TICA baitrunner reel, the SPORTERRA SV5007R.
This one is so new that it won’t even be listed until next year’s Tica catalog comes out. Suggested list price
on will be $99.95, our regular price is $89.98… but through this coming week, until Saturday, March 24th,
as an introductory special, you can save an additional $20 dollars on it and get it for $69.98. Remember though, this is a
website special and is not advertised in the store – you MUST ask for the special price to get it. . So come on
and get ready, be sure to sign up for our striper contest since it won’t be long until the stripers are here. We just
had a couple of guys come through and claim that they had seen a dead herring (or shad) in the Catskill Creek – no,
they didn’t bring the fish through. But any way you look at it, this season is about to pop open.
Tom G . **************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report – Friday,
March 09, 2012 . EARLY STRIPERS? . As we approach the start of April the most often heard question here at the River Basin
is “Do you think the stripers will be in early this year?” Our reply is always that we won’t know until
the end of March since we could still get nailed by a bunch of cold weather, “nor’easter storms,” or even
a blizzard. This has all happened in years past. . But, should the present weather pattern continue, there is a good
chance we might see an earlier arrival than usual. Generally the herring arrive here first, immediately followed by the stripers.
There have been some years we’ve actually seen the stripers around before the herring. One thing for sure is that the
stripers and the herring are partnered by nature and if we spot either one of them the other is sure to be around. . Ignoring
the early February rumors we’ve heard of herring already being here, our River Basin records show the earliest past
verified herring / striper arrival in the Catskill area took place back on March 29, 2002. At that time we were in a warming
trend and the Catskill Creek was flowing at a temperature of 43 degrees, reaching 47 degrees just a week later. Other early
arrival years at the end of March were 1983, 1987, 1998, 2004 and 2006. . Right now the trend seems to indicate that
this year just might top any of those others. But keep in mind that that’s just the start of the run – it’s
usually 2 to 3 weeks after that before the number of fish in the area has grown appreciably to the stage where you can successfully
fish for them. . NEW REGULATIONS . Among the new regulations which may be imposed upon our striper fishermen this year these
2 seem most onerous – no netting of ANY kind of herring in the creeks and a daily possession limit of 10 herring per
angler. . No netting, according to Kathy Hatala of the NYDEC Hudson River Fisheries Unit out of New Paltz , means just
that – you can’t “scap”, seine or scoop this species out of any Hudson tributary creek. If you have
to wonder where you’re using your net for them is actually inside a creek – I’m willing to bet that it is.
Do keep in mind that Sabiki herring rigs are legal to use in the creeks. . And, 10 herring a day means just that –
only 10. They can be dead, they can be chunked, or they can be alive but they can only be 10. And no, you can’t use
up your first 10 and then go back for more. Boy, enforcement of this one is sure to give the ENCON officers fits. . By the way,
it appears that the “non-transportation of herring by motorized vehicle” rule has now been lifted, at least mostly.
After years of worry and bother for striper fishermen the state now appears to be saying that yes, it was a silly regulation
– sorry about that. But do keep in mind that you may transport the herring up and down river only within the Hudson
River valley corridor. Also keep in mind that you do still need to have a “marine species” license to fish for
either herring or stripers – no charge but you must have it. Just have your driver’s license with you when you
come in and we’ll issue it. . EQUIPMENT . After several weeks of delay our spring striper gear shipments
have finally started to arrive here at the River Basin. And, we’re hustling to get all this stuff out onto our shelves.
Lots of rods, reels and tackle – heck, we’ve even got over 20 DIFFERENT baitrunner reels in stock ON THE SHELF.
Where else are you going to find all that? . Lots of Sabiki rigs, lots of stoolies, hooks, sinkers, rigs (on display), nets,
lines, advice and unfortunately, usually just one of me. Even though we carry a huge selection of striper equipment we’re
still a small shop and we hustle the best we can, but sometimes you might have to wait a few minutes to have a question answered
when you come in. The clock is counting down now, the weeks are passing by and lots of guys have already entered our striper
contest. Get off your duff and start getting ready - the striper fishing season is just about here. . ICE OUT, WALLEYES,
RESTRICTIONS . “Ice Out” on our Catskill Creek was definitely a non-event this year. There was no time at all when
this waterway was frozen over thick enough to support the weight of any fisherman, and that’s the criterion we use to
determine when the creek is actually frozen over. The “no-ice” situation here in our Catskill locale is a definite
rarity but by no means a “100 year event” such as the enormous flooding caused by last fall’s passage of
Hurricane Irene. . Delving back into the past 32 years of “ice-out” data which we have accumulated here at the River
Basin Sport Shop we see that during the first 18 years the shop was in business (since 1979) the creek had frozen over solid
every year. Then we had a real mild winter in 1998 and, although there were a couple of periods when skim ice was to be seen
on the waterway, no single brave soul of an ice fisherman even dared to attempt entry onto its surface. A similar occurrence
took place just 4 years ago – no real ice! And now, in 2012, we’ve seen a third time. . There were a few
hardy walleye anglers that took advantage of this nature’s whim – in the middle of winter they took to the waterway
in boats. There were those that caught fish and those that didn’t. Since our walleye fishery has been kept as kind of
a secret to a small select group of knowledgeable local anglers in an attempt to have it remain viable - they were the ones
who caught fish… newcomers usually didn’t. . For years the details and movements of the spring walleyes in the
Catskill Creek had been known to these guys. Fish that were caught were again released so as to allow them to reproduce and
perhaps be caught again during some future fishing expedition. This went on for years and the population of walleyes grew
dramatically in number. From approximately 2005 on, during the nights of spawn the walleyes were stacked up on the creek’s
shallows, literally from shore to shore. And nobody else knew - neither other anglers nor the state’s Department of
Environmental Conservation. . Of course such a state of affairs could not be kept a secret forever. There were a few
newbies who had been invited to either observe or participate in this fantastic fishery and afterwards couldn’t be restrained
from spreading the word – and a few of them even went so far as to stalk the spawning fish out of season. By this time
the word had spread far and wide and even ENCON had become aware of the walleyes. . And along with this awareness came the inevitable
– more restrictions. Yup, even though it has been illegal all along to pursue those walleyes out of season, it appears
that we will soon be having even more restrictions piled atop any previous restrictions. ENCON is proposing to close off several
miles of the creek, from the route 9W Bridge all the way to Leeds, to ALL FISHING during the period walleye season is closed.
It’s pretty much a done deal. Tough luck perch, catfish, and striper fishermen, sure you’ll lose all that fishable
water but that’s living here in New York State. . Anyway, as of right now you have until March 15th to
fish this section of the creek for ALL species with the exception of black bass (another of our local restrictions not held
to throughout most of the state). As of this date the closure of the creek is still not official - so enjoy the fishing while
you can.
Tom G . **************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report –
Thursday, February 16, 2012 . What an incredible winter we’ve had so far! I certainly can’t remember
one such as we’ve been having here in 2012 with such a prolonged spell of warm weather and lack of snow. . When we returned
from our vacation last week I was surprised (pleasantly) to see that the local terrain was still nice and brown (I don’t
ski nor do I have a snowmobile) and that the pond which is my front yard was only partially frozen over. Of course, most of
the RIVER BASIN’S ice fishing customers thought that this state of affairs just completely sucked. Many of them just
took out their normal warmer weather fishing gear and headed to the banks of any local waters still unfrozen. . Within the
definition of what we generally consider to be “local” waters that ARE suitable for ice fishing at present
are North – South Lake, Rip Van Winkle Lake, Colgate Lake, Queechy Lake and Franklinton Vly – these are the ones
that were being targeted for ice fishing action last weekend. Among the many local waters that were LACKING ice were Greene
Lake, Copake Lake, Lake Taconic, Coxsackie (Medway) Reservoir, Esopus Creek and Catskill Creek. Bear this in mind if you’re
planning an excursion this weekend. . The most interesting fishing reports came to us from the Catskill Creek where
some anglers have been having decent luck with some nice yellow perch, quite a few of which have measured around the jumbo
14 inch size – real beauts! Best baits for these have been shiner minnows, but worms run a close second. . The main trick
to catching the perch is to locate the school – you can either bank-fish while waiting hopefully for them to move into
your location, or you can go seeking them. One of my favorite ways to fish them is to drift fish while bouncing either a worm
or minnow directly beneath or slightly behind the boat. I’ve found the stretch between the Hop-O-Nose Point and Riverview
Marine Services Marina to be pretty good for this. A smart move while doing it is to have a marker-float ready to drop in
when you have a hit. Usually these fish will be grouped and this will let you locate that school again. . In addition
to the yellow perch you may also hook an occasional smallmouth bass. Keep in mind that it is not legal to pursue this species
out of season in the Hudson River or its tributaries up to the first barrier impassible to the fish. So, just concentrate
on the perch or… the walleye. . That’s right, with the ice-free condition of the creek it is now possible
to fish for the walleyes here, at least until the season closes on March 15th. I would suggest fishing for them
in the same manner and with the same baits as for the yellow perch, only somewhat deeper. The deeper water in this lower reach
of the creek can be found tight onto the south edge shoreline, right next to the cliffs. . So far the only walleye
reports I’ve received have been of a few “short” fish (less than 15 inches in length) but one has to know
the source of any information received in order to trust their veracity. There are some anglers whose reports we don’t
usually give any credence to, while with others we try to read between the lines of their “no luck” tales. Often,
with this special type of fishermen we see that – yes, indeed - the fish are there. So far this year we’ve received
no such “bad luck” reports. . As you can plainly see from the illustration at the top of this report, the entry
forms for our 25th ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST are now available here at the River Basin. You can’t get them
anywhere else so you do have to pick them up here at the shop. If you have an extra form left over from last year do NOT use
it - it’s no good. . After much discussion, and input from many previous participants regarding changes in the way
we run our event it has been decided that there will be no changes in the rules this year. I want to thank those of you who
sent in suggestions and assure you that they were all read and considered. The only change that has been made has been in
the amount of money GUARANTEED to the angler bringing in the first place fish – we have increased this by a $1,000 to
$4,000.00. . As last year’s participants are well aware we paid back to the top 5 striped bass last year and 100% of
the registration monies we have taken in have been paid back as prizes. 2012’s paybacks, based on the $15 registration
fee, were as follows – 1) $5,758, 2) $1,779, 3) $1,361, 4) $942, 5) $628. The more entrants we get into the event, the
greater the paybacks will be, but the least amount of prize money the top angler will receive is $4,000. . We’ll
detail more contest rules, fishing facts and trivia here in the upcoming weeks but will now end this, our 1st installment
of our 2012 fishing reports, with a wish that you have a great season of fishing and perhaps catch the lunker of your lifetime.
Tom G . ********************************************************* Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday,
November 17, 2011 . This report will just about wind up our fishing updates for 2011. . As strange as it may seem the Hudson River
here in the vicinity of Catskill has actually gotten a wee-bit warmer during the course of the past week and a
half – from 46 degrees up to 48. As could be expected, the Catskill Creek has seen a similar temperature rise,
from 44 degrees to 46. . The river’s color, for the most part, is pretty good with a see-through visibility in
most locations of at least 1 to 2 feet. The Catskill Creek will show bottom all the way down to the 8-10 foot level. . Somewhat
surprisingly the creek’s smallmouth action has been very sporadic – real good for a day or two and then dropping
off to just about nil for several days. We’re going to have to assume that this is due to the temperature differential
between the big river and the creek – generally we don’t see the mass of the smallie movement into the creek until
the temperatures of the two waters equalize or when the creek actually gets to be warmer than the river - that certainly has
not happened yet. . Although the river’s fishing has coalesced into some small, very distinct areas the catch from any such
spot tends to be superb. It almost seems that 3 pound smallies are the norm now and 4 to 4 ½ pounders are not uncommon.
Of course the trick is to locate such small honey-holes. . Best baits have been 1/8 ounce black or brown hair jigs, tubes
and live shiners. Of course a slow retrieved Rat-L-trap or Normans Deep Little N can still put a fish or two in the boat at
this time so don’t hesitate to give them a try. . Although we have received one or two reports of walleyes being
taken from the creek most assuredly there has been no big movement of these fish into the creek yet. The same can be said
of the wintering population of yellow perch – we’ve caught no perch from the creek yet but last time out on the
river we did catch 5 or six. . As a final wrap-up, here are the 2011 finishing positions for our local TIDERUNNERS black
bass fishing club, an affiliate of the FLW, NYTBF. They hold all 9 of their events on the Hudson River. 1) T Gentalen, 2)
TIE R. Phelan and J. Imbesi, 4) R. Burton, 5) K. Clarke, 6) L. Paccione, 7) J. Rath Jr., 8) S. Daley, 9) J. Rath Sr., 10)
Fidelius, 11) Henderson, 12) Delaware, 13) Vinci 14) Erikson. . From this time on we are going to start thinking mainly of the
upcoming year’s annual striped bass run and our RIVER BASIN SPORTS striped bass contest. This past spring’s run
produced some great fish and the $5,758 dollar first prize (we paid back to the top 6 fish) was won by Tom Borchert with a
49 ¼” contest record-breaking linesider. We’ll have entry forms for the event available sometime starting
in February – last year there were almost 600 fishermen entered in this 100% pay-back contest.
Tom G . ********************************************************************************* . Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, November 3, 2011 . Last week’s surprise snowstorm did a real nasty job here in the mid-Hudson
Valley and the two tournaments that were scheduled were each cancelled. To make up for it we have two other ones scheduled
for this weekend, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. Since I have not received any information on Saturday’s event
there’s not much to say about it but Sunday’s contest is the Bergen Bassmasters “Bassin Lane Open.” . Sunday’s weather really
seems too good to be true – a NICE day for this 5 fish boat-limit event. Since there is only a five bass limit you can
even partake in it by yourself if you don’t have a partner. The entry fee is $160 per boat and you can sign up at the
Catskill ramp that morning starting at around 5 a.m. . I hit the river for a couple of hours before work this morning and here’s what I found. The water
temperature is running at just about the 47 degree mark but the feeder creeks are 2 to 3 degrees cooler. In most locations
I fished the see-thru water clarity ranged from 1 to 2 feet but there was one spot where 6 inches was the best to be had.
The feeder creeks, with the exception of the Esopus, were running nice and clean. . Somewhat surprisingly there was more floating debris on the main river
than you would have expected and branches, limbs and larger chunks of timber were to be seen. Although it actually wasn’t
real bad more than the usual amount of caution should be exercised. But what will require more than the normal amount of caution
is just how close you go to any duck blinds out there. Saturday is the opening day of the second half of the duck season here
in our southeast region. Let’s not tick those duck hunters off! . The smallmouths which were supposed to have been real active at the beginning
of this week seemed somewhat dormant this morn. Using Gulp Minno drop shot rigs I hit 6 spots which I felt should have been
producING good action considering the present conditions and was really surprised that three of them turned out to be zips.
On each of 2 locations that held fish I shook off 2 that felt decent and then left those spots alone. On the third spot a
14 inch smallie decided to hook itself but that was the only fish that seemed to be holding there. . The fellows fishing the Catskill Creek yesterday
caught a few fish but reported the action was considerably slower than what they had found there this past Monday and Tuesday. . With the warming trend coming
in the fishing this weekend should really turn on. Good luck to any of you that’ll be out there.
Tom G . ******************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday,
October 27, 2011 . As incredible as it may seem
the forecast for later on this afternoon calls for an inch or two of snow in our area… but that’s no problem
since I’m NOT going fishing today! Now, this weekend is a different story. Saturday’s predicted high of 45 and
low of 27 are about 5 degrees below the norm. The wind isn’t supposed to be too bad, 4 mph with gusts to 9, but there
is supposed to be a little bit of rain mixed in with that. Sunday looks to be 3 – 4 degrees warmer, perhaps a wee bit
breezier but no rain. Not too bad, so I think I’ll fish the local TIDERUNNERS bass club’s final tournament of
the year this Sunday. Should be fun. . The Hudson’s fishing conditions for this weekend should find the water temperature to be running somewhere
in the low to mid 50 degree range with a little bit of floating junk (just left over weed stems and leaves). The water color
is going to be harder to predict. Last weekend it was all dependent on location - we found some places with an almost two
foot see-thru clarity and others with barely six inches. The muddiest waters we encountered were to the north and south of
Saugerties where the Esopus Creek still continues to pump in very muddy water and, surprisingly, further north in Stockport
Cove. I suspect that conditions this weekend will be very similar to last weekend’s with the water’s see-thru
range perhaps somewhat a little bit better. . Although my partner John Imbesi and I didn’t exactly “kill ‘em” last weekend we
did put a respectable 5 fish limit just shy of 16 pounds in the boat. The winner’s of last weekend’s 1st
Sullivan Open tournament found a bunch of largemouths somewhere and weighed in a 19 pound limit of those green fish. . We fished primarily crankbaits (Rattletraps
and Norman Deep Little N’s) all day long hitting lots of points all up and down the river between the Kingston Rhinecliff
Bridge and the Stockport Cove, picking up a fish here and then a couple of others there. Unfortunately we did not get into
a good school of chunkers until just about the very end of the tournament day with about 10 minutes of fishing time left.
That was when a school of 3+ pound smallies moved out of deeper water and up into our area. We boated several, lost several,
and then had to go. Another 15 minutes there and the final weight in the livewell would definitely have been a few pounds
heavier… but that’s the way it goes. . I received a note from Nick of the Bergen Bassmasters stating that although there would be no advance
registration for their Catskill “The Bassin’ Lane Open” tournament on November 6th (see previous
notice below) you can fill in their registration form in advance and bring it to the tournament site that morning rather than
doing it there in the dark. If you come through the River Basin you can pick up one of the forms here.
Tom G . ***************************************************************************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, October 19, 2011 . LAST WEEKEND: once again the Hudson’s feeder creeks were wiped out as far as any decent bass fishing
was concerned. By late Friday afternoon the Catskill Creek was almost up to flood stage again… but then dropped down
rather quickly. Still, I doubt if the bass boat I saw heading up-creek against the muddy flow on Saturday morning was
able to catch much. By Sunday the current had reduced considerably but we were still considering the creek to be
unfishable. . There was a TIDERUNNERS club tournament held on the river on Sunday - and man, did some of those guys whack the
smallmouths. The top two finishers had over 15 lbs. each while third place weighed in just mere ounces below 15. Even though
no 4 pounders were taken in that event I am aware of at least one that was caught the very next day. . The fish have
definitely started to school up and there were at least 5 different schools of bass that Sunday’s anglers discovered.
Even though most of these congregations consisted of 6 to 10 bass there was one that yielded 24 fish before it was depleted.
Best yielding lures appeared to be rattletraps, Norman’s Deep Little N (gel-coat with sparkles) crankbaits, Senkos,
tubes and spinnerbaits. . The semi-muddy water of the main river flow (most places had about 12 inches of see-thru visibility)
seemed to dictate the use of lures which would produce more vibration - but yet the productivity of tubes and Senkos almost
seemed to put a lie to that. I guess then that my best guess as to the reason for such success under the present conditions
would be… location, location, location. . Guys that fished the “suck-holes” had good success with the smallies
but were often sidetracked by vicious attacks by stripers weighing up to about 15 pounds. Mouths of creeks were also decent
producing areas. Water temperature was running just around the 60 to 61 degree range, definitely somewhat warm for this time
of year. Amount of debris in the river here in the central tidewater section is surprisingly little but some reports from
30 miles further down are of considerable trash. . We are now heading into the peak of the smallmouth fishing on our
tidal waters and as long as excess rain doesn’t once more spoil it – the next 3 to 4 weeks should see absolutely
the best smallmouth fishing of the year. Tom G . ***************************************************************** . Hudson River Update, Friday, October 14, 2011 . Bad news for anyone planing to fish the creeks this weekend... as of late
this afternoon most of them are running very high and extremely muddy. Last night's and today's storms have dumped an
awful lot of rain on our already waterlogged area - local rain gauges were reading in excess of 3 inches for just the
overnight rain and we had quite a bit more today. The river is going to be the angler's only hope this weekend. Tom
G . **************************************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday,
October 13, 2011 . The bass fishing in the Hudson
River has been real good during this past week. The smallmouth bite seems to have really turned on and quality fish, in the
3 ½ + lb range are starting to show up. I don’t have an accurate temperature reading on the water but will make
a guess that it is somewhere in the 62 to 63 degree range. . The hazardous floating debris on the waterway is fairly minimal but you will encounter loose floating
clumps of weeds… which have an affinity to attach themselves to objects such as logs or branches. Water see-thru clarity
is more than a foot at most locations, a good indicator that most types of lures should work. The waters to the north, in
the Albany area, have slightly less clarity than those here in Catskill but south of Saugerties the conditions become ridiculously
bad. . It seems that the powers
that be found out that they had failed to kill off all the fish life in the Esopus Creek last fall and winter and are now
giving their efforts an even greater try – volumes of swirling red-mud waters continue to be discharged from the Ashoken
Reservoir further upstream in an effort to clog up the gills of any remaining fish life in that waterway. The river’s
waters for miles to the south of Saugerties, on the west shore side, should be avoided. . Many fish have already made their fall migration into
the river’s feeder creeks and the reports were of good action from largemouths in the Rondout and smallies in the Catskill
Creek. Grubs, Senkos, tubes, spinnerbaits and crankbaits have all been working well in the creeks as well as on the main river. . Of course we do have a prediction for about
an inch and a half of rain during the next 24 hours, as well as another half inch of rain forecast for Friday – these
possibly could muddy up the creeks. Additionally, Saturday is predicted to be quite windy so the first half of this weekend
might not provide the of best fishing conditions. Still, if the wind is bad you should find some refuge in the creeks.
Best of luck. Tom G . ************************************************************ . Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, October 06, 2011 . Although the calendar says that it’s the 6th of October the Hudson’s water temperature
certainly is not indicative of that. This past weekend we had 65 – 66 degree water temperatures out
there, fully 10 degrees warmer than what we had during the same period for most of the past decade when at times the temp
was down into the low 50’s. What this does to the fall transitioning of the bass is to slow it down – oh, it’s
still taking place but perhaps at a much more leisurely pace than what most bass fishermen would like. Be prepared for this
if you go out this weekend. . Although
most of the anglers we talked to this week reported smaller groupings of fish, perhaps two or three, we did talk to one who
hit the mother lode. This angler pulled up on the back side of a point and scored on smallies for almost two hours straight.
At the start it was a hit on just about every flip of his Senko, grub or tube. He lost count after 15 bass but continued to
pull out what he figures was at least half a dozen more. Then – as the tide went slack… the fish disappeared. . Over 90 percent of the bass we are hearing
about right now are smallies – the bigmouths seem to be lost out there somewhere. This could be due to the main breakup
of the chestnut beds that’s been occurring – last Sunday saw huge rafts of chestnuts heading down to sea. Places
like Coxsackie Cove were completely barren while larger sections, such as in the Embough Bay at Cementon, were still clinging
on to perhaps 50% of the greenery. We would not be surprised if just about all the chestnuts here in the mid-Hudson region
were gone by this weekend. Of course, those in the lower river around the Newburgh area usually last a couple of weeks longer. . The river is still somewhat muddy but fishable
in most locations with see-thru clarity of 10 to 12 inches. An exception to the “fishable” rating would be the
waters directly downstream from Saugerties and the Esopus Creek. That waterway is discharging extremely muddy water which
seemingly has shut down the bass fishing in the waters extending several miles to the south. Avoid this if you can. . Although there is some floating debris out
on the waterway, the situation is not that bad. Still, keep a sharp eye. . The river’s tributary creeks should be receiving the first of the season’s transitioning
fish right now and bear a good checking out before the Bergen Bassmasters Open on November 6. See the info on that event at
the end of this report. . The
fall run of striped bass is in our area right now – don’t be surprised if you hook a 3 footer while fishing any
suckhole. Hint – if the hooked fish is not landed within 15 seconds it’s not a black bass. It’s either a
carp or a striper. . NOTICEThe Bassin’ Lane Open.The
Bergen Bassmasters will be running the Bassin’ Lane Open buddy tournament on the Hudson River out of
Catskill NY on Sunday, November 6th..The Bassin’ Lane Open will be held from 7AM to
3PM and registration plus boat check will be from 5 to 6:30AM. The entry fee will be $160 per boat and this includes lunker
and an 80% payback. The boat limit will be FIVE bass at 15 inches minimum and you can fish
alone if you like. There will be no advance registration and boat numbers will be given out as you step up to the plate
on 11/6. It therefore pays to get to the ramp early. Please have a copy of your boat insurance on hand and everyone not a
member of Bergen or the TBF must sign a liability waiver. We have the Dutchman’s Ramp reserved and the Village of Catskill
will be leaving out the docks for us. If we get hit with a nor’easter or another big storm, check the www.bergenbassmasters.com website for a status report. Questions? call Nick on 917-217-9350.We are
the only club running an open out of Catskill on 11-6.
***************************************************************************************************
October 1, 2011 - Sorry to report this
but the river is pretty much screwed up again - just too much rain. Last weekend was pretty good and it seemed that we were
in for some great fall fishing coming up. Needless to say - it doesn't look too good with very muddy, debris filled water.
If you go out on the river use lots of caution. Tom G
***********************************************************************************************
September 23, 2011 - We're still trying to catch up from all the
after effects from our car accident (rehab, insurance forms, etc) but here's a little bit on the river anyhow. The Hudson
itself is still off-color but as of early this morning was showing a see-thru visibility of approximately 1 foot. I'm not
sure of the water temperature but would take a guess that it's somewhere around the 60 degree mark. The reports from the river
are that although it is still fairly dirty there really is not that much hazzardous debris afloat. The water chestnut beds
are still there. I'm going to try and get out this weekend and I'll let you know what I find out next week.
******************************************************************* .
September 7, 2011 - As some of you are well aware the River Basin has been
unexpectantly closed all this week and will probably only be open sporatically during the next few days. My wife and I were
involved in a fairly serious auto accident on Monday. Linda received the worst of it breaking three ribs and also had to have
surgery on both arms today. The early report is that the operations went well. I'll try to have things back on a more normal
schedule this coming week.
*************************************************************** . Hudson
River Fishing Report – Saturday, September 03, 2011 . Well, the river’s certainly going to be screwed up for another
2 – 3 weeks but the creeks should be back to being fishable by this next mid-week (hopefully). Not much else to report
except that creek bottoms could have dramatically changed due to hurricane Irene’s intrusion, and the same will probably
hold true in many sections of the main Hudson River itself. Most all marinas in the creeks suffered major damage from the
event. . I rescued 2 sunfish, 1 white perch and 1 spot tail shiner from the pit of my cellar's sump
pump during Irene's recovery mission. The water was 18 inches higher than I have ever seen it in the cellar (located on the
lower Catskill Creek) during the past 35 years when we've had just 3 other events to flood the property. Silt /
mud accumulated about 1/2 to 3/4 inch on the floor. Catskill Creek's water color is improving now and I would expect it to
be just about fishable in another 3 or 4 days. Tom G. . ********************************************************* . Hudson River Fishing Report
– Thursday, August 25, 2011 . Sure looks like we’ve got a washout coming in starting this Sunday. Hurricanes in general don’t
bode well for fishermen and, judging by present predictions, the one that’s on its way is going to be a real doozy.
It’s a real shame since the river has been in a cool-down mode for the past week and a half and should be on the verge
of coming on with some real strong fishing action. The water temperature out there has dropped down to 76 degrees and that’s
usually just about where I start to get into some better fish. . I must admit that the past two weeks have been particularly difficult for me
- the patterning I use has not been producing quality fish. The last tournament I took part in yielded a bare limit of keepers
plus another 7 or 8 shorts – those 5 keepers weighed less than 11 pounds. Then I went out one morning this week and
again caught 7 or 8 shorts… but only 1 keeper! To top all this off, I had to try again and went out for a couple of
hours yet again and caught NO bass at all - just 2 channel cats. Man, those results are real tough on a fisherman’s
ego! . So now comes
this hurricane, the after-effects of which will hopefully transition the river into a better fall fishing pattern a couple
of weeks in the future. The main Hudson River should still be fishable (but very uncomfotable) this Sunday even though
the feeder creeks will probably be dumping in lots of muddy water. Depending on the amount of rain we get, it will probably
take 1 ½ to 2 days to foul the river up COMPLETELY. Then, after the rain stops it will be just about a week before
the creeks return to a normal fishable condition - but the river will take at least two weeks (or more) before we have see-thru
visibility of more than a foot. . Even
though the weekend coming up certainly doesn’t appear to be too good for fishing we may still find this Saturday, and
perhaps the first half of Sunday, to be fishable. It all depends on the rain and wind. We’ll just have to sit back and
wait to see what happens. Tom G . ***************************************************************** . Hudson River
Fishing Report – Thursday, August 11, 2011 . Going into this weekend there is at least one aspect of the Hudson
River fishing scene that appears to be favorable – the water temperature! Gone are the 83 degree days of three weeks
ago. This past Sunday, a gorgeous cloudy day with a forecast of rain that didn’t arrive until late afternoon thereby
keeping most pleasure boaters home, saw the water temp running just about all day long at the 79 degree mark. Even better,
we’ve had several cooler nights since then and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this weekend’s water temp
in the 77-78 degree range – this should help turn the bass on. . Presently the Catskill Creek is still flowing pretty muddy from
Monday’s rain but the volume of water flow is not really great at all. Even though this lack of water volume translates
into the creek being about back to normal by this weekend we still don’t like feeder creeks as fishing locations at
this time – they’re too warm for the river fish to move in. Of course, the area right around
any creek’s junction with the Hudson is a different story – those locations have definite bass fishing potential
at just about any time of the year. . The floating eelgrass in the river is still, and will so remain, a problem for
anybody using a “cast and retrieve” lure (crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc.). Additionally, now we are getting chunks
of lose chestnut weeds joining into that mess. Obvious solutions here are to use worms or jigs which will at least allow some
fishing or else go to the leeward side of the river – the breeze tends to concentrate the floating detritus along the
opposite shore. . Water see-thru visibility seems to have lessened a bit recently but you should still have about 3 feet of visibility
in most areas during calm, high tide. . Judging by the results of last weekend’s tournaments your degree of bass
fishing success out there will be very definitely decided by your choice of locations to fish. We’re aware of one group
that had very mediocre results but yet another one, the Tiderunners bass fishing club, logged in results almost on a par with
their excellent opening event of the year. One of the main revelations was the seasonal reappearance (coinciding with the
cooler water temperature) of larger fish. That club’s average lunker weight during the earlier 83 degree days had been
2.34 lbs but now has jumped up almost a pound to 3.27. . Although the group remained quite close-mouthed about where they
caught their fish some things did come to light. It appears that the largemouths (which made up the bulk of their catch) did
not come directly out of the chestnut beds. Rather, the key appeared to be to concentrate on hard structures immediately adjacent
to the chestnuts - casting jigs, Senkos/worms, tubes or spinnerbaits. That’s a good strategy but it often involves making
a commitment to sitting and protecting one location for hours while waiting for bass to move in. And, if no bass show up after
all that time – it’s a tactic you’ll curse at for the next couple of weeks. . The smallmouths last
weekend were also a little bit off their form. In filling out our limit we found that the “suckholes” were working
as usual… but that gravel drifts and sweeps were surprisingly lacking in their appeal to the smallies. Also surprisingly,
even though we spotted a couple of smallies surface chasing minnows, we couldn’t tempt them to hit - we got no action
at all on topwaters. Drifting Senkos in the current or swimming a drop shot rig were the two most productive methods in our
boat and accounted for 16 smallies and a fun day. . This weekend’s most productive times for smallmouths in our
Catskill area should be between 7 and 11 a.m. and largemouths should be most catchable from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Good Luck!
Tom G . ************************************************************* . Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday,
August 11, 2011 . This past week has seen very little change for us to report as far as the Hudson River’s fishing goes –
basically you should read last week’s report so as to be up to date. The water temp is still in the 80 to 81 degree
range but with the cooler trend that has arrived we’ll probably see the temperature dropping down into the upper 70’s
for this weekend. Hopefully this will start to put the bass in a more positive state of mind so as to cooperate with the anglers
on the river. . This weekend’s prime largemouth fishing time on the river (in the Catskill area) should occur between 8
and 11 a.m. and the best times for smallies should take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Now, if only the fish would pay attention to
these simple guidelines we’d all have it made. Of course, the channel catfish bite is excellent all day long. . There’ll
be lots of fishing taking place out there since we’re aware of at least three bass clubs holding tournaments in our
area, and there should be plenty of other bass boats around due to anglers pre-fishing for the following weekend’s NY
Federation bass tournament. The only stickler for Sunday may be the weather since the forecast is for thunderstorms and showers.
Of course most bass guys welcome summer rain since it tends to keep the weekend pleasure boaters off the water. . Once more it
seems that Randy Phelan of Germantown is the one guy doing real well out on the river at present. He won this mid-week’s
Wednesday tournament with a 5 fish limit (3 largemouths and 2 smallies) with a weight of 16.16 pounds. The guy’s obviously
found one or two locations that haven’t been molested by the rest of us yet. I’m not sure of what he’s using
for bait at the present either, but in the past he’s been known for slowly dragging tubes. Just great – and I’ve
got to fish against him this weekend. Oh well, second place isn’t too bad a spot to aim for.
Tom G . **************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report – Friday, August 05, 2011 . The Hudson’s
summertime fishing continues – the water temp out there is still ranging between 80 and 82 depending on time of day
or the location. The major problem for fishermen at present is the amount of lose floating eel grass which will foul your
lure very quickly. See-through visibility ranges between 4 and 5 feet. . Last weekend saw the smallmouth bite continue
to be difficult – at least for those fish measuring the river’s 15 inch minimum length or greater. Most reports
were that fish which would be legal on other New York waters, those between 12 and 14 inches, were rather easily caught and
plentiful. New York still, due to whatever mysterious logic they use as justification, prohibits these from being taken for
tournament measurements. By imposing such a ban the “powers that be” have managed to wipe out 80% of the tournaments
that used to be held on the Hudson. It is doubtful that the river’s recreational tournament fishery will ever recover
from this, at least not in my lifetime. . Although the largemouth bite seemed to turn off this past week some good fish
were still taken. One decent limit I saw belonged to Randy Phelan of Germantown – it pushed the scales to just about
15 pounds. Although most anglers weren’t lucky enough to take limits of largemouths the fish which I did see caught
were real chunky – up around the 3+ lb. range. Kevin Clarke of Tannersville had three that went over 10 pounds in the
Tiderunners club tournament. . Locations reportedly working best this past week for smallmouths were suckholes and gravel
sweeps; largemouths appeared to be most abundant in the chestnut beds and around the entrances to the major tidewater tributary
creeks. . I do believe that this Sunday is the date for the “Wacky Raft Race” from Athens to Catskill. This
event generally transforms a usually calm river into a real zoo. Since Sunday will see a high tide at just about 10 a.m. that’s
when the race will start. Seriously, I would avoid this area around that time.
Tom G . ********************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing
Report – Friday, July 29, 2011 . Last Sunday at first light we saw the Hudson’s water temperature start the
day with an 82 degree reading. By the time mid-afternoon arrived it was hitting a blistering 83 degrees – not really
ideal for either bass or bass fishermen. Most bass catches we heard of on the river were of 2 or 3 keepers with perhaps another
6 to 8 shorts adding to the thrill of the chase. . When we managed to get out on the water again early this Wednesday
morning it was a pleasure to see the water temperature had dropped back down to a reasonable 79 degrees (even though it did
creep back up to 80 by the time we had to come off the water). Water clarity that morning was fairly surprising – a
good 5 feet of visibility at the Catskill launch ramp. I don’t remember seeing this much clarity anytime during the
past two years. . Presently on some locations out there, at least on the windward side of the river, you’ll encounter quite
a bit of loose floating eel grass - if you throw crankbaits you’ll do yourself a big favor to switch to the other side.
As of yet there aren’t too many loose chestnuts but we do see a few of them starting to float. . Smallies are
relatively active – at least those ranging from 10 to 14 inches. It’s the keepers, over 15 inches, that are hard
to find. Largemouths are in chestnut beds but we’re finding that the fish have changed locations in some of those beds
so you might have to do a little bit of exploring to locate them. Frogs have been working real well for us on the weed beds
while Senkos and Gulp minnows have been producing the lion’s share of our smallmouths. For some reason two of our favorite
lures out there have really been striking out so far this year – spinnerbaits and poppers. We’ll see how it goes
this weekend. Tom G . ************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, July 20, 2011 . Now,
here we are in the REAL summer. At the beginning of this present week the water temperature on the Hudson was running at just
about the 79 degree mark, this morning it was just a hair over 80, and by this weekend it will probably be bouncing around
the 82 – 83 range. . Here at the River Basin Sports Shop we’ve been assiduously tracking the river’s
temperature as part of our fishing log since the turn of the last century. Looking at the past 12 years we see that there
have only been 2 wherein the water temp reached 83 degrees. One of those was last year, 2010, when the mercury tickled the
83 mark for several days in mid-July. The other was in 2007 when it happened all the way from mid-July through mid-August.
It seems that 83 is probably about the highest it will get out there, at least without breaking any of our existing records. . As
onerous as this heat may seem I suspect that it might be worse for the fishermen rather than for the bass. The fish are still
out there and can be caught. Although one might be inclined to think that all the mid-summer smallmouths go deep and seemingly
disappear, that is not the case. Actually is seems that the largemouths become much tougher to catch - the smallies remain
very active. The trick to catching those fish at this time of year is to concentrate one’s efforts in the mornings before
10 o’clock, or go out on overcast days, preferably when it’s raining. . When I hit the river this morning I caught
several legal size smallies (minimum 15” on the Hudson’s waters) in both deep and shallow locations. I fished
drop-shot Senkos and Gulp Minnows. There were a few spots where I expected to have better luck but instead got skunked –
that’s fishing! I’m pretty sure that the lack of action then might have been caused more by the fact that I was
fishing around a dead-high slack tide period – smallies like a current. . Presently the river is in great shape. The
water’s see-thru visibility this morning was a good 4 feet or more (caused by a lack of current since the tide was just
about at a dead high). As far as floating debris goes there was nothing much to be seen other than some loose weeds. The chestnut
beds are presently at their peak and are holding bass (see previous report on the chestnut beds). It appears we have a great
weekend coming up on the river. I know that the local TIDERUNNERS bass fishing club will be out there for one of their tournaments
this weekend and I wish them the best of luck. Tom G . ***************************************** . Hudson
River Fishing Report – Thursday, July 07, 2011. . For our bass fishermen 2011 seems to be the year that the Hudson
finally behaves in a predictable manner. The springtime transition of the larger largemouths and smallmouths
from their creek spawning areas to the main river occurred right on schedule and was pretty much completed by the end of the
first week of June. The smallies took up their river positions on rock and gravel bottom locations by the third week of June
and, as the river’s water chestnut beds matured at June’s end, the largemouths transitioned therein as per nature’s
plan. . Presently the river’s water temperature is holding at about the 74 degree level (just about where it’s
been for the past several weeks) and its see-thru visibility ranges from 1 to 2 feet (depending upon time of day/tide and
amount of wave action). In the more sheltered bays where you’ll encounter heavier weed growth 3 to
4 feet of visibility can be encountered. . Early this past Wednesday morning we found the quantity of free-floating debris
out there to be a little surprising. The scattered flotsam had not only the usual free-floating weed scraps and smaller sticks
but also included more than the usual amount of hefty sticks, branches and logs. I have to assume that these were wash-ins
from the thunderstorms that went through the area last Saturday – these certainly did bring the Catskill Creek up to
almost flood level overnight (it’s OK now). . I’ve received quite a few inquiries from tournament anglers
these past couple of weeks, all interested in a hint or two as to where to find the Hudson’s bigger bass. The answer
to this question is invariably – “in the water chestnut beds.” For that reason I’ll relate a little
bit about fishing the “’nuts.” . A very annoying river problem that bass fishermen will encounter
at the present time is the growth of scattered water chestnut plants on many of the points and rip-rap edges, those locations
where one is inclined to usually throw a crankbait. These ‘nuts can certainly make the use of plugs an exercise in futility.
The easiest way to overcome this is through the use of spinnerbaits of course (although my spinnerbait bite has been rather
slow this year). However, such scattered plants are not the place to seek the largest bass - you must check out the bigger,
heavier growth chestnut beds. . Water chestnut beds can win you a tournament since they generally do produce
the largest fish of any contest. The thing to remember is that the bass reside and concentrate in only a tiny portion of the
acres and acres of weedbeds you’ll see out there. This is the reason you pre-fish out there… to discover just
where those small productive pockets are. Complicating this already onerous task though is the fact that those gorgeous weed
bass can usually be located only during periods of LOWER tide. In the chestnut beds your prime fishing
time is from an hour before low to an hour into the rise. It generally is completely worthless to look for chestnut bass any
more than two hours either side of low tide since it’s far too easy to miss them completely. . Additionally, one
must restrain one’s self and remember that pre-fishing is just meant to LOCATE the fish – not stick them. Because
of this you should only be looking for reaction strikes which will give you the better weedbed locations. Pre-fish quickly
to cover as much of the outer edge and any openings within the ‘nut bed – you’ve only got 2 to 3 hours per
tide to do this. Drag spoons, tubes, worms or other creature baits quickly across the surface in order to elicit strikes…
but hit those spots later when the money is on the line. Needless to say, if you find any hard structure relating to weedbeds
those spots always necessitate a little bit of extra investigation. . Finally, believe it or not, those chestnut
beds and scattered shoreline chestnuts will actually start to break up towards the end of this month. The scattered plants
will go first and then, little by little, the main beds will start to shrink until, by the end of September beginning of October,
they’ll be just about all gone here in our neck of the woods. The lose clumps of chestnuts which we’ll begin to
see floating in the river in a few scant weeds will be the proof of this occurrence. . The nice weather predicted for this weekend
will bring out enough pleasure boaters so as to make afternoon boating on the river sort of a torturous undertaking. Just
remember to take it easy out there and enjoy the experience.
Tom G. . **********************************************************************. Hudson River
Fishing Report – Thursday, June 30, 2011 . The
river is really in great shape for this weekend with water clarity running about 2 feet in most locations. The water temp
is in the normal range for this time of year, running at around 73 to 74 degrees. We are starting to see more lose floating
plants now and expect that by the end of this 4th of July weekend the pleasure boaters will stir up enough of them
to become considerably more of a problem for you fishermen. Floating debris is minimal. . What you can expect to see out there this weekend, other than pleasure boaters towing
tubes, are bass fishermen “pre-fishing” for tournaments that are going to be held here out of Catskill during
the next three weekends. Expectations are that the catch should be good – smallies are in their summer patterns and
the largemouths have finally started to make a stronger appearance in the chestnut beds. Channel cats are aggressively feeding
so if you have a young angler who just wants to catch something now is the time to get out there with a container of nightcrawlers
and have a good time. . 2012 HERRING TRANSPORT LEGALIZED
- . Here’s some good news for next
year for you striper fishermen – you will be allowed to transport your herring from one location to another along the
length of the river – an act which was forbidden for the past few years by the almighty ENCON administration. Read the
following release for more detail: . DEC ANNOUNCES REVISED BAITFISH REGULATIONS . Allowance for Overland Transport Accommodating
the Use of Baitfish on a
Select Group of Waters
. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC)
today announced changes to state regulations that formerly banned
the overland transport of uncertified baitfish by anglers,
including
baitfish that were personally collected. The changes are contained in a
Final Rule Making which was filed
with the Department of State on June
14, 2011 and become effective June 29, 2011. The amended rules allow for
the
overland transport of personally-collected baitfish within three
specified transportation corridors, provided the baitfish
are used in
the same water body from which they are collected. . The three transportation corridors include: the
Lake Erie-Upper
Niagara River; the Lower Niagara River-Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River;
and the Hudson River from
the Federal Dam at Troy downstream to the
Tappan Zee Bridge. While overland transport is allowed within these
defined
areas, the use of uncertified baitfish is restricted to the same
water body from which it is collected. Only certified
disease-free
baitfish may be transported in motorized vehicles outside of the
transportation corridors specified
in the amended regulations. . “We are thankful for the comments provided by the public which
helped DEC
take a common sense approach to establishing overland
transportation corridors,” said Commissioner Joe Martens.
“However,
where the ban is still in place, we are counting on cooperation from
anglers to ensure compliance
and protect our fisheries.”
. New York’s current fish health regulations were established
shortly after
Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) was first confirmed in
New York waters in May, 2006 in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence
River.
VHS is a disease that causes hemorrhaging of the fish's tissues,
including internal organs. There is no
known cure for VHS. In June
2007, DEC finalized regulations to help prevent the spread of VHS and
other fish
diseases into New York's inland waters. . The introduction of infected fish, including baitfish, is a
common pathway for
the spread of fish pathogens. In 2007, a strict
prohibition on overland (motorized) transport of uncertified baitfish
was implemented to ensure that the use of uncertified baitfish was
limited to the same body of water from which it
was collected. Allowing
transport within these defined corridors will still contain the movement
of baitfish, including
retaining the requirement that uncertified
baitfish only be used in the same water body from which it has been
collected.
With strict compliance, the risk of spreading VHS and other
fish pathogens into uninfected water bodies should not be
increased.
DEC’s regulations will: . *Allow the overland motorized
transport of uncertified baitfish
that are collected for personal use within the identified transportation
corridor.
Such baitfish may only be used in the water body from which
they were collected.
●
Allow the overland motorized transport of uncertified baitfish
by anglers purchasing the baitfish from licensed
bait dealers located
within one of the transportation corridors (provided the seller has
obtained a permit from
DEC to sell uncertified baitfish). The seller
must provide the purchaser with a receipt that identifies the water body
from which the bait was collected and can be used. That water body is
the only place where the baitfish may be used.
● Impose no restrictions on the number of uncertified baitfish
that may
be collected or purchased for personal use in the water bodies
associated with the transportation corridors. Also, such
fish may be
retained or preserved in any manner within the boundaries of the
corridors. They may not be transported
outside of the transportation
corridors.
● Continue to subject any commercial
sale of uncertified baitfish
involving overland transport to a permit issued by the Department. . Anglers should be aware that a prohibition on transport of
baitfish remains in effect outside
the designated transportation
corridors. The Department will monitor and evaluate the impact of the
modifications
to the regulations to ensure that the proposed
transportation corridors do not compromise efforts to guard against the
movement of uncertified baitfish beyond the water from which the
baitfish were collected. Future regulatory amendments
may be necessary
based on those evaluations. . Sounds O.K. right now, let’s
just wait and see if it works out this way next spring. Tom G . ************************************************************** . Hudson River Fishing Report – Wednesday,
June 22, 2011 . Last Sunday’s first tournament of the 2011 black bass season on the Hudson River didn’t produce the
best results that the members of the NYTBF organization had ever seen. That was quite apparent right from the first moment
that those anglers arrived at Catskill’s launch ramp when they were greeted by a surprisingly strong north wind blowing
down river. And, true to usual form, the wind certainly put a damper on the day’s results - only two limits of bass
were brought to the scales. Most of those anglers weighed in either two or three fish. . But although Sunday’s results didn’t
show it the fact is that the river’s fishing right now is quite good… as long as you keep one main thing in mind
– the spawn is over. The fish have already moved out of their spawning locations in the back bays and feeder creeks
and are now starting to settle into their summertime locations on the main river. So, for your best shot on the main flow
you should start to look for standard summertime spots such as “suck holes”, rock pile lighthouses, thicker chestnut
edges, as well as any structure breaking up the main tidal flow (always remember that the areas around the mouths of feeder
creeks can produce all year long). . As of this past Monday afternoon the conditions on the Hudson at Catskill were
as follows – water temperature just shy of 74 degrees, a few larger pieces of floating debris but not many, some scattered
lose floating chestnut tops (no roots attached), see-thru water clarity at most spots from 1 ½ to 2 feet, main chestnut
beds still not fully developed but probably will be in a couple of weeks, scattered individual chestnut plants along many
shoreline locations. . Catskill’s TIDERUNNERS fishing club will be holding their first tournament on the river
this Sunday and the results of that event will give us a truer picture of just how the bass fishing on the river is going.
As a side note – those same fellas usually have a small side bet on for the biggest catfish caught and that payback
was not claimed in their last two contests of 2010. Going into this weekend’s event that catfish pot will be riding
just around the $100 dollar mark – should be interesting to see just what’ll come out of that. . I’m not
aware of any tournaments on the river during the Fourth of July weekend but the following Sunday (10th) will see
the ABA of NJ and PA here. Then the next Saturday (16th) the Hudson Valley Bassmasters are on tap followed the
next day (17th) by the NJ Bass Federation. Tom G . *********************************************** . Hudson River
Fishing Report – Friday, June 10, 2011. . Heading out onto the Hudson’s water at the beginning of this
past week we found the river to be in pretty good shape. The water temperature at daybreak was riding at just about the 72
degree mark on the main flow but was 69 in some of the back coves. At the same time the Catskill Creek was running at 65 degrees.
All these temps could be a couple of degrees warmer this weekend since we had those record breaking days of heat. . The water color
on the river was what we usually consider to be good for fishing – stained with a see-thru visibility of approximately
1 ½ feet. Although floating debris in the river was fairly minimal we did encounter a few “drift piles”
that contained enough wood to be considered somewhat hazardous. . Mid-week boat traffic is extremely sparse but the weekend will
probably see more activity… at least until the boaters realize how many gallons of $4.00 gasoline it takes just to
go from Catskill to Athens and back.. . We enjoyed fishing minnows at some suckholes out there and caught several striped
bass ranging in size from 15 to 26 inches. Additionally the channel catfish were extremely active and cooperative –
we put several in the boat including a couple of two footers. Of course we were also constantly plagued by white perch as
well as a few out-of-season smallies. Although we felt like we gave the walleyes a good try that effort ended as usual –
not a one. . Fishing up the Catskill Creek caught us lots of catfish, yellow perch, white perch, and a sampling of smaller
stripers. Some spawning smallmouths were also to be seen there as well as some late-run herring. . Even though the
newly emerging water chestnut plants are starting to present a problem to the river fishermen they still are not that bad,
except perhaps at low tides when they become exposed. Other than that the river is perfect for fishing right now and by the
time the black bass season opens on June 18th it should be ideal for the bass fishermen. Tom
G. . *************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN FINAL STRIPED
BASS CONTEST REPORT, Sunday, June 05, 2011. . What a year for stripers – I think that we saw more fish over 40 inches
in length caught since the peak of the striper explosion back around 15 years ago. In addition, we had two giant fish measured
in, Bill Walsh’s 48 ¼ and Tom Borchert’s 49 1/4 incher. Wow! . 2011 was actually kind of reminiscent of the
previous year’s run when the decent size fish just seemed to diminish greatly in number the further upriver from Catskill
one went. Last year the Ravena / Thruway Bridge area still had some good fishing but from thereon north the quality quickly
diminished. This year the good fishing never quite reached that far, seemingly ending to the north at about the Coxsackie
area. Sure, some decent fish were caught upriver from there but they were relatively few in number. . If you were one
of the striper anglers in the Troy / Albany / Bethlehem sections you bore witness to the likely cause of lack of fish up there
– cold, muddy, debris filled river water that at times approached flood stage. It truly was a cold spring with lots
of rain that halted the initial upriver surge of stripers to below the Kingston area right from the get-go in mid-April. . Here
at the River Basin Sports Shop our records indicate that the entire run was set back by 1 ½ to 2 weeks and the bulk
of the fish actually never got further upriver than the Germantown / Malden area. Of course the delay in arrival time, due
mostly to the water conditions, also extended the best striper fishing period right through the end of May, as is evidenced
by the catch dates of our top 2 finishers – May 26 and June 1. . One of the big surprises to many of our striper fishermen, but
not to the river’s “old timers,” was the preponderance of big stripers being caught on “chunk”
(a.k.a. “cut”) herring bait. From our observations, especially this year, it was obvious that your odds of catching
a BIG striper were much greater if you were using chunk bait. Out of our top five contest fish three were caught on chunk,
and 9 out of the top 12 fish entered also came on chunk bait – that certainly shows you something. . And finally,
our 24th annual striper event drew yet another record number of entrants for striper contests on the upper Hudson
River – 698. The event also had the best payback of any river event – 100%... you really can’t expect more
than that. . Our registration fee for this event has been $15, an amount which many of you have told us is too little since
most other river contests cost in the range of $20 to $25 or more (and yet pay back far, far less). Suggestions have been
made to jack up the entry fee a little bit so as to build the payback even higher. We’re somewhat reluctant to do so
but would like to get your opinion. We’d appreciate your thoughts – just send us an e-mail to TOMGRIVER at YAHOO.COM
and let us know how you feel. . We have waited until after noontime today June 5th before posting this
final STRIPED BASS REPORT for 2011. At this time we declare our striped bass contest to be over and the standings as shown
in the above “2011 LEADERBOARD” to be final. Congratulations to our top 5 finishers and our condolences to all
of our other great also-rans – better luck next year. Now it’s on to a summer of great smallmouth and largemouth
bass fishing on this great river known as the HUDSON – my favorite. Tom G . ************************************************************* . RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST REPORT, Saturday,
June 04, 2011 . The
end is near – tomorrow at noon our 24th Annual Striped Bass Contest WILL END! And it presently seems like
a pretty good bet that the five contest entrants on the above leader board will retain their contest rankings. Of course there
are a few others that will probably still be out there trying right until the very end to break into the top five (right,
Wally?) but boy, that’s a long shot right now. . The
contest paybacks are as listed above. The tie for third and fourth places pays back the combined monetary amount of the two
spots, divided by two, to each of the tied contestants or $1,152.00 each. The winners are welcome to stop in at anytime to
collect their rewards. . Hey, guess what – right now
the river is gorgeous – it’s cleared up and there are no floating debris to be seen. Looks like a grand place
to go fishing – and that’s where I’ll be tomorrow afternoon. And although our striper reports will now end
remember that we still will be posting fishing reports for the Hudson River, right here, on a weekly basis.
Tom G . ***************************************************** . RIVER BASIN
STRIPER CONTEST REPORT, Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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 5 people now in the running for the top 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? This questioning all comes to an end this upcoming Sunday at 12 noon
when our contest ends. . 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, a few fish are still being caught all the way from Kingston up to Albany – I’m aware of several caught
during the past couple of days just here in the Catskill area… but these were all sub-30 inch stripers, great eating
but certainly not contest material. . The larger, mostly spawned
out fish are now heading back to their saltwater summer haunts but they still have to pass a gauntlet of stalwart fishermen
yet trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat by nailing a big striper. And… it could just happen since that’s what
happened last week when Tom Borchert nailed his 49 ¼” hog and knocked Randy Brockett and Vince Maiuri
down a peg into a tie for second place. It’s not over yet! . Even though I am sure most of the record number 692 anglers entered in our contest already
know, we do have the following reminders for anyone still out there fishing in this, our 24th annual striped bass event. It
all comes to an end at 12 noon this Sunday (June 5) but due to this year’s prolonged striper arrival times there still
are fish in the river and 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, June 5, 2011
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. . SURPRISE, SURPRISE – A CONTEST CHANGE!. . JUST NOW, as we were trying to finish
up this web report we had the unexpected happen - a standings change! . Bill Walsh of Rock Tavern, N.Y. (close to Stewart Airport) just walked in and asked for
a measurement on a fish he caught early this morning, sometime between 1 and 2 a.m. I figured it would just be another 40
to 43 inch fish such as I had been seeing all along this spring so I wasn’t overly enthused with the thought of measuring
it. Still, I set up the measuring board and assorted paraphernalia and waited for him top pull it out of his cooler. . Wow! This one looked like a real goody
– its tail dragged the ground on the way to the measuring board. It certainly looked like a contender for our top fish
of the year. But
no – although when placed on the official measuring board the tail of this huge fish overlapped the end by a good quarter
inch this was not sufficient to bring it onto par with Tom Borchert’s leading 49 ¼ incher. Bill’s official
length was logged at 48 ¼ inches, putting him into second place in our standings with barely 4 days to go. . The contest’s standings, of course,
have now also changed. Larry Coddington’s 44 ¾ incher becomes an “also-ran” and Steve Sigler’s
45 inch beaut now drops down into the final payback position, #5. There now is a tie for spots number 3 and 4 between Randy
Brockett and Vince Maiuri both of whom measured in 45 ½ inchers. What a great event we had this
year – we saw more 40+ inch fish than we’ve seen in years! . Here’s a couple of more details from Walsh about his catch: he was fishing a flat
in about 10 feet of water to the south of Kingston and was out all night; he caught one other fish in the 20 pound range;
he fished the end of the incoming tide, just about the same as that which gave Borchert his 49 ¼ inch fish in the same
general area; he used a chunk piece (the head) as bait. As a basis of comparison in weight, Borchert’s fish weighed
53.1 pounds while Walsh’s spawned-out striper tipped the scales at just 40.7. . WHEN THE CONTEST ENDS ON SUNDAY. . The contest winners may
stop through the River Basin Sports Shop any time after noon Sunday to collect their prizes. Remember that we will be closing
at 1 p.m. this Sunday. Also, winners please remember that we will need your driver’s license and social security number
before we can conclude the winning transaction. . 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 sweetheart’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. . ******************************************************************* . RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST UPDATE
– Thursday, May 26, 2011. . For all those of you who have been thinking that the biggest fish of the year hadn’t
arrived yet – it seems you were right! It’s been a weird year - all that colder weather, all
that rain… it certainly did disappoint many an angler who had really been looking forward to this 2011 striper run.
All along it was obvious that weather conditions were delaying the progress of the run by about 1 ½ to 2 weeks. After
all, the river’s water temperature 5 days ago was still reading only 57 degrees – ridiculous! . But that
has changed now – the past couple of days we’ve finally reached the magical 62 – 63 degree range in the
river, the temperature when the stripers appear to be at their peak of activity. Finally guys who haven’t caught a single
fish all season long are now going out and banging 2, 3 or even more stripers in a single trip. It’s great fishing all
the way from Poughkeepsie to Coxsackie. . But this burst of action we’re seeing is also a portent of a lessening
of activity yet to come. Any fish that finish spawning, as some are doing now, will drift back downriver and then disappear
for a few years. Fortunately there are still plenty of others around that have yet to spawn and they’ll be giving our
striper fishermen action for a while yet. . So, we figure that the fishing right now is at a peak for this year. So did
Tom Borchert of High Falls this morning at 5 a.m. when he took to the river’s water a little bit south of Kingston.
He got into all kinds of striper action putting over 20 fish into the boat – it was a blast! Using chunk bait he anchored
on the down current side of a shoal on a rising tide and had such a great day that, even after he caught a really giant striper,
he didn’t want to leave. . That striper’s tail hit the River Basin Sports Shop’s contest official measuring
board’s “extension” end at 49 ¼ inches, making Tom our new contest leader. We then hung the giant
fish on our shop scale and found the weight to be 53.1 pounds. Additionally, the 49 ¼ inch length now marks a new River
Basin Shop record, as well as a new striper contest record. Quite a fish and one that will be real hard to top for any of
our other 697 contestants. . It should be quite a weekend on the river with good reports from everywhere except the Albany
area. Tom G . ********************************************************** . RIVER BASIN SPORTS STRIPER CONTEST BULLETIN - Thursday, May 26, 2011, noon
We DO have a new contest leader - we're working on the details right now.
Tom G .
*********************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER FISHING REPORT– Tuesday, May 24, 2011 . The quality striped bass bite on the Hudson continues here at Catskill. Each morning’s
report lists multiple catches of the linesiders. Even the shore bound fishermen at Catskill’s two riverside parks are
reporting better than usual results with fish ranging up to 40 inches and weighing 30 to 35 pounds. The annual spawn is taking
place but so far has been spotty and occurring in differing locales at different times. Such spottiness should extend the
total spawn period for another week or perhaps two. Ideal fishing depths can be anywhere from 6 to 28 feet. . Here at Catskill the west side river drop-off edge extending up
to a mile either north or south of the Rip VanWinkle Bridge has been real hot during the mornings. Additionally, the Malden
– Cheviot – Germantown – Roe-Jan stretch has also been excellent during the past week. The Coxsackie –
Stockport area has been reporting similar results. . Reports
from the Kingston area and further south have been hard to come by during the past few days but the river’s east channel
by the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge has been said to be producing. The Albany – Troy – Bethlehem section does not
seem to have recovered from the miserable water conditions that have plagued it all season long. Any of the reports from up
there have been of poor fishing… but that spawn up there is yet to come so things could improve. . The condition of the Hudson has improved considerably during the past few days. Sure,
it might still be somewhat muddy but it’s definitely fishable. All the floating debris out there seems to have miraculously
diminished (but you still have to be careful) and I’m even thinking of sneaking away from the store for a couple of
hours to try for one of the big boys myself. This Memorial Day weekend seems to be set up as the prime time to go out and
give it a try! We’ll be here at the shop should you need any equipment – open from 8:30 to 5 every day except
Sunday when our hours are 9 to 1. Tom
G . ******************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST BULLETIN – Saturday, May 21, 2011. . Yes,
the Hudson River is flowing awfully fast… and extremely muddy… and it’s filled with all kinds of hazardous
junk (i.e. limbs, railroad ties, tires and trees)… but it’s still loaded with stripers… and lots of them
big stripers! That’s what Vince Maiuri of Palenville discovered this morning when he headed out onto the big river to
once more try for a big fish and a spot on our 2011 contest leader board. He accomplished just that. . Setting
out onto our local, seemingly magical, triangle area which extends from Catskill to Germantown to Malden he secured his anchorage
in about 6 feet of water and commenced fishing. During the morning, up until about 10 a.m., he put three nice stripers in
the boat but not a one of them was a contest contender. Then with but one bait left (a giant herring that he almost cut into
chunks because he wasn’t sure that a striper would dare to attack it) that he hooked up and flung over the side, he
sat back to wait. . When
the line started to zing of his reel, and then when he felt his pole bend after the hook set, he knew he was onto a big fish.
The fight was good - his equipment stood up to the punishment and he finally landed his contest contender – a gorgeous
45 ½ incher that tied him for first place with Randy Brockett of Middletown. . Of
course our striper run is just going into its peak time at present and our contest has almost two weeks yet to run. This means
that the race is not yet over - any of our 698 contestants is yet liable to latch onto an even larger fish since 45 ½
inches is very definitely beatable. In the next two weeks we’ll see if anyone can accomplish that task.
Tom G. . ******************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST BULLETIN – Saturday, May 21, 2011 . Quick
contest update – we just measured in a tie for 1st place in the River Basin Sports Striped Bass contest.
This knocks Pete Longo out of 5th place in the above standings. We’ll post the new standings later today.
Tom G. . ********************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER RUN UPDATE – Thursday, May 19, 2011 . The
river’s water temperature here at Catskill read about 58 degrees this morning, the Catskill Creek was about 4 degrees
cooler. Both were running extremely muddy with lots of floating debris making for a far from ideal fishing situation. Still,
one of the local stalwart anglers sat out the morning’s rain and put a three footer in his boat and a local netter went
out and hauled in a goodly catch of herring baits. . At present the sun is shining outside the
River Basin Sports Shop… but we know that Mother Nature is just trying to fake us out. Sure, if we go on out fishing
it’s inevitable that the heavens will open up with yet an additional deluge of rain. . Still,
if you want to catch those striped bass that are now in the Hudson River this is the time to give it a try. The run, whether
we like it or not, is presently at its peak here in the middle part of our tidewater Hudson and we’ve just received
our first report of the 2011 spawn having started. Striper fishermen plying the river’s water by the Mid-Hudson Bridge
at Poughkeepsie last night bore witness to frenzied stripers surface spawning all around their craft – an amazing sight
that many anglers will never witness. . As the spawn takes place both up and down
the river and groupings of fish are spotted at the surface care should be taken not to run through them in a boat with the
propeller turning. Carnage is sure to ensue since such stripers are just about oblivious to anything else that is going on. . These
surfacing fish aren’t interested in biting, but usually there are lots of other stripers holding beneath that surface
action – and those fish will definitely hit. Care should be taken not to snag any surfacing fish. . Predictions
as to where and when such spawns will take place are rather hard to make as they can occur just about anywhere. However, most
often we see them crop up in shallower side areas with slightly reduced flow of water. Such will be happening between Newburgh
and Coeymans throughout this ensuing week and possibly even later than that in the Albany Troy area. The colder water temperature
this year can, and probably will, extend the spawn over a longer period of time than we normally see. . Many
of the spawned out fish will head right back to their summer haunts in Long Island sound or off Massachusetts and the coast
of New Jersey - yet others will seemingly linger in the Hudson for a while. Additionally, there will even continue to be decent
fishing after the main spawn since we always have late arriving stripers with immature eggs entering the waterway and those
are fair game right until the end of our striper tournament at noon on June 5. . But
anyway you look at it – now is the time to get out there, regardless of the conditions, if you wish to partake in what
would ordinarily be the best part of the striper run. Tom G . *************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER UPDATE – Tuesday, May
17, 2011 . Just a quick condition report – most feeder creeks are
now either flowing muddy and fast, or will be doing so very shortly. The main river itself is picking up color but how bad
it will get depends entirely on the amount of rainfall here in the next two days. . During the past 4 -5 days the striper fishing has been good to excellent at most locations from Poughkeepsie to Coeymans.
Even the Albany area had started to produce some better fishing… but now it seems that might get wiped out by the excess
water we’re getting. Reports are of female stripers up to about 42 inches in our area and a slew of smaller schoolie
bass ranging in size from 22 to 34 inches. Many anglers during the past four days are reporting the best fishing they’ve
had in years, some boating 8, 9 or more fish per trip. . From the quality and quantity of the striper run that we’re seeing right now we get the feeling that we’re
in an immediate pre-spawn period, even though the river’s water temperature remains right around the 56 – 57 degree
mark. The number of stripers has increased dramatically during the past week and should increase even more until the spawn
starts. We have not yet received any reports of spawning activity and hope that we won’t for at least a week or more.
Let’s hope the rain doesn’t screw things up too badly. Tom G . *********************************************************** . RIVER
BASIN STRIPER UPDATE – Monday, May 16, 2011. . I was talking to one of our striper regulars this morning – you know, one of those guys whose second home during
this time of year is either in a boat sitting under some bridge or else camped out on some desolate piece of shoreline on
the Hudson River. This particular angler has been taking part in our striper contest for years… and has won some money
and recognition in the past. So far this year he is still out of the money. . Each morning during the run he’s out launching his boat before the crack of dawn. Then he’ll motor out
to his favorite river nook and lay out his gill net for herring – no, he doesn’t stretch it out as you might visualize,
just kind of dumps it over the side and lets it sit. After about 10 minutes, sometimes less, he pulls it up and removes the
herring that have managed to entangle themselves – and then he goes fishing! . And he does this just about every morning for four weeks straight!. . And he catches stripers. . No,
he doesn’t crock them every time he goes out, but often enough. One fish boated is considered a successful trip; two
over the side is good while three is great; four is a really excellent day, especially if it includes a quality fish or two
measuring up to 42 inches. That’s the kind of year this guy’s had… but now he’s anticipating even
more, the approach of spawn. This is a time when it becomes possible to land a dozen or more stripers during a single day’s
outing and it’s just around the corner. . The
start of the 2011 year run wasn’t that hot – there were several strings of days when this guy got skunked, or
just landed a runt or two. But NOW things have changed – it seems that every day for the past week and a half would
have to be rated, at a minimum, “good.” And – he just KNOWS that there is a one four-foot-long striper out
there looking for the bait at the end of HIS line. . The above story is called “paying one’s dues”… it’s also called fishing.. . This past weekend’s action here in the Catskill area was very good.
When the afternoon reports started to come it and we had a clearer picture of just what was happening, even though the weather
kept many anglers off the water, all seemed right. The reports were of multiple landings from those boats that happened to
be at the right locations as schools of stripers worked in those areas. . Similar reports came in from the Malden / Cheviot area, 4 Mile Point, Coxsackie, New Baltimore and Bethlehem. These
fish ranged in size from about 24 to 40 inches. The Albany Troy area fishing was reportedly slow but at least some stripers
were now being caught up there, including some in the three foot range. Both chunk bait and live herring were working well. . The present persistent rains will be muddying the feeder creeks into the
main Hudson whose temperature remains at just about the 57 degree range here. We’ve had our first reports of herring
starting to “beat the shore” signifying the start of their spawn. Generally we figure the striper spawn to start
in the low 60 degree range but if the cooler water lasts longer those eggs will still continue to mature and be distributed
– even if the optimum spawning temperature is yet to be reached. Should this be the case, as it appears it will be this
year, our experience indicates that the spawn will extend over a greater span of time and can last right into the start of
June. . Last year the warmer temperatures
had us log-in our start of spawn around May 5; the year before it was approximately May 12 while the year before that it occurred
around May 23, As you can see – it can be extremely variable! Generally the spawn works its way upriver with our first
reports of it occurring around the Newburgh area and the final ones up to two weeks later from Albany. Fish with “green”
eggs will still be caught up to a few weeks after the main spawns have occurred. . We’re approaching the best action of the run now – don’t give up the fight.
Tom G . **************************************************** . RIVER BASIN
STRIPER UPDATE – Friday, May 13, 2011 . A good bite has continued each morning here in the Catskill area with many
anglers reporting multiple fish being boated. The area to the north of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge seems to be getting the bulk
of the action but there are fish all around. At the present time it seems that the live herring bite has caught up to that
of the chunk bait even though the vast majority of biggest fish brought in have been taken on chunk. Of course we have fresh
dead herring for sale here at the River Basin as well as all the assorted gear it takes to go out on our big water to grab
that four-foot-long fish. . The river, at 57 degrees, is still running off color with plenty of debris
floating down – gotta be careful out there! Additionally, there will be plenty of boat traffic this weekend with all
of the 698 entrants in our River Basin Striper Contest fishing as well as those in three other events of which we are aware
– but I’ll bet that no other event will pay back the amount that we’ll be giving our winners. . Latest
fishing reports we’ve received show the Kingston area to be on the slow side; Glasco flats, just to the south of Saugerties,
has been good; Malden to Cheviot has been good; Germantown very good; upper Catskill Creek (head of tidewater) excellent;
Stockport very good; 4 Mile Point to Coxsackie excellent; New Baltimore to Coeymans fair; Bethlehem spotty but improving;
Albany to Troy poor but with water conditions improving and herring abundant. . With the water temp running
about 5 degrees below the optimum for spawning it looks like we should get another two weeks or more of good fishing before
the run starts to dwindle away. The time to delay is over – get on out there! - P.S.
– Don’t forget to register for your Marine Species tag – it’s free but is mandatory.
Tom G . ********************************************************************* . RIVER
BASIN STRIPER UPDATE – Wednesday, May 11, 2011 . Last
weekend was a good one for most of our striped bass fishermen. Saturday was top-notch and Sunday, although definitely not
as good as the previous day, had to be rated good also… at least at most locations. . Further
down the Hudson there seem to be plenty of stripers to be caught but most are running under the 25 pound mark – lots
of 10 to 15 pounders. The Kingston area hadn’t been showing us much as far as size goes during the past week…
that is until Al Lasher brought in his 44 ¼ incher this afternoon and moved into 4th place in our standings.
Al was fishing in the vicinity of the Kingston Rhinecliff bridge with live herring when the big fish hit. . We’ve
been getting lots of reports and seeing decent fish from the Malden area north to the Coxsackie cliffs. From Cheviot to Germantown
the fellas fishing from shore along the railroad tracks have been, for the main part, having a great time – lots of
stripers ranging from 30 to 41 inches. . In
the vicinity of Catskill the area just to the north of the Rip VanWinkle Bridge seems to produce a few stripers in the 39
– 40 inch range each morning to the regulars at that location - but patience has definitely been needed. Meanwhile,
the Catskill Creek at the head of tidewater has bee real hot for the early morning anglers who have been throwing Bomber size
17 plugs. No contest winners there but lots of fish ranging in size from 22 to 36 inches. . To
the north of Athens – Four Mile Point, Stockport Creek, Coxsackie cliffs and the Coxsackie boat launch area –
all been producing good action. . And
finally it seems that some larger fish are moving further upriver. Lesa Rendo showed us a gorgeous 39 ½ inch striper
she caught at New Baltimore this afternoon. Lets hope that more of those fish move upriver since the anglers up there have
been having a real tough time. . The
fishing derby that went out of Bethlehem this past weekend had about 110 participants signed up but only
7 fish were caught, the largest weighing 21 pounds but things seem to be improving up there. The water is cleaner, herring
are easier to get, and other reports lead us to believe that the Troy derby and the Castelton events scheduled for this weekend
should have more success. . All
in all it looks like a great weekend for striper fishing coming up. Don’t miss out. Tom G . ***************************************************************************** RIVER
BASIN STRIPER UPDATE – Sunday, May 08, 2011. .
Yesterday’s
excellent striper fishing on the river continued into today with many reports of multiple fish being boated, including quite
a few in the 40 to 42 inch range. Steve Sigler moved into second place in our striped bass standings with a 45 incher which
he caught fishing a live herring to the north of Catskill’s Rip Van Winkle Bridge. .
I talked to a charter boat captain who had
been fishing that same bridge area earlier this morning and his comment was “you’d almost have to try to not do
well out here at the present time. He had scored with several stripers while using chunk bait.
Tom G .
***************************************************************
RIVER BASIN STRIPER UPDATE
– Saturday, May 07, 2011 . There was excellent action reported today all the way from Poughkeepsie
to Bethlehem. Some of yesterday’s reports were for improving conditions up in Albany itself so we have to believe that
today’s results were similar. This is the time to be out there fishing. . It was a real busy day
here at the River Basin Sports Shop. It seemed as though stripers were being brought in for our tournament measurement on
a conveyor belt. The standings switched several times throughout the day and when we finally managed to lock the door (5 minutes
ago) it was Randy Brockett of Middletown that stood as today’s king of the hill. Randy was fishing chunk bait in the
vicinity of the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge when he hooked into his contest leading 45 ½ inch striped bass. Sandra Tuczynski
ended the day tied with Steve Hopf for 5th place in the standings. Sandra caught her 43” fish to the north
of the Rip VanWinkle Bridge. . Although live herring seemed to be working just fine as striper bait it
was still the chunk bait that seemed to produce the best results in the river’s dirty flow. I’m aware of a 100
man striper derby that went out of Bethlehem today – the results from that event should give us a real good picture
of what’s happening up Albany way. I’m going home now. Tom G . ****************************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN
STRIPER UPDATE – Friday, May 06, 2011. .
As we
had figured, a main grouping of striped bass has moved upriver. Even with the water temperature at a cool 52 degrees the action
at Catskill’s Rip VanWinkle Bridge was pretty good this morning - many anglers reported multiple catches. . The river
itself is still running muddy with of all kinds of floating debris - boaters should take extra care out there. . Fifth place
position in our contest standings did change once more this afternoon. It was Germantown’s Joe Pertilla who was responsible
for the change as he shoved Ryan Kastner’s 40 ½ inch fish out of the competition, replacing it with his own 40
¾ incher. Joe was fishing a live herring from shore in the Germantown area when he caught his striper. . If you’ve
been putting off your striper fishing trip this year now is the time to think about changing your mind, at least in the area
from New Baltimore to the south. The fish are in this region now and odds are that the river conditions, as bad as they might
seem, are not going to get much better for at least a couple of weeks. Good luck.
Tom G . ********************************************************* . RIVER BASIN STRIPER UPDATE
– Thursday, May 5, 2011 . Just a
quick note to confirm that a larger grouping of striped bass has indeed moved up here into our section of the Hudson River
valley. There were reports of multiple catches this morning from out by the Rip VanWinkle Bridge, in the Catskill Creek, at
4 Mile Point and at Germantown. .
Although I kind of figured that this would be a slow fishing day due to the passage of a cold front
yesterday I was certainly mistaken. These fish should also be moving further upriver and I would expect the action in New
Baltimore and Bethlehem to show some improvement by this weekend. Tom G . .***************************************************** .RIVER BASIN STRIPER / HUDSON RIVER REPORT – Thursday, May 4, 2011 .
Yup, the river is still muddy and off color, although somewhat improved over what it was last Sunday.
We can’t yet be sure what it will look like tomorrow or this weekend when we’ll see if today’s rainstorm
actually might have worsened things. .
Still, the good news is that larger fish are now moving into our section of the river. Even with the
lack of boats on the waterway this week we have been receiving good news reports about the striper run. .
Though we do not usually hear too much from the Newburgh
area we have at this time - the reports are of good fishing. Schoolies were being taken by trollers in the main river while
the shallower flats, particularly in the area around Denning Point, were yielding some fish in the 40 inch class to drift
fishermen. If you want to fish shallow concentrate on areas where you have inflow streams of some type or other. .
Further upriver from there to the south of Kingston,
around the Esopus Meadows and Vandenburgh Cove section, we don’t have any reports but expect that there should be fish
there – usually that fishing is decent at this time of year. To the north of Kingston, both up and downriver of the
Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge, the fish are to be found along the drop-off edges of the mid-river Flat and the Hogs Back. Some
hefty fish come from this area each year and we’ve already seen a couple of them. The Tivoli area, across from Saugerties,
has also produced some decent fish. .
Our “Golden Triangle” section which extends from Malden to Germantown to Catskill seems
to be getting an influx of 40+ inch fish at the present time. The shore bound anglers have been hitting some beauts as have
the boaters. The shoreline extending from Cheviot to Germantown is a favorite area as is the Greendale section right across
from Catskill. Of course, at Catskill, the “Point Park” with its easy access to deeper shoreline water is a magical
draw for shore bound striped bass anglers. .
Boaters are having best luck in the 3 to 10 foot depths over the mid-river flats
in the “triangle” area, particularly using chunk herring for bait. The muddy water just calls out for the use
of this cut bait. Seven out of the top ten fish we’ve seen so far this year have been caught on chunk. .
As the fish move further upriver to Hudson, Four Mile
Point, Stockport, and Coxsackie in the next few days that action should improve dramatically. Up until now it had been somewhat
disappointing. Further north past Coxsackie it still remains to be seen what will happen. Up to now it had been so slow that
some charter boat captains up there were even cancelling booked trips. .
Herring seem to be abundant at most creek locations although just today
we heard some grumblings about a lack at the Roe-Jan. “Stoolying” them in appears to be the most effective way
to obtain your supply of bait… unless you come to our shop and buy a bag or two of our refrigerated stuff. . I'm
sure that you've noticed the standings change on our leader board today - Steve Hopf and Ryan Kastner brought their two
beauties today. Those two fish along with Coddington's 44 3/4 incher, which was caught yesterday, are a sure portent
that we'll be seeing even more lunkers this coming week.
Tom G .
************************************************************************************************************* . RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST UPDATE - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 . Yes, we have a new leader. Larry Coddington caught the above pictured bruiser down around
the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge around 9:15 this morning. His bait? you guessed it - chunk herring. Congratulations Larry!
Tom G . ************************************************************************ . RIVER BASIN STRIPER REPORT – Monday, May 02, 2011 . Even though the Hudson continues flowing muddy and debris laden there are anglers
out there catching striped bass. The two areas we’ve been hearing most about are Stockport and Germantown/
Malden. . It
was in the Germantown area that Josh Hanlon of Niverville caught a fish that moved him into third place on the River Basin
Sports Striped Bass Contest Leaderboard overnight – a 40 incher. Josh was fishing from shore with chunk herring when
the large striper nailed his bait. Chunk bait seems to have been the way to go with the Hudson running as muddy as it has
been lately and that’s just what another boat found out by the RoeJan yesterday – a pack of stripers were surface
feeding on herring and just loved the live and chunk bait that the guys flung at them – they nailed several up to 33
inches. . Most
of the larger feeder creeks into the Hudson are running clear right now and are much nicer to fish. However, when the boating
and recreational activity on such waters picks up… the fish turn off! This was exactly what seemed to happen in the
Catskill Creek on Saturday morning – 9 or 10 stripers were caught during the first two hours of the morning and then
the creek just shut down for the rest of the day. . Garry and Dennis from up Bethlehem way report the water conditions up there have slightly
improved but there still is a lack of fish there. The weather forecast for the remainder of this week certainly does not lend
much hope to the thoughts of the river clearing up. Still, as we all know – the fish are there, somewhere, all we have
to do is figure out where and how to catch them. Tom G . ****************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER REPORT - Saturday, April 30, 2011 . Even with the Hudson flowing as muddy and debris laden
as it is at present there are stripers being caught. Greg Zifchak of Port Ewen proved that by bringing in a new 2nd
place fish for our striped bass contest, a 41 ½ inch beauty. Greg caught the fish late yesterday afternoon while fishing
a chunk of herring (head) in the Port Ewen section of the river. . And,
just downriver from Catskill, in the Germantown / Cheviot region, some trollers have also been having a ball with smaller
schoolie stripers… and catching quite a few. I don’t know how they are managing to manipulate around the floating
trees and brush but they certainly are accomplishing that feat. . Herring,
from all reports, are plentiful around the area. Even with the muddy water guys are “stoolying” them in or hooking
them using Sabiki rigs, particularly in the creeks which have been cleaning up quickly. They are definitely more fishable
today than they were yesterday. So, even though the fishing is tough at the present time - there are fish out there and some
people are catching them. The stripers will come in on the bait scent trail so do consider using “chunk” bait
or sandworms. Tom G . **************************************************
RIVER
BASIN UPDATE – NOON, Friday, April 29, 2011. . Quote from an NYDEC news release a month ago: “The new law establishes a no-fee
registry to take the place of the marine license. DEC is currently developing the registry, and expects to have the new no-fee
registry in place in early June. In the interim, saltwater anglers may fish without a marine license and without registering
with DEC.” . . Today’s quote from DEC, after sneaking
the new “registry” item onto the DECALS license issuing menu today and also confirming our phone inquiry that
you must NOW register: “Customers wanting to fish for salt water species MUST be registered.” What a way to run
a railroad. Tom G .
***************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN UPDATE – Friday, April 29, 2011 .
Checking out the
flowage waters in our area this morning we find some pretty miserable conditions. The Catskill Creek has deteriorated even
further from what was apparent yesterday and is really looking quite muddy – the after effect of three separate rounds
of heavy rainstorms that passed through our region this past week. The main Hudson River is also very ratty looking –
muddy with some debris, and we are expecting more of the same to be arriving from the upriver section. Fishing conditions
will probably be tough for the next few days. Tom G. . ******************************************************************************* . RIVER NOTE - Thursday
P.M., April 28, 2011
We
just received notification that the Coeymans ramp docks were put in on Tuesday. The water coming down from there is supposedly
real muddy and filled with debris. Does not sound good - larger creeks might be a good fishing option for the coming weekend'
Another report we had said that the herring were thick in the Postenkill today. Tom G
.
********************************************************* RIVER
BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Thursday, April 28, 2011 . Striper action on the
river seems to have shifted a little bit now with the main river fishing at Catskill having slowed. Even so, we find that
the activity in the Catskill Creek has definitely been picking up. This morning we found the water temperature at our Dutchmen’s
Landing launch ramp to be around the 53 degree mark while around the corner the creek measured in at about 5 degrees warmer
– this could account for the better action in the creek. In addition, even though the water in the creek is somewhat
muddy, it still appears to be cleaner than the water out in the main river. Stripers up to about 36 inches are being caught
in the creek by shore bound fishermen. . But even though the action here might be slow
at present, what is happening further upriver appears downright pitiful. North from Catskill to the Stockport Creek everything
still appears fine but to the north there is a definite lack of herring from Coxsackie to Albany, and along with that there
is a definite lack of striped bass to be had. Some of our regular reporting anglers from that upriver area tell us of absolutely
terrible results (like zip) from their fishing trips up there – no herring, no stripers. We heard of just one fish being
caught up there in the past few days. The water is dirty and the water temp has been around 46 – 47 degrees. As another
guy put it – “Over 7 hours with a dummy on both ends of the rod and not one herring spotted…”. . . To add to the difficulties up there we hear that the launch ramp floats at the Coeymans launch ramp still
have not been installed. Too bad – that’s a prime striper fishing area there. That’s a good way to drive
the fishermen to Bethlehem or Coxsackie – but then, maybe whoever is in charge dislikes striper fishermen.. From Catskill to the south
the action starts to improve. For guys in the right place at the right time the chances of landing multiple fish are a definite
possibility. The day before he took the lead in our striped bass contest Pete Longo reported having what he said could possibly
have been his best day ever on the river – he boated 9 stripers, all in the 38 – 39 inch range. Local charter
boat captains are reporting similar results, particularly in the Malden area. The Esopus Creek at Saugerties is still a waste
of time as the powers-that-be found that they still hadn’t killed ALL the living creatures in that waterway and therefore
seem to have renewed their efforts to accomplish that by continuing their siltification project.
.
A little further south, in the Tivoli Bays and Hogs Back region, the fishing
has also been good although as of this time there have been relatively few anglers sampling those waters. I’m sure that
this will change by this weekend (as long as the weather co-operates) since the fish are there. Additionally, the deeper edges
of the mid-river flat to the south of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge have been holding fish.
.
. The Rondout
Creek at Kingston has both herring and stripers being caught but some of the best action in that region appears to be occurring
a little bit further downriver. There the anglers are scoring in 4 to 8 feet of water around the section known as Vanderbilt
Cove and the Esopus Meadows.. Our present contest leader Pete Longo seems to sum up the varying reports we’ve been receiving from anglers scoring
with larger bass during the past few days (as contrasted to what we said in the preceding paragraph) – if you’re
not getting shallow water action (10 – 20 feet) drop down and try the 30 foot level. Yesterday when Pete caught his
44 incher he also caught 7 or 8 additional fish in that 40+ inch size group – all in deeper water than what he traditionally
fishes. .
Additionally, what
most successful anglers have been reporting, right along with Pete, is that - with the present water conditions (off-color
or muddy) chunk (cut) bait is the way to go. Just be sure to change that chunk every 10 minutes or so – you must keep
fresh smell in the water. Another alternative might be to try sandworms on a separate rig – stripers really zone in
on that smell. Tom
G. . . *************************************************************************************************** .
RIVER BASIN
BRIEF - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2011. . Just in case you hadn't noticed
the most recent contest standings, take a gander at the leader board above. Pete Longo, our 2009 winner, has now jumped
into first place with a fish that could also vie for a paying position in our contest's final standings. We'll try to get a picture up first thing in the morning and tell a little bit more about it. The
reports for the past day and a half are of great fishing but the trick has been to use chunk bait... and to hang it down
in 30 to 35 feet of water. Tom G. .
**************************************************************** .
RIVER
BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Tuesday, April 26, 2011. . Yesterday afternoon saw our striper action bumped up a notch
or two. Lots of stripers ranging in size from 22 to 39 inches were landed between Malden and Catskill, as well as all the
way up past 4 Mile Point to the Coxsackie cliffs. The action, which continued this morning, had to be rated as “very
good” but, unfortunately, the real big fish still have not made their appearance in our region. .
Herring, which had been scarce for 4 or 5
days, likewise seem to have returned to the area. Commercial netters reported capturing a bonanza of this striper bait during
the last day and a half. . Along with the warmer
weather which we are now enjoying we should be seeing the arrival of the 30+ pound stripers at any time. Having 698 anglers
registered in our striper contest and spread out all the way from West Point to the Troy Dam we are confident that as soon
as those fish make their appearance we’ll hear about it. This is the traditional week that those fish start to be taken.
. Presently
we have plenty of fresh and frozen legal herring in supply at the River Basin. Unfortunately we are sold out of salt water
worms but expect a new shipment of bloods or sands this Thursday. Tom
G. . ***************************************************************************************** .
RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Monday, April 25, 2011. . The
new listing on the leader board of Josh Skelly’s 38 ¼” striper is rather indicative of the action that’s
been occurring on the Hudson during the past few days – action but no real BIG fish as of yet. It seems that nobody
is just slaying them at any one location out there but we can say that there are stripers being caught. Probably 60% of the
fishermen we’ve talked to report having caught some fish in the 24 to 35 inch range. Most guys are throwing out one
rod rigged with live herring (if available) and the other with a piece of chunk. Skelly was anchored on the Catskill Bridge
Run late Sunday afternoon when he caught his fish. . We just talked with Captain Chuck Graham who had a great
time out on the river this morning and might just be the one fisherman who has been having a great week. He reported lots
of action with stripers up to about 36 inches in length this morning - the majority of the fish came on cut bait. Chuck had
set up a few miles downriver from Catskill and scored best during the first couple of hours of falling tide. Such has been
the story from Coxsackie to Kingston. We’ve had no reports from up in the Albany Troy area.
Tom G .
*******************************************************************. . RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Sunday, April 24, 2011
We received some clarification regarding those large fish down Newburgh
way. The huge fish, approx. 61 lbs, was caught in a net along with other fish in the 40 pound range. These stripers were released,
however the large one did not survive the encounter. Thanks for the reporting guys. . Today’s action in the Catskill area was slow;
herring extremely scarce. - Tom G .
**************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Saturday, April 23, 2011. .
As it turns out - the striper bite from Kingston upriver
all the way north to Albany seemed vastly improved yesterday afternoon. This trend continued throughout most of this Saturday
and we’ve received a slew of reports of fish ranging from 24 to 40 inches being caught, on live as well as chunk herring.
Our present contest leader Jan MacDonald caught his 39 inch fish late yesterday afternoon while fishing from shore in the
vicinity of the City of Hudson. .
Unfortunately, bait has been rather hard to come by. Since earlier this week these “almost kippers”
seem to have made themselves very scarce, but that’s a condition that seems to manifest itself each and every year.
It just lasts until the next school of herring arrives in the area. .
Additionally, we’ve gotten a couple of reports of some real big stripers
moving north from the Newburgh area… fish in the 50 pound class… or even bigger. One of the reports was that
there was a possibility that the state striper record had been broken with a linesider somewhere around the 61 pound mark.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this in the next few days, if true. In the meantime we’ll just sit
back here and wait for those giant bass to make their way up here to Catskill. Tom G .
************************************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Friday, April 22, 2011. . . The cold spring continues! We were quite shocked when we found the water
temperature at the Catskill launch ramp this morning to be holding at 44 degrees. That’s pretty chilly. Last year at
this same time the water temperature at Catskill was running between 52 and 53 degrees. Hopefully we’ll see a little
improvement this coming week, a week that traditionally sees bigger stripers moving into our mid-Hudson area. . . The
present cold spell we’re under seems to have been responsible for the sudden lack of herring. Monday, and even Tuesday,
the herring seemed to abound in the local feeder creeks and then – BOOM - colder weather set in and the herring disappeared.
The opinion of local river men is that they have gone deeper, holding in the main shipping channel – at least that’s
what their sonar readings seem to indicate. . . Most launch ramps in the upper half of the tidal river are set to bear the
onslaught of the hoards of striper fishermen expected for this year’s run. We’ve heard that the ramps at Germantown,
Catskill, Athens, Bethlehem, Schodack Island, and Hudson are all set but as of a couple of days ago Coeymans still was not
ready. Coxsackie should be set but we’ve received no confirmation on that site. . . Most assuredly there are stripers being caught both to the north and south of our Catskill striper tournament
headquarters. The fish seem to be scattered and the catches sporadic. There appears to be no concentration anywhere, as far
as our reports go. The sizes of fish caught mostly range between 22 and 36 inches. There are no contest entries as of yet
- last year at this time we already had two, each of which was over 38 inches long. . . Anybody that was in the shop last week looking for a Shimano Baitrunner and
had to go away disappointed should be glad to hear that we again have them in stock. We just received our 4th 2011
shipment of these great reels (we consider them to be the best baitrunners on the market… but they’re rather
pricey – each of the 4 sizes running between $150 and $195), along with the favorite Ugly Stick striped bass rods which
were also running very low. Our square herring scap nets presently are only available on a day by day basis, as quickly as
we can get them altered to our specifications. The fully equipped herring bait tanks are also again in stock – these
are the ones with two pumps and inlet and overflow hoses. . . The top of this page shows
two anglers who were fishing the Catskill Bridge Run this morning – Jerry Rowell Sr. and Mike Pavlovich. Their two stripers
measured 36 ½ and 28 inches, one being caught on chunk bait and the other on a live herring. The action came at the
end of the flood tide, at about 6 a.m. Good luck this weekend!
Tom G . . **********************************************************************************************
RIVER
UPDATE - 12:30 p.m., Tuesday April 19, 2011 . Reports are that the boat ramp docks at Bethlehem
/ Henry Hudson Park are being installed as we write this. Tom G . ********************************************************************************. .RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Tuesday, April 19, 2011. . No contest entries
yet as of noon today. . .Not surprisingly, our local waters turned high and muddy from this past Saturday night’s rain and
also, not surprisingly, there were stalwart striper fishermen who were not about to be turned back by such adverse conditions.
Most certainly some just went to check out their equipment and make sure everything was functional after a long winter but
yet others went out to do some serious fishing… and did score. . We had a multitude of reports of stripers being caught all the way from Albany to Kingston. Probably
the nicest fish we’re aware of appeared to be in the 40 inch range (cell phone screen) and that was caught on Saturday
up in the Troy area. We’ve also had reports of fish up to 34 inches being taken from the Coeymans area below the Thruway
Bridge, and then further down at the Coxsackie cliffs section. Four Mile Point has produced for several anglers on a daily
basis, as has the area around Stockport Creek. Additional fish were reported having been taken by shore fishermen along the
railroad tracks to the north of the city of Hudson. Just about all of these fish were in the 22 to 32 inch range. . The Catskill area was slow but we are aware of a couple of linesiders
being taken from the Catskill Creek. Similar reports came in from the Germantown - Cheviot area. One charter boat captain
we know scored a couple of smaller stripers down in the Saugerties – Malden area. The water down in the Rondout Creek
was roaring and was even over the stone pier in the middle of the creek at Eddyville – it should be more normal for
this weekend. . .All the condition reports we received were of high, muddy and debris-laden
water – but yet fishing, and catching, did take place all over. Anglers were able to get some bait by using “stoolies”
or buying herring - the chocolate waters were not conducive for the successful use of Sabiki rigs. A lot of the floating debris
we are seeing at present is the result of an unusually high springtime tide this year which has dislodged stuff normally above
the high-tide mark but the 3-4 inches of rain we had also shares the responsibility. . .We did receive word that the
Schodack Island State Park launch is open and “fully operational” but as of this past weekend the Henry Hudson
Park, Coeymans, and city of Hudson floats had not been installed. As we have previously noted the Germantown ramp is set and
the Catskill ramp has one stringer of floats in for launching..The best condition report we had was from up in Menands where Fred said the water see-thru visibility
was 8 to 10 inches and the cormorants and ospreys were doing their thing. . .Our River Basin Sports Shop
24th Annual Striped Bass Contest went off with a record number of entrants this year – 698. Be sure to keep
checking back here to our River Basin Sports Leader Board at the top of this page where we’ll post the contest standings
as they change throughout the course of the event. The 100% payback figures are also listed there at the bottom of the page.
Tom G. .
**************************************************************************** . RIVER
BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Sunday, April 17, 2011 . Just a quick note:.All local waters are high and muddy from last night‘s rain.
Creeks will take a few days to improve but the river could be fouled up for a week or two – depends on what kind of
water comes in from the upper reaches. . The unofficial striped bass tournament payback
figures are as follows: . .1) $5,759.00 .2) $1,780.00 .3) $1,361.00 .4) $ 942.00 .5)
$ 628.00 .
************************************************** RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS UPDATE – Friday, April 15, 2011 . The Hudson’s
water temperature at Catskill has been hovering right around the 47 degree mark all this week. The result has been the arrival
and gathering of striped bass into our area. The herring made their appearance here on Monday and the stripers were but a
day or two behind. They made a very good first push upriver which resulted in some good early-run action, particularly in
the Stockport and Coxsackie areas. This morning’s reports also included some stripers being caught at 4 Mile Point but
no real big fish (over 40 inches) have been reported from anyplace. Somewhat surprisingly… the action right around
Catskill has been slow. .
We’ve also received reports
from further upriver - the Albany-Troy area has seen goodly amounts of herring arriving up there, particularly in the Postenkill
creek. To the south of us, where the Esopus Creek enters the Hudson at Saugerties, the reports are of the New York City Reservoir
system still trying to wipe out all the fish life in the Esopus Creek with their releases of ultra-dirty water and the resulting
siltation. Needless to say the Hudson’s water immediately to the south of Saugerties, particularly on the Glasco flats
/ Saddlebags area can be pretty foul also, depending on the direction of the tide flow. I hope that the herring scappers in
the Esopus won’t be completely knocked out of the game by this unbelievable act, ordinarily punishable by the taking
of one’s first-born-child. . We know that
the stripers and herring are also down in the Rondout Creek / Kingston area but have not as of late received many reports
from down there. . The state launch ramps, both up and
down the river, were being readied this week by crews working from south to north. The ramp at Germantown had its floating
docks installed this past Monday and I figure that Athens should also be done by now. If you know the situation at Hudson,
Coxsackie, Coeymans, Stuyvesant, Bethlehem or Rensselaer you could let us know at TOMGRIVER at YAHOO .COM. Don’t bother
to tell us about Albany – we really don’t care how the scullers are doing there - that ramp is perhaps the most
fisherman unfriendly on the entire river. The Catskill ramp’s floats were scheduled to be installed (at least partially)
today. . We just received word that SHADY HARBOR marina in New
Baltimore will be open this spring to accept striper boats for the early season. The place was just sold to new owners. This
was much to the relief of the striper guys who had found refuge there during the past few years. . Here at the shop we have just received a shipment of sandworms for striper fishing
and we are stocked up with local fresh dead, as well as frozen, herring. These fish have been commercially prepared for sale
as per ENCON rules and have no transport restrictions on them. If you purchase some just be sure to hold on to the package
label which will act as a receipt for their origin. . This
SUNDAY (April 17) is your final day to enter our 24th ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST. Our official Sunday closing
time is 1 p.m. but, as has been our tradition for years, we will extend the closing time for registration and will have the
shop open until 5 p.m. At the time of this writing the contest payback amounts were as follows – but of course
they will be higher than this by the time registration ends: 1st - $4,331.25; 2nd – $1,338.75;
3rd – $1,023.75; $4th – 708.75; $5th – 472.50. The contest officially starts
on Monday, April 18. Tom G. *************************************************************************8 . RIVER BASIN STRIPED
BASS UPDATE – Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Here’s
the news you’ve all been waiting to hear – the striped bass are now not only in our Catskill section of the river
but have already passed by Coxsackie and are on their way to the Troy dam. . Yesterday,
Monday, some huge schools of herring pushed past Catskill, Hudson and Stockport - and close behind, on their tails, were the
stripers. Today the reports were of plentiful herring at Stockport as well as up past Coxsackie. At the River Basin Sports
Shop we presently have this year’s herring now available, either frozen or fresh (not alive) as required by ENCON dictate.
These herring come three in a bag, are salt enhanced and work well for fishing either as chunk or whole bait. . Our
area’s first reported stripers were from the Stockport section of the river and we are aware of several fish in the
28 to 35 inch range that were taken there. A little bit further upriver in the Coxsackie area stripers up to 38 inches have
been taken… and a few purportedly even larger than that were lost. . This has been
the first push of stripers up past our area this year and bodes well for the arrival of many more of these fish during the
time leading up the start of our 24th ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST. The final time to get your $15 registration
in for this year’s event is Sunday (April 17th) at 1 p.m. (closing time). The contest, which presently has
431 entrants, officially starts the next day. Tom G . *********************************************************************** . RIVER BASIN STRIPER REPORT UPDATE
- Saturday, April 08, 2011 . Reports from the Saugerties Esopus Creek area were
of a few smaller schoolie stripers being taken there at the mouth of the creek. No reports of anything in the
Catskill, Hudson or Stockport areas as of yet, although the odds are good that some stripers are in these locations
now. . Presently we have over 350 entries in our striper contest. Registration ends Sunday, April 17. . The
River Basin Sports Shop will have fresh prepared legal Hudson River herring baits available tomorrow morning. These were swimming
around just two hours ago. No bloodworms until this coming Thursday afternoon . NOW... it begins!
Tom G . ************************************************************8 RIVER BASIN STRIPER REPORT UPDATE – Friday, April 08, 2011 . We assume that you’ve already read the latest update to the “Marine License”
boondoggle which we’ve posted up above. It’s pretty much clear cut and doesn’t really need any more explanation. Here’s the good news – the first of the river herring
showed up at Catskill this morning. We have also heard of a few being spotted as far upriver as Albany. True, there were very
few of t hem caught but from now on their numbers will be increasing each day. Generally we do not consider this first
arrival to be large enough for you to go out and pursue… unless you have a gill net. That is how those herring were
caught this morning – the nets soaked out there for 2 hours before yielding a total of 5 herring. . Here at the
River Basin Sports Shop we are expecting to have our first shipment of Hudson River fresh, commercially prepared (required
by law) herring available for sale late this weekend, probably Sunday. The first of the stripers should be here any day now and, of course, the question for all striper anglers
becomes where and how to obtain bait. Obviously the easiest way is to buy it. Sometimes this can be accomplished right at
the launch ramp if there are some young entrepreneurs hanging around hawking those they have caught right there. Here at the
River Basin Sports Shop we are only allowed to sell commercially prepared stuff, which is actually pretty good. If you want
bloodworms you will have to buy them at a bait shop such as ours (we won’t have any until the weekend after the present
one). . Another alternative is artificial baits
– lures such as Bomber 26A and 17A are local favorites, as are the offerings in the Rebel DJ30 series and the Rapala
sizes 13 and larger. Bucktail jigs also work well but generally tend to catch smaller fish. One of my favorites is the vibrating
blade style such as a Hedon Sonar. This lure can either be cast and reeled in, or just vertically jigged under the boat (I
drop down to either 14 lb. test mono or up to 50 lb. braid when fishing any artificials for stripers). .
Of course, you can always try to catch your own bait. There’s no question that the gill nets are the easiest
way to catch your own herring. Usually all it takes is to set the net out for 20 to 30 minutes and you’ll have enough
bait to start your fishing day. At this stage what many anglers do, if they need more bait, is to set the net out again while
they go and fish in the immediate vicinity. Just remember that you can’t set out the net and then leave it unattended. . There is one problem with herring
that are gill netted and that is the damage they sustain when you gather them from the net. There is no question that they
are pretty well beat up and have a shorter life-span than herring obtained by other means. We have several different sizes
of herring gill nets in stock. .
The best (liveliest) herring are usually obtained by “scap” netting. A scap net is just a large umbrella net (aka
“lift” net) such as you probably used at one time or another at some stage of your fishing career to gather smaller
bait. Basically, with a scap net the herring are just “lifted” out of the water and sustain no real damage unless
dumped on the ground or otherwise handled roughly. .
Unlike gill nets, which require you to obtain a special license, the scap nets we sell here at the shop are specially tied
for us and their dimensions are such that you do not need a special license to use them - as long as the herring you are netting
are for your own use. They come with the central lifting block and eye, and 4 arms that have hooks on their ends to which
the net is attached. All of this stuff is individually built to our specifications and, as with all specialty nets, the supply
is limited so if you decide you want one don’t delay.
Of course you shouldn’t forget to try the ever popular “Sabiki” style herring rigs, nor should you forget
the use of “stoolies” to lure the herring in so they can be netted. We’ve got all that stuff here as well
as herring “pens” and “live well tanks” in which to keep the captured fish. . If you do
decide to come through the shop be sure to also check out our selection of “baitrunner” style reels for striped
bass fishing. Shimano, Okuma, Penn, Daiwa, Tica – presently we have more than TWO DOZEN different models in all sizes
and price ranges to choose from including the four new top-of-the-line Shimano BTR models and the Penn live-liner SLAMMER
series – at prices better than the big box stores. .
For anybody that hasn’t done so yet the next week is all that remains to sign up for our 24th annual striped
bass contest. 100% of the entry monies are paid back to the winners and first place has a guaranteed minimum payback of $3,000.
As of the time of this writing there was over $4,000 dollars in the pot. Usually this final week of registration sees hundreds
more sign-ups come in so we won’t know the final payback totals until next Sunday. Now, as the
first full week of April passes, we appear to be in good shape as far as the striper run goes. Don’t hop in the boat
and expect to catch a striper yet – the odds are immensely against you, but as we get into this upcoming week the odds
do improve and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the first striper of the year brought in to the River Basin in the next
week or week and a half. . PROPOSAL TO END ONEROUS BAIT
TRANSPORT REG ALONG THE HUDSON . DEC will be looking to remove
the herring bait transport restriction in corridors along both sides of the tidal Hudson River. This is NOT in effect yet
but rather is proposed – there are hearings scheduled in this regard. Following are some parts of ENCON’s news
release: DEC’s
proposed regulations will: ·
Allow the overland motorized transport of uncertified baitfish that are collected for personal use within
the identified transportation corridor. Such baitfish may only be used in the water from which they were
collected. ·
Allow the overland motorized transport of uncertified baitfish by anglers purchasing the baitfish from
licensed bait dealers located within one of the transportation corridors (provided the seller has obtained a permit from DEC
to sell uncertified baitfish). The seller must provide the purchaser with a receipt that identifies the
waterbody from which the bait was collected. That waterbody is the only place where the baitfish may be
used. ·
Impose no restrictions on the number of uncertified baitfish that may be collected or purchased for personal
use in the waterbodies associated with the transportation corridors. Also, such fish may be retained or preserved in any manner
within the boundaries of the corridors. They may not be transported outside of the transportation corridors. ·
Continue to subject any commercial sale of uncertified baitfish to a permit issued by the Department. .
Anglers and other interested persons can provide comments on the proposed rule making during a 45-day public comment
period which begins April 6, 2011. Comments on proposed rule making being submitted by e-mail should
be forwarded to fishregs@gw.dec.state.ny.us or mailed to Shaun Keeler, New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation, Bureau of Fisheries, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4753. Hope you can make more sense out of all this
“in and out” regulation making than I can. I guess we’ll just have to sit back and see which way the wind
is blowing today. Tom G **************************************************************** RIVER BASIN SPORTS
UPDATE – Monday, April 04, 2011 .
This past weekend turned out to be quite pleasant and it was real nice to greet many of you once more, here at the shop. All
of us, me included, are just itching to get out there on the river once more to take on the striped bass of the Hudson. Quite
a challenge! .
April is progressing. For the past week or so we’ve been receiving word of a smattering of stripers and herring in the
river about 25 miles south of us, but that really wasn’t too much to get excited about since that is to be expected
each year. What we want to hear is that some giant schools of herring and alewives have entered our waterway and are starting
their run upriver – then we know that the stripers will be right behind them. . Well, we received our first report of larger schools
of herring having arrived in the lower section of the river this past weekend and want to thank Walt down in the Wappingers
/ Fishkill area for this early netting report. These fish should be making their way upriver fairly quickly but there is a
question as to how far upriver they’ll advance in this first push. The past three years the herring have arrived in the Catskill area during the first week
of April… but the water temp at Catskill during that period those same three years, ranged from the mid 40’s
to 50 degrees. This morning the Hudson’s water temperature at the Catskill launch ramp was only 41. Back in 2007 the
water temperature during the first week of April was approximately the same as this – and then the stripers and herring
didn’t get here until the end of the second week of April. .
It’ll be interesting to see just what’s in store for us this year. The colder water temperature might hold the
stripers back in the lower section of the river for a while. Most certainly this morning’s flood warnings for the Mohawk
River do not bode us down here very well. Any heavy rains and Adirondack snow-melt will probably result in a wash-down of
dirty water which could further delay the arrival of our stripers. We’ll just play it by ear and see what happens. . By the way, the web special
on the Okuma Epixor EB65 reel is all sold out. We do still have some of the “Okuma ABF65/ Sea Striker 25 lb. rated,
8 foot 2 piece rod” baitrunner combos left which are priced at $89.97 but, judging from the way they have been selling,
those won’t be available much longer either. .
Don’t forget that the registration deadline for our River Basin Sports 24th ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST is
April 17th and that the event starts the following day, the 18th. Last year we had a record number 604
entries in this event which pays back 100% of the entry monies to the largest (length) 5 stripers brought in, and guarantees
at least $3,000 to the first place fish. Entry forms are only available at the River Basin Sports Shop so be sure to stop
through and pick one up. Time is starting to get short. Tom G
|
