Fishing Reports

Hudson River fishing with RIVER BASIN SPORTS

Fishing Tackle for Hudson River Stripers and Black Bass Tournaments

Mike Proper's 21 3/4" largemouth took the early lunker lead in our 2009 black bass contest. "********************************************************* - BUSINESS HOURS - THE RIVER BASIN IS NOW ON IT'S SUMMER SCHEDULE - WE ARE OPEN TUESDAY THRU SATURDAY FROM 8:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M. AND CLOSED ON THE FISHING DAYS OF SUNDAYS AND MONDAYS. There are some pictures of your fish at the bottom of this page and other lunker fish shots can be found on the "pictures" page. ******************************************************* September 27, 2009 - The Bergen Bassmasters is holding an "open" black bass tournament at Catskill to benefit the USO OF METROPOLITAN NEW YORK. This will be a "partners" event with a boat registration fee of $200. Standard tournament rules apply. For information call Nick Albano (201)751-5190 or Bob Murphy (201)803-4828. Application forms are available at the River Basin. ********************************************************* - Fishing Reports -
****************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Wednesday, July 1, 2009 The River Basin will have these special hours for this 4th of July weekend (Tom IS married): Sat.,July 4 - 8 to 10:15 a.m. (morning only); Sunday, July 5 - closed; Monday, July 6 - 8:30 to 12 (noon). After this we resume our normal schedule. Local waters still remain on the cool side for this July 4th weekend, mostly in the low 70’s. Although our black bass are in a post-spawn situation you still may find a scattered few in spawn. All of our waters are at full level and a few streams may be found to be overflowing their banks after passing thunderstorms. The best producing trout waters during the past few weeks have been lakes- Green Lake (Leeds Athens), Colgate Lake (East Jewett), and CD Lane Park lake (Maplecrest). This morning the Catskill Creek at Catskill was running very muddy, a condition which could correct itself by this weekend if we don’t receive any additional heavy rain (not that likely). Area ponds, quarries and lakes are in great shape and the fishing action appears to be excellent. Weedy conditions can be overcome by using weedless frogs or other such creature baits, but your general arsenal of bass lures should serve to produce well under most conditions. The Hudson River is in pretty good shape with a see-thru visibility of about 1˝ feet. It might not seem like a lot but it’s almost ideal for fishing the largemouths on this large tidal river. Those largemouths out there are still hanging around hard structures located close to their spawning areas. The great thing at this time of year is that these fish are concentrated, albeit loosely, in such locations so if you catch one be sure to check out the immediate area carefully. The local Greene County Bassmasters fishing club held a “5-bass limit” fun partners tournament on the river last Sunday and found the fish to be quite cooperative. The winning weight consisted of all largemouths, 16.21 lbs., and was brought in by the team of Casscles and Gentalen. It included the event’s 4.29 lb. lunker. Second place went to “Team Imbesi” who had a mixed bag of smallies and bigmouths weighing 15.86 lbs. The winning team used just two different lures en-route to winning the event – Berkley Gulp minnows and Yamamoto Senkos. Athens’ Sleepy Hollow Lake held their annual member’s bass tournament this past weekend and we heard that the winning team was Beckman and Travels with 13 lbs 6 oz. Second place went to Crown and Conway with 12 lb. 15 oz. Sleepy Hollow Lake is, of course, the home location of the New York State record white crappie caught back in 2001 by Jim Weinberg. The fish weighed in at 3 lbs. 13 oz. and measured 18 inches. Interestingly, the following year, 2002, angler Ron Daniels caught another huge crappie that actually measured in at Ľ inch longer than Weinberg’s fish. However, even though this lunker was longer it only weighed in at 3 lbs. 2 oz. - 11 ounces less than the state record, which is monitored by weight. Sunday, July 12, will see the “American Bass Association of Pennsylvania and New Jersey” (ABA Pa & NJ) in Catskill for one of their tournament events. They are a partners trail that requires membership in the group as well as individual sign up fees. If you wish to participate in this contest you MUST be registered by this Thursday, July 2. The only way to do it at this late date is on-line at “aba-of-eastern-pa-nj” dot com. Memberships are $50 per angler and the boat sign-up for each event is $150 plus $10 lunker fee. They will not accept late registrations. The weekend is going to be kind of a zoo out on the river especially when you consider the potential number of boaters going out on this 4th of July weekend, the first without any prediction of rain (as of this moment). I suggest first light until about 11 a.m. for your only decent fishing time out there if you want to avoid the weekend “yahoos”. However, if you choose to target a particular species here’s what we recommend as the best times(Catskill area): catfish – any time or tide; largemouths – from daybreak till about 11 a.m.; smallmouths – 11:30 a.m. till about 4:30 p.m. Tom G ************************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Wednesday, June 24, 2009 As our 2009 black bass season got underway here in the Catskill area we found that the cooler than normal weather during the past 3 weeks created some great bass fishing conditions. Most of our ponds, lakes and streams had bass in all three stages of springtime activity – pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn. We saw some hefty largemouths being caught that still were sporting huge bellies. The hottest public water for largemouths so far this year, at least for the shore bound fishermen, has been Hollister Lake, also known as the Athens Reservoir. Having been off- limits since 9/11 those bass in there grew fat, sassy and HUGE. There are far more six pounders to be found there at the present time than in most other waters. You do need an Athens Reservoir permit to fish there. Get it at the village offices. The Hudson River got walloped by heavy rainstorms just in time for last weekend. On Sunday when the Greene County Bassmasters hit the river for their first tournament of 2009 they were greeted by the sight of all feeder creeks pouring in heavily muddied water. Still, the rain ceased by early morning, the water temperature rose from 66 to 70 by noon, and some of that group managed to find enough clean water to catch fish. Their top six finishers were as follows: 1) Gentalen 2) Imbesi 3) Daley 4) Clarke 5) Rath 6) Paccione. This upcoming weekend should present some decent bass fishing on the river, particularly since the feeder creeks will be fishable again. Those should still provide plenty of action. In the main river look for points of land that have a current sweeping over a gravel bottom, at least if you want to try for smallies. For bucketmouths, right now we’d have to recommend trying the creek mouth areas and chestnut bed points in the river's big bays. The see-thru water visibility should be about 1 ˝ feet in most locations. If you just want to relax and do some bottom fishing try anchoring up where you find a river eddy and dunk some worms for perch or catfish. It’s a great way to spend a couple of hours just concentrating on keeping your line in the water. Personally, for this type of fishing I’ve stopped using nightcrawlers for catfish bait – it just got to be too messy. Now I’ll take a dozen medium shiners out with me and fish just a half-shiner on the hook. It works great and avoids all the worm dirt. And, oh yes – I do love to eat those channel catfish. Pop those fillets in a pan, fry to a golden brown… and just gulp them down. Tom G **************************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Our 2009 striped bass run is now finished so this past week, in preparing for Saturday's June 20 official opening of New York’s black bass season, we checked out the tidal Hudson River from Albany to Kingston and found the water conditions to be fairly uniform and favorble for the bass anglers. At the start of last week the water temperature at Albany was at the 69 degree mark. By this upcoming weekend it should have climbed to 70 or better. From Catskill to Kingston the main river temp was at 70 degrees but we did find a few spots of upwelling where it was a couple of degrees cooler. The water clarity here at Catskill a couple of weeks ago was perfect for largemouth bass fishing with a see-thru visibility of about 1 ˝ feet but by the start of this week it seemed to have increased by about a foot, making it even better for the smallmouth fishermen since those fish are more of a visual feeder. Albany appeared just about normal last week with light penetration in most locations of about 4 feet. This year’s water color was a matter of some discussion among local anglers a few weeks ago. Even though we had not had any significant rain the river’s see-thru visibility was rather poor - a foot at the most, and rather greenish like the color of some mid-summer algae lakes. Some were blaming this situation on the start of the dredging that was taking place almost 100 miles further upriver. Conceivably, I guess that could have been the reason. But when we went up to Albany and saw that the water up there was much clearer than that here in the mid-tidal river area that thought was dismissed. Since then we heard that the dredging up there had to be put on hold for a while due to too much water flow volume. That closure period could have accounted for the cleaner water at Albany while ours was still reaping the “benefit” of all that silt being stirred up by their clamshell dredges. We’ll see. Hazardous floating debris on the water is relatively sparse at the present time but you will encounter a potentially damaging log every once in a while – keep alert. Boat traffic this year has still been minimal, probably due to the cooler than expected weather so far. As we progress into July and the real summer begins you can expect the regular “yahoos” to start making their appearance on weekend afternoons. If you want to fish in peace on the weekend - do it between sunrise and noon. From our own observations and other fishing reports received at the beginning of this week we know that largemouths can still be found at or close to their spawning areas. These locations are either in the backs of sheltered main river coves where gravel bottoms can be found or in the tributary creeks. In addition to the gravel, there must be protection from the full flow of the river’s tidal currents in these areas. Since locations that are suitable for spawning bass are scarce on the river you will probably eventually find that most of the river’s bass are actually spawned in the tributary creeks or even much further upstream in ponds and swamps that overflow during springtime floods. For just such a reason you will find lots of early season bass to still inhabit the tidal feeder creeks. These bass, the larger ones in particular, will slowly transition themselves down into the main river as the waters warm, leaving mostly small bass in the creeks from mid-July on. If you don’t know where to start fishing this weekend, try the creeks. There’s so much to learn about bass fishing on our beautiful river that it would take volumes of writing to cover it all. But there’s a much better way than reading to find out about it and that’s by actually going out and giving it a try – each time out will be a separate, new learning experience for you. I know I’ll be out there this weekend - hope to see you there too. Tom G ************************************ Even though the reports of striped bass activity continue to be excellent for the seemingly vast numbers of smaller stripers presently in our mid-Hudson section of the river... our contest is over. If you still want to give it a try either chunk bait or live is working real well, but live herring are becoming harder to catch each day. Most of the fish now being caught are under 32 inches in length. The following is a press release regarding our 2009 striper contest - LOCAL FISHING EVENT DRAWS RECORD 564 ANGLERS CATSKILL - What started out in 1988 as a gathering of 27 local anglers looking for some friendly competition has certainly changed in scope during the 22 years leading up to the present. In 2009 Catskill’s River Basin Sport Shop’s 22nd Annual Striped Bass Contest saw that now-seemingly paltry original number of enthusiasts swell to a record 564 anglers from all over the northeast. They converged on our area to enjoy the almost 2 month long annual migratory run of striped bass up the Hudson River and to vie in a competition to catch the longest striped bass during that time. The annual contest that the River Basin Sports Shop has been sponsoring and administering throughout the years has almost become a social affair with new participants always being welcomed by the old veterans. And to add to the excitement created by the competition, two years ago the Greene County Tourism promotion department, under the direction of Daniella Marino, stepped in to provide additional sponsorship. Presently the allure of this event to fishermen is unmatched anywhere else on the tidal river. According to shop owner Tom Gentalen the contest has the largest following of any such event on the river all the way from West Point to the head of tidewater at Troy. By paying back awards amounting to even more than the registration fees collected the event has grown larger and drawn more people each year since its inception. This year saw a total cash payback of $11,460.00 with first place paying winner Peter Longo of Kingston $5,730.00. Longo was fishing in the Cheviot Malden area of the Hudson River when he hooked and landed the winning 46 ľ inch long striped bass. “The real payback from this contest is actually to our mid-Hudson Valley area” said Gentalen. “Even though the River Basin does not keep a penny of the money taken in from the registration fees, the economic return from the hundreds of people who come here to sign up and participate makes it all worth while. We have become a “fishing destination!” Even locals who used to go elsewhere during the spring now stay here to enjoy the world class fishing we have.” This year’s winners, the length of their fish and the prizes they won are as follows: 1) Peter Longo, Kingston, N.Y. - 46 ľ”, $5,730.00 2) Kim Doyle, Chichester, N.Y. – 46 ˝”, $$1,948.20 3 & 4) TIE – Gerard Uhrik, Tannersville, N.Y. Walt Weglinski, Budd Lake, N.J. 46”, split $2,521.20 5) Steve Hopf, Saugerties, N.Y. - 45”, $687.00 6) TIE – Dan Fitzgerald, Olive Bridge, N.Y. Pat Dutkiewicz, Port Ewen, N.Y. 44 ˝”, split $573, 00 The year 2009 competition, which ran for six weeks, ended on Saturday, May 30. Entry applications for next year’s contest will start to be accepted at the River Basin Sport Shop early next February right through mid-April, a time calculated to be just slightly earlier than the arrival of those first big striped bass into our waters. END ***************************************** 2009 STRIPER CONTEST STANDINGS - FINAL RESULTS 1) $5,730.00 46 3/4" Pete Longo - May 15, 2009 2) $1,948.20 46 1/2" Kim Doyle -- May 8, 2009 3) $1,489.80 46" Gerard Uhrik ---- April 25, 2009 - TIE,collects $1260.60 ---$1,031.40 46" Walt Weglinski - May 12, 2009 - TIE,collects $1260.60 5) $ 687.60 45" Steve Hopf ------- May 7, 2009 6) $ 573.00 44.5" Dan Fitzgerald -- May 13, 2009 - TIE,collects $286.50 -------------- 44.5" Pat Dutkiewicz – May 18, 2009 - TIE,collects $286.50 ******************************************************* Hudson River Striper Update – Wednesday, May 27, 2009 As of this morning the striper action has continued to be excellent all the way from Coxsackie down south to Norrie Point. True, since May 18 when Patrick Dutkiewicz tied for sixth place in our contest with his 44 ˝ inch striper, we have not measured any other fish for the competition but the overall striper action has been on the upswing for about two weeks. As a sample of what’s been happening, two seasoned striped bass anglers who came off the river at about 10 o’clock this morning told me that today was the very best action they have ever had with doubles being hooked and then having yet a third rod go off at the same time! Other than being a witness to the act itself, such frenzied action is the best indication of an ongoing spawn. Last year at this same time the spawn was also in full swing but the major difference between then and now was that 2008’s fish were larger – we were seeing stripers in the 41 to 43 inch range then rather than the multitude of 22 to 37 inch fish that are around right now. We are in the last few days of the best fishing of the run. If you can’t partake of it… you might as well start getting your gear ready for next year. As I am sure most of the 564 people entered in our contest know, our 22nd annual striped bass event will come to a conclusion at 12 noon this Saturday (May 30). But with the abundance of fish yet in the river the contest standings are liable to change right up to the last minute. If you do catch a fish on Saturday just remember the following part of the rules – “Any fish brought in after 12 noon Saturday, May 30, 2009 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. The award winners, with the exception of the Number One angler, may stop through the River Basin Sports Shop any time after the conclusion to collect their prizes. Winners, please remember that we will need your driver’s license and social security number before we can conclude the winning transaction. The top man, who at the present time appears to be Pete Longo with his 46 ľ inch striper, should contact us for details regarding his payback. Tom G 2009 STRIPER CONTEST STANDINGS - May 27, 2009 1) $5,730.00 46 3/4" Pete Longo - May 15, 2009 2) $1,948.20 46 1/2" Kim Doyle -- May 8, 2009 3) $1,489.80 46" Gerard Uhrik ---- April 25, 2009 - TIE,collects $1260.60 ---$1,031.40 46" Walt Weglinski - May 12, 2009 - TIE,collects $1260.60 5) $ 687.60 45" Steve Hopf ------- May 7, 2009 6) $ 573.00 44.5" Dan Fitzgerald -- May 13, 2009 - TIE,collects $286.50 --- 44.5" Pat Dutkiewicz – May 18, 2009 - TIE,collects $286.50 ************************************ Hudson River striper update – Friday, May 22, 2009 With the exception of the Troy to Castleton area the striped bass reports from the tidewater Hudson continue to come in with ratings of good to excellent. If you are heading north on the river the action starts to slow as you get to the Ravena Coeymans area and just bogs down from there on up. Oh, herring appear to be plentiful… it’s just the numbers and, in particular, the quality of the stripers that’s reported to be missing. Meanwhile, in the section from Norrie Point on up to Coxsackie most of the catch reports are of multiple smaller fish – say 8 to 18 pounds, or mostly from 22 to 33 inches. We did see a 41 incher yesterday morning that was caught from shore here in Catskill but right now that size fish appears to be an exception to the rule with the fish topping out at about 36 inches. Sporadic spawns are reported from areas up and down the river but we’ve yet to hear of any mass spawn. Lots of harvested fish still have green roe, an indication that there are still some days to go before they head on back to the Atlantic. However, looking at our past records we see that most of the instances we’ve noted of mass spawns (stripers churning up multiple surface acres of water with their spawning activity) have occurred approximately between May 17 and May 26. If you get on the water these next few days, particularly in the mornings, you just might bear witness to such an event. On multiple occasions we’ve been asked about the lack of better stripers in the Albany area during these past two striper runs. The consensus among the savvier anglers around here is that we really have no answer as to why they’ve slacked off in that section. However, although there appears to be a reticence among certain groups to admit it a similar, although not quite as bad, situation has also existed in the Kingston area during the past two runs. Personally, without any proof, I feel this could be some sort of a short-term cyclical thing. When we look at the herring situation over the past couple of years we see a kind of similar patterning, at least down here in the mid-Hudson area. For a half dozen years or so, say starting at around year 2000, we saw a definite diminution in the number of herring arriving here in the general Catskill area (although they just stacked up in the waters off Albany). Then, without any apparent reason, last year was a far better herring run for us here. And now this year has proven to be even better yet, actually a bonanza! Again for no reason overly apparent to us. Our herring upswing does seemingly correlate with the weakening of the striper fishing in the Kingston and Albany areas but there appear to be too many loose ends for us to be able to tie together. For instance, the number of herring in Albany this year was simply outstanding but yet the stripers were lacking. So our thought on it is - if it is cyclical it’s just a matter of waiting it out. Of course, waiting it out just might not matter too much since the gods that watch over the Hudson River fishery have stated their intention to do away with all river herring fishing by the year 2012 (CHOKE!). I can’t help but to wonder if this isn’t the justification for to the patently erroneous information given out last year which stated that 2008’s population of herring in the river was down. In reality it was readily apparent to anybody actually out there that the numbers were way up over 2007. I can hardly wait to see how they rate this year which saw fishermen with even more copious supplies of this baitfish. We’ll be hearing much more of all this in the months to come. Additionally, we’ve always felt that the striper population was also cyclical but it has been extremely difficult to predict the exact years of the tops and bottoms of such cycles. Judging from the records we keep here at the River Basin I was anticipating the upturn from years of steady decline here in the “Malden, Catskill, and Coxsackie” area to occur 4 years ago, back in 2006. It didn’t happen then nor, disappointingly, did it come about in 2007. But 2008 was a different story and we bore witness to what was more than twice the rate of catch of the year before. This year, 2009, has again seen at least a definite doubling of last year’s success if not even greater. It appears that this cycle has at last reversed. There has been no change in the striped bass contest standings as of this date. Summer starts this weekend – get out and enjoy our beautiful river. Tom G ******************************************* Hudson River striper update – Monday, May 18, 2009 Reports from tidewater Hudson striped bass fishermen continue to be of good to excellent action from most sections. Weaker areas seem to be around Newburgh where most fish are reported to be smaller, and from the Albany area which this year never got the sizes or numbers of stripers we saw there a couple of years ago. Poughkeepsie appears to be a “black hole” from where we never receive any data. From Norrie Point north to the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge the action appears to have been very good as far as numbers of fish go… but we only have two fish logged into our TOP SIX from there – Kim Doyle with a 46 ˝” and, as of this morning, Pat Dutkiewicz of Port Ewen. Pat is one of those guys fishing the river who lays to rest the tale of big fish not being caught while trolling -and the proof of that is the 44 ˝” striper he measured in. It was yesterday afternoon, while trolling a Rapala in the Esopus Meadows section of the river, that he hooked and landed the fish which would tie him with Dan Fitzgerald for sixth place in our striped bass contest. Pat’s was a great looking fish and since it felt particularly heavy we threw it on our scale where the numbers topped out at 48 lbs 4 oz (there were still some transportation ice cubes down the fish’s gullet at that time). Pete Longo’s 46 ľ” fish from the Malden area is presently this year’s longest fish to be brought in. That Malden section of the river has consistently produced some big fish year after year, and is the location where our shop record 48 ˝” striped bass was caught by Jeremy Phillips two years ago. Out of curiosity to see where most of this year’s bigger fish were coming from we took a look at the catch locales of the top 24 stripers measured at the River Basin. For this purpose we divided the river into 5 separate regions: 1) Norrie, Black Creek, Esopus Meadows; 2) Kingston, Rhinecliff, Glasco, Saugerties; 3) Malden, Cheviot, Catskill; 4) Hudson, Stockport, Coxsackie; 5) north of Coxsackie. The results of this patterning were thus: Area 1, Esopus Meadows, had 12.5% of the fish Area 2, Rhinecliff, had 25% Area 3, Catskill had 37.5% Area 4, Hudson, had 20.75% Area 5, Coxsackie north, 4% We then took a look at where the 7 striped bass leading our contest standings as of May 18, 2009 came from. We found that the three main locations, Esopus Meadows, Rhinecliff, and Catskill all tied each other with 28.6% of the leaders. Hudson had none and there was one caught to the north of Coxsackie. From personal observation it seems that the earliest of the big fish arriving tend to be caught from the Catskill area and then, about mid-May, the southern section around Esopus Meadows starts to produce better. You may interpret the above statistics in any manner you wish. Anyhow – there is a real strong bite going on out in the river right now – very indicative of spawning behavior about to happen or going on. One spawn was reported right out from the Catskill launch ramp a couple of days ago. Lots of smaller male fish are being reported along with some stripers in the 20 to 30 lb. class. This action, which really got underway this past weekend, extends all the way from Kingston to Coxsackie. Most anglers are managing to boat multiple fish each outing. Reports from further downriver to the effect that good size schools of large stripers are still entering our mid-Hudson waters indicate that although the best fishing in some areas may come to an end soon, there will be plenty of late-arrival lunkers out there to pursue. Tom G *********************************** Hudson River striper update – Friday, May 15, 2009 At approximately 8 a.m. this morning Pete Longo was sitting in his boat. It was a great morning to be on the Hudson, particularly there in the vicinity of Malden where he had decided to fish for stripers today. A tap on the rod! A run on his new reel (purchased from the River Basin a week previous, of course)... and then a hefty hook set. The ensuing battle was no problem for this experienced striped bass fisherman and soon a 46 3/4" striper was in his boat, awaiting the ride to the contest measuring site at Catskill. With about a half-dozen excited people looking on Pete was declared the new leader in the River Basin striped bass contest, an event that will pay more than $5,700 to the first place fish. Of course, the contest still has two weeks to run before a winner can be declared. And, with the spawn still not having concluded, the possibility of bigger fish being caught still looms strong. The RIVER BASIN will remain open 7 days a week right up to the end of the contest period of 12 noon on May 30th. After that the shop will be closed on Sundays and Mondays. To get in the contest money now you must have a 44 1/2 incher. Tom G ********************************** Hudson River striper update – Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Big fish continue to come in – this time it was Dan Fitzgerald of Olive Bridge, N.Y. who landed a great striper. Dan was fishing a live herring in the vicinity of Malden this afternoon when the striper inhaled his bait. The striper measured in at 44 ˝ inches and boosted the angler up into sole possession of fifth place in our striped bass contest. Brian Bishop and Cindy Leonard are now in a tie for sixth place. Reports are of good action from all sections of the river but the Albany Troy section seems to be somewhat slow. Tom G 2009 STRIPER CONTEST STANDINGS - May 13, 2009 1) $5,730.00 46 1/2" Kim Doyle - May 8, 2009 2) $1,948.20 46" Gerard Uhrik - April 25, 2009 3) $1,031.40 46" Walt Weglinski - May 12, 2009 4) $1,489.80 45" Steve Hopf - May 7, 2009 5) $ 687.60 44.5" Dan Fitzgerald - May 13, 2009 6) $ 573.00 44" Brian Bishop – tie April 26, 2009 -------------- 44" Cindy Leonard – tie April 27, 2009 **************************************** Hudson River striper update – Tuesday, May 12, 2009 SECOND PLACE NOW TIED IN STRIPER CONTEST Reports from this past weekend show that the striped bass spawn is definitely underway. Down in the Wappingers area the action was excellent and smaller males were following hooked females to the boat. He also reported lots of surface splashing from early light until about 8 a.m. when boat traffic seems to have put the fish down. Most of the fish were less than 39 inches. To further demonstrate the spawn being underway we have a prime example. Walt Weglinski of Budd Lake, N.J. has now tied for second place in our striped bass contest with a 46 inch fish that was quite obviously already spawned out. Walt was fishing a live herring in the Saddlebags section of the river when the fish hit. With this catch Peter Rogers Jr. and Dane Anderson have been knocked out of the running, and Cindy Leonard and Brian Bishop are tied for 5th/6th place. This is the peak week of the run coming up - try to take advantage of it if you can. Tom G ************************************ Hudson River striper update – Monday, May 11, 2009 I was just talking to a fellow who had spent the weekend fishing the Newburgh area for stripers. He reported some fish being taken there but said that those were rather meager compared to what we’ve seen here in our area where 3 foot long stripers are being looked on as “small”. Of course, the better fish which they are looking to catch down the line are missing from there right now – they’re up here in our mid-Hudson section for the spawn. Don’t get me wrong – I know some of our locals are also getting skunked out here but, over all, it has been a much better than average year for quality striped bass. The best reports we’ve been getting in the past day or so have been coming in from between Cheviot and Coxsackie. We’ve heard of numerous stripers between 34 and 40 inches and have seen and measured others up to 43. We can’t really report too much about the Kingston area since reports from there have been few and far between. Even though it’s been surprisingly quiet we know that traditionally some good fish are taken from those waters during this, the second week of May. The Rhinecliff area, where there had been a good bite going on a few days ago, supposedly has slowed down but is still producing some fish. The Rip Van Winkle tournament that went out of Saugerties this past weekend was supposedly won with a 39” fish but not too many fish were measured in. The action from Cheviot to the north continues to be good to excellent. The shore bound fishermen along the east shore railroad tracks (especially in the Greendale area across from Catskill) have been getting a good share of the action. Many of those guys are fishing live or chunk herring relatively close to shore, only about 40 feet out. This morning the real good bite of the past couple of days at the Rip Van Winkle Bridge area at Catskill was continuing with stripers reported up to 40 inches. First light conditions still are the best time to be on the water if you want to catch fish. This year the Hudson city area seems to have really been discovered by the striper guys and we’ve been getting good reports about the eastern channel edge all the way from the power lines (south of Hudson) north to lighthouse #140. On the other side of the river, starting at Four Mile Point/ Stockport and running north to Coxsackie, this early morning’s action was said to have been excellent with multiple catches being reported. Further north the action has been somewhat laid-back this year. Dennis, one of our reliable sources up there, reports that a Castleton/ Bethlehem area 135 boat derby this past weekend was won with a 24 pounder (probably around 38”), and second place tipped the scales at 21. The Troy derby, which had about 300 fishermen, was won with a 21 Ľ pound fish (probably around 36”). There seem to be lots of herring available for bait in that upper section of water but the better stripers, so far, appear to be absent. Still in all, Dennis says that the overall fishing from Ravena to Albany is “fair.” The river’s water temperature here at Catskill has been holding at just about the same level for the past 3-4 days. Actually we were surprised to find that it was still hovering at just a touch below 60 degrees on our thermal indicator – I was expecting to find it closer to 62 but the cooler weather and accompanying winds of the past couple of days managed to keep it down (thank you). We’ve received our first report of this year’s spawn activity starting to take place. It was from the Coeymans area on Friday (May 8). Captain Steve there reports netting a hooked striper and then discovering two fish in his net. That, along with a water temperature around 60 degrees, is a sure sign of the start of spawn. We’ve received yet other reports of a few boated females already running eggs and also of milt-laden males. Additionally, the herring have started strongly beating the shores in their spawning ritual. We know that this week, as the water warms another couple of degrees, will probably see us going into the peak of the run and good fishing should explode all over the place. THIS next seven days or so is when the fishing should be the best. Let us know if you witness any spawning activity. Even though the spawn might really get going this week it does not affect all of the fish in the river system at the same time. Generally we’ll have “spot” spawns reported at different times and different days all the way from Wappingers up to Troy. “Mass” spawns are something else to see and will generally just “blow your mind” as possibly acres of surface water are just covered with thrashing fish. Keep in mind that since not all fish spawn at the same time it is possible for you to still have decent striper fishing occurring several weeks after the main spawn has occurred. This is probably due to some stripers entering the river system late so their roe would require additional maturation time prior to being released. We often receive reports of stripers still having “green” roe, even in the beginning of the month of June. Still other stripers seem to leisurely hang around for a while after their procreational duties have been completed. Good luck - Tom G ************************************* Hudson River striper update – Saturday, May 9, 2009, 4:30 p.m. The nicer size stripers continue to roll in. We just had Dane Anderson of Claverack measure in a 43 1/4 inch linesider. This fish puts Dane into a tie for sixth place in our striped bass contest with Pete Rogers Jr. who just brought his fish in this morning. Dane was fishing a live herring in the river in the vicinity of the City of Hudson. Tom G 2009 STRIPER CONTEST STANDINGS - 3rd update May 9, 2009 1) $5,730.00 46 1/2" Kim Doyle - May 8, 2009 2) $1,948.20 46" Gerard Uhrik - April 25, 2009 3) $1,489.80 45" Steve Hopf - May 7, 2009 4) $1,031.40 44" Brian Bishop – tie April 26, 2009 4) $ 687.60 44" Cindy Leonard – tie April 27, 2009 6) $ 573.00 43 1/4" Peter Rogers Jr –tie May 9, 2009 -------------- 43 1/4" Dane Anderson - tie May 9, 2009 ***************************************** Hudson River striper update – Saturday, May 9, 2009, 10 a.m. Our striped bass contest now has a new sixth place fish. Hudson's Peter Rogers measured in a 43 1/4 incher this morning and knocked our 4-way-tie of 43 inchers out of the money. Pete was fishing the Hudson section of the river when he caught his fish. 2009 STRIPER CONTEST STANDINGS - 2nd update May 9, 2009 1) $5,730.00 46 1/2" Kim Doyle - May 8, 2009 2) $1,948.20 46" Gerard Uhrik - April 25, 2009 3) $1,489.80 45" Steve Hopf - May 7, 2009 4) $1,031.40 44" Brian Bishop – tie April 26, 2009 4) $ 687.60 44" Cindy Leonard – tie April 27, 2009 6) $ 573.00 43 1/4" Peter Rogers Jr – May 9, 2009 ****************************************** Hudson River striper update – Friday, May 8, 2009, 5 P.M. A NEW LEADER - The standings shown below have been updated and a new striped bass leader has been measured. It's Chichester's Kim Doyle who now holds the lead with a 46 1/2 inch bruiser striped bass. Kim was fishing the Esopus Meadows section of the river with a live herring when the big fish hit. The list below has been updated to reflect the new standings. Tom G ******************************************* 2009 STRIPER CONTEST STANDINGS - updated May 9, 2009, a.m. 1) $5,730.00 46 1/2" Kim Doyle - May 8, 2009 2) $1,948.20 46" Gerard Uhrik - April 25, 2009 3) $1,489.80 45" Steve Hopf - May 7, 2009 4) $1,031.40 44" Brian Bishop – tie April 26, 2009 4) $ 687.60 44" Cindy Leonard – tie April 27, 2009 6) $ 573.00 43" Bill Baldwin – tie April 25, 2009 -------------- 43" Randy Phalan–tie May 3, 2009 -------------- 43" John Jones –- tie May 3, 2009 -------------- 43" Brian Law –-- tie May 4, 2009 * in the event of a tie for any position the total of the monies involved will be equally split between all tied contestants. ************************************** Hudson River striper update – Friday, May 8, 2009 GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS – As we enter this, the second week of May, and look back at what’s been happening on the river scene so far this year a few good things jump out at us. The main one was the early arrival of the big stripers. True, the first of this year’s linesiders didn’t actually make it to Catskill very early - it was caught in the Catskill Creek on April 15. This was the latest arrival we had logged in the past 10 years (April 18 in 1999). But… the quality of the fish arriving during the second week of the run was fantastic. Starting with Brian Bishop’s 40 ˝ incher on April 20, and peaking with Gerard Uhrik’s 46 incher we saw over a dozen striped bass of greater than 40 inches caught during this second week. In the immediate past week or so though, the larger fish appeared to have moved out of our area. We’re pretty sure that they didn’t all make an “en-mass” movement to the north, where there were but few reports of fish over 40 inches. Even so there appear to be plentiful herring and smaller stripers in that Capital District area. By the way, the Albany launch ramp is once again open. The reports from the Kingston section have been of some big fish (as well as plenty of smaller ones) but we have yet to see any of those. Since we do have over 560 anglers participating in our striper contest it would seem that at least a few larger fish should have been brought in. Other good news this year has been the fact that the main river has not been muddy. Additionally the feeder creeks, at worse, only got stained for a day or two from passing rain storms. The rest of the good news here is “anticipated” and is that the upcoming 10 days generally sees some big cows coming upriver. Judging by what we’ve seen from yesterday evening’s catch, that appears to be happening CONTEST STANDINGS CHANGE - Yesterday afternoon it was Hillsdale’s Jamie Robinson who brought in a large striper that just missed getting into the top six by less than a Ľ inch. Jamie was fishing a live herring in the vicinity of West Camp when he caught the 42 ľ inch bruiser. Also late yesterday afternoon Steve Hopf of Saugerties was fishing in that same magic triangle area that Robinson was in. This is a section of the river that runs from Malden to Germantown to Catskill - it has always been known to produce giant stripers (our shop record striped bass was caught from this area). At about 7 p.m. his line started zinging of his reel and he set the hook. At about 7:30 there was a huge striper resting in the bottom of his boat as he was heading back to shore in order to get ice for the huge cooler. That cooler would hold the fish overnight until an official contest measurement at the RIVER BASIN could take place. On the official measuring board Steve’s fish hit the mark at 45 inches and catapulted him into second place in our contest. The end result of this measurement drops the 3rd through 6th slot contest award payments by one position, but still does not eliminate any of those stripers measuring 43 inches or greater from the competition. We now have a two way tie for third, and a four way tie for 5th. Now for a bit of bad news – the river’s water temperature here at Catskill has hit 60 degrees. That’s very nice for the stripers, and a harbinger of the best striper fishing of the year yet to come. But, it also is a reminder that this year’s striped bass run will not extend forever. The next few degrees of water temperature warmth will inevitably bring spawn time. It’s getting closer and closer. The 60 degree water reading here at Catskill would indicate that the stripers are in an immediate PRE-SPAWN CONDITION. The spawn may be delayed somewhat by any showery, cloudy weather coming in but it IS right around the corner. Again, the best striper fishing of the year, here in the Catskill area, is in the immediate future! One of the signs of an ongoing spawn is seeing smaller stripers following a hooked fish to the boat. Sometimes multiple fish are netted in the attempt to net the hooked striper. Another sure sign is seeing smaller male stripers chasing a larger female in tight circles at the surface of the water. Quite often this will tend to be a mass ritual where an acre or more of water seems to be covered with thrashing fish. This will usually take place in the slightly slower flow of side coves but can occur right in the middle of the main river channel itself, either at night or in the daytime. If you observe this - do NOT drive your boat into the middle of the fracas - these fish are just about oblivious to any external danger and you will definitely cause damage and death to multiple fish with your motor. Fishing such areas of spawn can pay off. Even though the fish that are engrossed in the actual act of spawning will not bite, there usually is a whole bunch of other ones in the water below the spawning fish which are more than willing to strike a bait. We have not had any reports as of yet of either of the two above mentioned events occurring. If you witness either please send us a report of it to “tomgriver at yahoo.com” and include the date, time of day, location and water temp (if possible). But, whatever you do – try to get out on the river during this next week or two. Tom G ************************************** Hudson River striper update - Tuesday May 5, 2009 Today was rather disappointing as far as the striper catch in our area was concerned. We had a few reports of fish up to 38 inches being caught but the larger fish which we thought would be in our area never showed up. Maybe tomorrow. However, "JROD" from Kingston did report the catch of a 51 1/2 pounder down there yesterday. He said that it was caught trolling a Rapala. Fantastic fish... maybe it's older brother will make it to Catskill tomorrow. Tom G 2009 STRIPER CONTEST - PRESENT STANDINGS - May 5, 2009 1) $5,730.00 46" Gerard Uhrik April 25, 2009 2) $1,948.20 44" Brian Bishop – tie April 26, 2009 3) $1489.80 44" Cindy Leonard – tie April 27, 2009 4) $1031.40 43" Bill Baldwin – tie April 25, 2009 5) $ 687.60 43" Randy Phalan – tie May 3, 2009 6) $ 573.00 43" John Jones – tie May 3, 2009 -------------- 43" Brian Law – tie May 4, 2009 * in the event of a tie for any position the total of the monies involved (ie: 4th place presently involves the money for places 4, 5, and 6) will be equally split between all tied contestants. *************************************** Hudson River striper update – Monday May 4, 2009 As a new surge of stripers made it's way upriver yesterday (Sunday) the action to the south of Catskill started to turn on. Although most of those fish appear to be in the 28 to 34 inch range there also are some real "hogs" to be found. From that grouping of fish, some of which had made their way up past Germantown by yesterday afternoon, we've seen several over 40 inches. With that grouping of fish having arrived we now have a 4 way tie for 4th place in our River Basin Striper Contest. The magic length of all these fish is 43 inches... and that's what you need at the present if your fish is to be among the top six longest sizes entered. The first of the 43 inchers that were brought in was taken back on April 25 by Bill Baldwin. Bill's fish was just tied yesterday by Randy Phelan (fishing Germantown with herring) who, in turn, was tied by John Jones (fishing Norrie / Esopus Meadows with chunk) who, in turn, was tied by Brian Law (fishing Rhinecliff with herring). As this striper school moves further upriver we expect to hear about many more nice fish being caught. Already the action in most river locations is reportedly very good and it should get even better this week. Present water temperature in the MAIN Hudson River at Catskill is in the 57 to 58 degree range. We estimate the main striper spawn in this area to be 1 1/2 to 2 weeks away - but this estimate is entirely contingent upon the water temperature during the same time period. Hoping for a cooling trend - Tom G *************************************** Hudson River striper update – Sunday May 3, 2009 Although the striper action for larger fish turned somewhat spotty this weekend still there were reports of "over 40 inch" coming in from the area. Most of the better fish we heard about came from the area between Germantown and Coxsackie, but we received plenty of reports of smaller fish from the entire section between Esopus Meadows and Bethlehem. From that area to the south things were strangely quiet. We did get a new fish into our standings today - Randy Phelan, fishing the Germantown area with live herring, hooked and landed a 43 inch linesider which tied him for 4th place with Bill Baldwin. This knocks Ed Rivenburg's fish out of the cash payback status and puts Jake Watts into sixth. We'll have a picture of Randy's fish up tomorrow (hopefully). Tom G. Top 10 fish - RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST - 2 p.m.-May 3 1st........ $5,730.00- 46.00-- Uhrik, Gerard- April 25, 2nd...TIE $1,948.20- 44.00-- Bishop, Brian- April 26, 3rd...TIE $1,489.80- 44.00-- Leonard,Cindy- April 27, 4th....TIE $1,031.40- 43.00-- Baldwin, Bill--- April 25, 5th..... TIE$ 687.60- 43.00-- Phelan, Randy- May 3, 6th......... $ 573.00- 42.75-- Watts, Jake--- April 23, 7th...................... 42.50-- Ed Rivenburg-- April 29, 7th....................... 41.75-- Schram,Paul,Jr April 22, 8th....................... 40.75-- Spaeth, Bill--- April 22, 9th....................... 40.75-- Finn, Joe------ April 26, 10th..................... 40.50-- Bishop, Brian- April 20, Tom G **************************************** Hudson River striper update – Thursday, April 30, 2009 7 a.m. A goodly movement of stripers ranging up to more than 42 inches in length moved into our area late yesterday afternoon. These fish were located all the way from the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge to Coxsackie and will probably make it to Bethlehem very quickly. The water temp at Catskill is running at around 57 degrees and the fishing is very good in the area around the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. We have a new sixth place contender in our striper contest - Ed Rivenburg, who measured in a 42 1/2 inch fish this morning. He took his by the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Paul Schram's 41 3/4 incher, which he caught by the K-R Bridge, was the 7th largest contest fish which we measured this year. Top 10 fish - RIVER BASIN STRIPER CONTEST - 8 a.m.-Apr.30 1st........ $5,730.00- 46.00-- Uhrik, Gerard- April 25, 2nd...TIE $1,948.20- 44.00-- Bishop, Brian- April 26, 3rd...TIE $1,489.80- 44.00-- Leonard,Cindy- April 27, 4th....... $1,031.40- 43.00-- Baldwin, Bill--- April 25, 5th......... $ 687.60- 42.75-- Watts, Jake--- April 23, 6th..........$ 573.00- 42.50-- Ed Rivenburg-- April 29, 7th....................... 41.75-- Schram,Paul,Jr April 22, 8th....................... 40.75-- Spaeth, Bill--- April 22, 9th....................... 40.75-- Finn, Joe------ April 26, 10th..................... 40.50-- Bishop, Brian- April 20, Tom G ****************************************** Hudson River striper update – Wednesday, April 29, 2009 The striper action from Catskill north to Athens' Four Mile Point was excellent this morning with numerous catches being reported here at Catskill and at Athens. The largest fish we measured in so far today was a 40 1/4 incher taken by Alberto Rivera at the mouth of the Catskill Creek (see pictures page). This schooling of fish appears to be moving upriver and should be in the vicinity of Albany in just a couple of days at the most, if not there already. Activity at Coeymans and Bethlehem has been on the upswing - a regular reported a real big striper being caught up there (nope, we didn't see it), and this is where Cindy caught her 44 inch monster to tie for second in our contest. Looks like it should be real good this weekend. Tom G ************************************ Top 10 fish - RIVER BASIN SPORTS STRIPER CONTEST 2009 1st.. $5,730.00- 46.00-- Uhrik, Gerard- April 25, 2nd..TIE $1,948.20- 44.00-- Bishop, Brian- April 26, 3rd..TIE $1,489.80- 44.00-- Leonard,Cindy- April 27, 4th.. $1,031.40- 43.00-- Baldwin, Bill- April 25, 5th.. $ 687.60- 42.75-- Watts, Jake--- April 23, 6th.. $ 573.00- 40.75-- Spaeth, Bill--- April 22, 7th................ 40.75" Finn, Joe------ April 26, 8th................ 40.50" Bishop, Brian- April 20, 9th................ 40.50" Schram,Paul,Jr- April 25, 10th............... 40.00" Scherer, Jason- April 23 ******************************* Hudson River notes - Monday, April 27, 2009 We've received several notes and warnings about the Albany Corning Park launch ramp being unusable due to a film being shot there - although the ramp may be usable there is no parking. Recomendation is to perhaps use the Rennselear ramp (although not launchable at low tide) or drive down to the Bethlehem launch. Either way this coming weekend will be a mess at any Albany area ramps. Expect this to continue for the next two weeks. In Catskill a new floating "fishing dock" has been installed at the Dutchmen's Landing Park, but still the best shorebound striper fishing conditions exist at the Catskill Point Park. Most fish we heard about today, from Albany to Saugerties, were in the 28 to 36 inch range. Lots of short hits on live and chunk bait. Some trolling success on 10 foot running plugs such as Rapala 18's, Bomber 17a's and Rebels. This action would have to be rated as fair. Water temperature in the main river around Catskill is around 56 degrees and is not expected to drop in the next few days... perhaps will even increase. Large schools of herring passed through the Catskill area this morning and most locations are reporting plentifull supplies of this species. Tom G ***************************** More changes today - Sunday, April 26, 2009 Brian Bishop back up to 2nd and Joe Finn enters the top 9. Top 9 fish - RIVER BASIN SPORTS STRIPER CONTEST 2009 1st.. $5,730.00- 46.00-- Uhrik, Gerard- April 25, 2nd.. $1,948.20- 44.00-- Bishop, Brian- April 26, 3rd.. $1,489.80- 43.00-- Baldwin, Bill- April 25, 4th.. $1,031.40- 42.75-- Watts, Jake--- April 23, 5th.. $ 687.60- 42.00-- Spaeth, Bill--- April 22, 6th.. $ 573.00- 40.75-- Finn, Joe------ April 26, 7th.. - 40.50" Bishop, Brian- April 20, 8th.. - 40.50" Schram,Paul,Jr- April 25, 9th.. - 40.00" Scherer, Jason- April 23, **************************************** Hudson River striper update – Saturday, April 25, 2009 5pm We’ve been trying to update this website all day but just haven’t had a long enough contiguous time period open to accomplish this. Business has been great, thanks to all of you. OK – another big shakeup in our striped bass contest standings. Early this morning on the main Hudson River Catskill “bridge run” the boat “Le Chef” was anchored up at one of its favorite locations. It was still rather cool on the water and the father and son team of Gerard and Marc Uhric were just relaxing, fishing “chunk” herring, waiting for that “morning bite” to turn on. Gerard’s rod twitched a couple of times so he picked it up just as a small run took place. He set the hook on what he figured had to be an eel, judging from the type of bite he was getting. Wrong! When the ensuing fight was over and the netting done, a 46 inch striper was lying on the bottom of the boat. This fish was 2 ˝ inches longer than the 43 ˝ inch fish Gerard had caught to win our 2007 contest when the first prize was $2,000 less than this year’s. That’s right, this man’s 46 incher is now in first place in the race for the top prize of $5,730. Of course the second place award of $1,948 wouldn’t be too bad to win either. The leader for that spot at the present also caught his fish yesterday morning. It was Bill Baldwin, fishing a live herring in the Athens vicinity, who boated a 43 inch linesider and now holds second. This standings upheaval moves Jake Watts, who we didn’t even have enough time to post here previously, into third place ($1,489) with his 42 ľ incher. Bill Spaeth’s 42 incher drops to 4th ($1,031), Brian Bishop goes to 5th and is in a tie with Paul Schram Jr.’s 40 ˝ incher. Jason Scherer’s 40 incher now becomes an “also ran.” If you’re fishing JUST for our contest we urge you to release any fish that are smaller than this, but if you enjoy a nice striper steak (as much as I do) I have no qualms about your taking one home for the pan. River action seems to be excellent in the Cheviot Germantown area but those fish are not the bruisers we’ve been seeing from Catskill. Also top ranked at present would have to be the 4 Mile Point, Stockport, and Coxsackie stretch of the river. Although we have received reports of some action around New Baltimore, Coeymans and Bethlehem, and from usually reliable sources, we have also received reports of “no fish” from the same locations. Our conclusion – some fish are around but are widely scattered up there. This action should start to pick up this week. Thank you all for your reports, they are very important. Tom G ********************************************* River Basin Striper update - Saturday, April 25, 2009 6:30 am There is a new leader in the contest this morning - 46 inches from Catskill area. Picture soon. Tom G ****************************************** Hudson River striper update - Friday, April 24,2009 5:15 pm Just a quick note about a change in standings - Third place has just been tied as Paul Schram Jr. of Red Hook measured in a 40 1/2" striped bass. Paul caught the fish on live herring while fishing in the Tivoli area. Tom G ************************************* Hudson River striper update – Friday, April 24, 2009 The striper bite has definitely been on for the past two days. Not only are there nice fish being caught, up to 42”, but there seems to be a plentiful amount of fish ranging up to about 39 inches. The Kingston area has been rather quiet insofar as the reports we’ve had, but some fish up to 38 inches are being caught. Glasco / Saugerties is reporting about the same type of action and we’d have to rate that area as fair to good. North of Saugerties, from Malden to Catskill, the action has been good. At Catskill the creek has been producing a few fish but we’d have to rate it as fair only. The shoreline fishing from Catskill Point Park has been fair but the early morning bite up at the Rip VanWinkle Bridge has been very good. A little further upriver, at the 4 Mile Point / Stockport area, the action has been very good to excellent with the stripers seemingly more plentiful than the herring. Live herring fished a little bit further north at the Coxsackie cliffs have been producing some real nice fish. New Baltimore and Coeymans have suddenly received a plethora of stripers and the fishing at those locations presently is very good to excellent. The main problem has been in obtaining bait but using a “stoolie” seems to supply enough herring for a good time. Bethlehem is also getting some of the early stripers and this weekend’s fishing there should be good. Additionally, now there are stripers all the way up to the Troy dam area but still not as many as there will be next week. Don’t be afraid to wet your line this weekend and take advantage of what appears to be the best start to the striper run that we’ve had in the last 8 years. We're anticipating seeing several more large entries in our striped bass contest. Live herring, chunk herring and bloodworms - have all been reported as working well. Don’t forget your sunscreen this weekend! Tom G ************************** Hudson River striper update – Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Striper action in the river has continued at a better than normal pace for this early in the run. It seems that most of the fish have been running inn the 26 to 36 inch range for the past couple of days. Both chunk and live herring have been producing for those with the patience to wait for the action to come to themb but bloodworms have also been effective. The best area so far appears to be in the Stockport / 4 Mile Point region where the schools of herring have been reported as numerous. A few stripers have been caught as far up as Albany but the main influx should start to show up there during this next week. The river temperature this morning was running at just a smidgen above 50 degrees. As is apparent from the above picture the lead in our striper contest has been transferred to Bill Spath of Elizaville. Bill took his fish on a live herring in the vicinity of Malden. Tom G ************************************ Hudson River striper update – Sunday, April 19, 2009 As you can see by the top of this page our striped bass contest went off with a record number of contestants and a record high payback for all six top positions. I believe that our total number of entrants, 564, makes this the largest fishing event on the entire Hudson River. Welcome to all our anglers new to striped bass fishing – I hope that your experience is a pleasant one. Fishing reports up and down our waterway continue to come in of action such as we’ve been reporting. Shoreline fishermen have been doing well fishing the rip-rap rocks on the eastern shore of the river. Boating action has been somewhat spotty due, I think, to a desire to move around to new spots. The main key to successful anglers so far seems to be… patience! Wait long enough, endure short runs and catch enough catfish – then you’ll get your striper. Most of the success we’ve heard about has been on chunk bait. Catskill Creek has produced several fish today that have ranged up to 34 inches. We heard about one larger fish, purportedly around 42 inches, being caught in the Stockport area but did not see it. Herring are around but have tended to be rather spotty. From Coxsackie to the south there are striped bass and herring in evidence. Most of these stripers are running between 20 and 28 inches in length. From Coxsackie to the north the pickings become somewhat slim. The boys at New Baltimore and Bethlehem haven’t been having much luck but we did get a report of some herring being spotted up at the Postenkill. Things are picking up and so far we’d have to rate the start of the run as “fair.” We should start to see some bigger fish turn up later this week. Tom G **************************************** Striper update - Friday, April 17, 2009, evening Smaller stripers appear to have moved into our area in good number, most being in the 22 to 28 inch range. Such reports come all the way from south of Kingston, thru Glasco, Saugerties, Malden, Cheviot, Germantown, Greenport and Catskill. We're lacking any data between Catskill and Ravena but New Baltimore, Ravena, Bethlehem and Albany all reported a lack of action so far. The herring should be getting to the New Baqltimore area in short order. Chunk bait appears to have been the ticket for these fish so far but some reports of salt water sandworms being used have produced smaller stripers. Watch out for "phoney" herring being sold - these things smell bad to start with and are just about impossible to keep on a hook. Get local stuff! Going into the final day of registration for our striper contest we see all kinds of records being broken. Here's the payback starting as of Saturday (18th) morning: 1 - $5,182.00; 2 - $1,702.00; 3 - $1,347.00; 4 - $932.00; 5 - $621.00; 6 - $518.00. These figures will increase even more since we will be accepting registrations all day on Saturday. Tom G. ************************************* Hudson River striper update – Thursday, April 16, 2009 This whole past week was very spotty for the herring fishermen here in the Catskill area. Most certainly the herring were here but most of those striper guys trying for them had to spend several hours just to grab one or two. The most productive method so far has been to “stoolie” them in and then net ‘em (or just buy some chunk from the River Basin). Reports from the Roe-Jan Creek have been of similar conditions but the New Baltimore contingent of anglers have reported a lack of herring as of yet. Saugerties reports were of the herring having moved in last night. Regardless of how hard the herring might be to catch the fact of the matter is that the first STRIPED BASS of the year have now been caught at Catskill. Late yesterday afternoon one striper was taken from the Catskill Creek and this morning a shore bound fisherman at the Catskill Point Park, using fresh herring chunk, pulled in a chunky two foot linesider. These may be our first stripers of the year but certainly won’t be the last. As the water continues to warm up more stripers will wend their way upriver and the fishing will continue to improve. This morning the river at Catskill was in the 47 – 48 degree range. By this weekend we should see more stripers arriving. Not only will there be more but they should also be BIGGER. Our RIVER BASIN SPORT SHOP 22ND ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST has already taken in enough entry fees to have broken its all time payback record. As of this morning at 9 a.m. the cash individual payback for the top six fish was: 1- $4,620; 2- $1,579; 3- $1,201; 4- $831; 5- $554; 6- $462. But, of course, we still have 2 days of registration left. Since the event pays back 100% of all money taken in you can be assured that the total payback amounts will be higher than they are now. Remember that the registration deadline for the event is this Saturday and that the contest starts on Sunday April 19th and ends on May 30. Good luck. Tom G ******************************************* Hudson River update – Saturday, April 11, 2009 The Catskill Creek ospreys made their appearance in the middle of this past week – a true sign that there were herring in the vicinity. Then, on Friday, the word from downriver was that a larger concentration of herring was on its way upriver. Some of those fish arrived in the Catskill area late Saturday. The RIVER BASIN now has this year’s crop of fresh caught, commercially packaged, legal Hudson River herring available. This is a brand new fresh batch and is available in bags of three, either frozen or unfrozen. Additionally, these fish are salted to enhance the flavor (and to stay on the right side of the law). We know of no stripers being caught in the Catskill area as of yet but since the herring are here the linesiders are bound to be right along. Today’s report from one of the Saugerties marinas was of no stripers there yet, but we are aware that there have been a few taken at Kingston. Those fish will be here at any time… if they are not here already. Tom G *************************************** Hudson River update – Friday, April 10, 2009 Reports of more herring moving into the area have been on the rise since yesterday (Thursday). Gill netters have been taking some but down a little bit deeper than normal. Stoolies have been luring other herring into the shallows but that action still has been slower than what we’d like to see. It appears that the action for these bait-fish should be really picking up by this weekend, especially since the water has warmed somewhat and we’ve received reports of larger schools of them moving upriver past the Kingston area. In the Catskill Creek the action has been good for yellow perch and channel catfish but no reports of any stripers here yet. We expect their arrival any day now. Tom G ************************************ Hudson River update – Wednesday, April 08, 2009 REPORTS - Even though the first herring of the year did make their appearance here at Catskill last Friday, that preliminary foray seems to have been rebuffed by Mother Nature. No sooner had the herring arrived when, that same night, our area got nailed by some real heavy rains. Saturday morning saw the Catskill Creek running high and “mud red” (which actually is a step above “mud brown”). Then, as a crowning touch, the weather turned much colder once more and the herring pretty much disappeared. When I took the river temperature this morning I saw that it had dropped two degrees from 5 days earlier. It is now running at 43 degrees. Additionally, yesterday morning there were snow showers all throughout our area. Not nice! Still, I am aware of a couple of herring that were “stoolied” from the Catskill Creek and then fished… without any sign of molestation or being frightened whatsoever. Additionally, there were unsubstantiated reports of some smaller stripers having arrived at Kingston, and even one tale of a small striper in the Stockport area. There definitely have been a few herring seen all the way up to and a little bit past the Stockport Creek area. So where does this leave all the striper fishermen that are chomping at the bit to wet their lines? Well, if you are down in the Kingston area you might have a go at it – but as of yet I’d stay in the Rondout itself rather than head for the Esopus Meadows or the middle flats around the KR Bridge. At Saugerties you might try to get some early herring up the Esopus, but as of this time right now I think your chances of getting a striper bite are quite slim. At Catskill it still appears that we’re going to need a couple of days of warmer weather to start things popping, but make no mistake - things could start popping any day now. The Stockport situation seems to be a mirror image of Catskill’s. Further upriver from New Baltimore to Albany you’ve still probably got at least one to two weeks to wait, but in some years those early fish HAVE whizzed right on upriver to your area. I’d have to say that it appears you are on quite a normal timing pattern up there. BAIT - As of this morning we still haven’t received any of this year’s herring for bait use. However, if anyone really wants to give it a try we do still have some of last year’s legal salted/frozen local herring bait available. As soon as more of this year’s herring arrive here in our area we expect to have the bait available. As most of you are probably aware – it is illegal to transport live or dead herring by motor vehicle unless it has been commercially prepared, packaged and labeled for bait use. It’s a dumb rule, but one we must abide by. EQUIPMENT SALES - The striped bass rod/reel combo we put on special last week sold out in just 3 days and is no longer available. One of the other great deals we presently still have available though is the Okuma reel and Pinnacle Coastal Power rod combo, our overall best seller. If purchased separately these two items would cost you $155.98, but as the combo special we have them priced at $116.99 – that’s a saving of $40.00! The rod is rated for up 40 lb. test line and the reel is a size 65 with a rated spool capacity of 320 yards of 20 lb. test. If you want even more line capacity we will substitute the size 90 Okuma reel (availability permitting) at the same price – that one has a capacity of 520 years of 20 lb. test. If you do purchase one of these combos let us suggest you have them shop-wound with line here at the River Basin. Get 20, 25 or 30 pound test. It’s done with premium Trilene XL or Big Game line and actually turns out to be less expensive than buying the line separately. Not only is it cheaper, it’s definitely much quicker and easier. Tom G ************************************ Update - Friday p.m., April 3, 2009 For any of you who might have been experiencing problems accessing our web site - we have been told that the company hosting RIVER BASIN SPORTS has been under a "denial of access attack". For the main part this has been taken care of now but there supposedly might be some of you that are having problems. They are trying to correct the situation as quickly as possible. Tom G ******************************* Hudson River update – Friday a.m., April 3, 2009 When I arrived at work this morning and saw the blue 5 gallon bucket sitting on my doorstep I thought I knew what was up… and I was right. I peered into the pail and there it was… a real live, genuine 2009 run herring, the first of the year at Catskill. The fish HAVE arrived and the season has started. The herring and three of its buddies were captured at the mouth of the Catskill Creek early this a.m. by Mike Aguiar of Riverview Marine Services in Catskill. If events follow the pattern of a normal year we can now anticipate the capture of the first local striped bass in the next 3 to 7 days. Still, you shouldn’t get overly excited – the first couple of weeks of the run are always slow. The population of fish will grow as more and more of them enter the waterway. But… you must start to get ready now. We’ve received several reports of anglers having trouble accessing our website. It appears that they have all been Roadrunner subscribers. Not that there’s anything we can do anything about it but we’d like to know if you encounter similar problems. TOMGRIVER@YAHOO.COM By the way, we have decided to start our striped bass season extended hours of operation as of this weekend. From now thru the end of May we will be open 7 days a week – Monday thru Saturday from 9:30 to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 9:30 to 1 p.m. Tom G ********************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, April 02, 2009 SOON - Things are really starting to shape up now, at least as far as this year’s striped bass run up the Hudson River is concerned. Some reports, and some rumors, are already going around that the run has started. We know for a fact that some herring have already been spotted in the Kingston vicinity. We have also received a couple of reports of a couple of small stripers (largest 22”) being caught a week ago just to the south of Saugerties… but those two reports were so identical it was as if they were being read off the same page. Although it’s still about a week or so early, anytime from now on you can expect to see signs of the start here in the in the Saugerties – Catskill – Stockport area. When we took the water temperature this morning we found the Catskill Creek to be running at 44 degrees, a very good sign! An even better sign was when we took the temperature of the main Hudson River flowage and found that it was now equal to that of the creek – 44 degrees. These temperatures are two degrees warmer than what we had at the same time last year. With the warmer nights we’ve been having and the forecast of warmer weather to come during the next week it seems that we are poised right at the front edge of all the action to come. Still, just to curb your enthusiasm a wee bit, remember that any fish (stripers, herring or shad) up here this early will be very few and very scattered. As the next 3 weeks progress their numbers will grow until, probably by the last week of April, the fishing will actually start to get good. Generally speaking the final week of April and the first two of May are the prime fishing weeks for stripers here in the Catskill area. Last year (2008) saw a huge surge of activity during the second week of May when a grouping of larger bass moved upriver. Then as the month was drawing to a close, a time that traditionally sees the fishing action really slow down, we had yet another surge of big stripers enter our water. With the improvement in the quality of last year’s run it will really be of interest to see what 2009 will bring us, maybe some more 4 foot long giants will arrive. Even though none of our annual contest winning fish in 2008 measured close to the 48 inch mark, through the years we have seen a half dozen such. The lucky anglers to have taken those giants were as follows – 2003 Dean Krissler 48”; 2001 Charles Graham 48”; 1997 Bob Koziol 48”; 2006 James Provoncha 48.25”; 2004 John Repko 48.25”; 2007 Jeremy Phillips 48.5”. Out of these 6 anglers three were actually fishing from shore but only one of the whole bunch, Dean Krissler, was entered in our contest. FISHING REPORTS - From this point on we’ll also start regularly checking for your submitted striped bass reports to our E-Mail address, TOMGRIVER@ YAHOO.COM. A great many of you like to come to this web site to check the river reports and it would be great if you would also contribute to the store of information available. The only stipulations to having you send us reports are that you should NOT expect any reply from us (an impossibility since we get dozens of reports on some days, but we do usually manage to acknowledge receipt of your input) and secondly - you should not use this address to pose questions, since you will not receive a reply and will therefore feel insulted. What we’d like to get from you is any kind of pertinent up-to-date data – for instance, size and number of fish caught, location, bait, amount of time fishing, time of day and tide, number of other boats fishing and how they appeared to be doing, and anything else you might have to contribute. We’ll consolidate all this input and post it here. What we’ve found is that individual piece-meal reports just don’t tell the true story of what’s going on, but when one sees the input from many different sources an entirely different picture often appears and that’s what we’d like to give you here. We’ll keep you posted as data comes in. MISSED BITES – There’s nothing more frustrating than having a striper pick up and run with your herring only to have you miss the hook-up. Often this happens when a smaller fish just can’t fit the entire morsel into its mouth. Unfortunately the miss can also come when the hook fails to find a purchase in the mouth of a larger striper. There is something you can try which, from reports we’ve received, seems to aid tremendously in curing this situation - a sliding double-hook rig. Basically it’s a hook on a leader… with yet a second hook on a very short leader that is slip-tied to the leader of the first hook. The first hook is impaled to the front of your baitfish as normal. Then the attaching knot of the leader of the second hook is slid down the first leader just far enough so that you can hook your bait a second time, somewhere close to the tail. Although there are no guarantees that go with this set-up, based on personal experience as well as other angler’s reports, this seems to help out with the “misses” quite a bit. You might give it a try. STRIPER COMBO SPECIAL – Most of our striper fishermen know that the only type of spinning reel to be used for bait fishing is a “baitrunner”, and most of them already have one (or in some cases two or three). If you think you need a backup striper outfit but don’t want to shell out the real big bucks, here’s a deal for you. The TICA fishing company has put out a limited run of baitrunner reels they call their “STRIPER COLLECTOR SERIES”. Only 1,500 of them were built and the suggested list price PER REEL was around $99. Here at the shop we have them priced at $89.99, but we just made up a super-special rod and reel COMBO with them priced at $99.99 (if purchased separately this combo would run you $160.00). This is a heck of a good deal… if you need a backup outfit. Only a limited supply available- obviously. STRIPER CONTEST – Sign-ups for our RIVER BASIN 22nd ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST are coming in at a good clip. It seems that they’re running at just about a normal rate so we anticipate an even greater event payback than we had last year. The final two weeks of the registration period will tell the tale. The registration fee is $15 per angler and you must be registered by 5 p.m. on April 18th. The 100% payback contest itself runs from April 19th through noon on May 30th. Full rules for the event are on the receipt portion of the registration form. Our event has become the largest one to be held here on the upper tidewater Hudson with over 460 people participating in 2008 when the top prize paid back $3,797 to Walt Chudkosky of Wappingers Falls. Total prize money awarded last year was $7,690. This year we will be paying back to the top 6 anglers. Tom G ******************************* Hudson River Fishing Report – Friday, March 27, 2009 SHINER SHORTAGE - If you are a minnow fisherman you are undoubtedly aware of the present lack of availability of these baits in the northeast. Due to certain misunderstandings (?) of the bait certification laws the supply line providing shiners has been shut down for approximately a month now. We here at the River Basin have just now managed to find another source for the “certified bait” and have three different sizes of shiners available – small, medium and heavy medium. Come get ‘em. STRIPERS SOON - One week closer to the time of arrival of this year’s herring, shad and striped bass run – that’s where we stand right now. It really is impossible to precisely pick the day of their arrival but experience from years past does tell us that sometime soon, probably one to two weeks from today, the first herring of 2009 will be spotted here in the Catskill area. This past week did nothing to hasten the arrival of any of the aforementioned species – the night time air temps were cold and the day time temps were either below or just barely average. As of a matter of fact the water temperature hadn’t improved at all – the main Hudson River at Catskill was running at 39 degrees this morning (same as last week) and the Catskill Creek was at 42 (actually a one degree drop from last week). Past experience tells us that the river temperature all the way from Albany to Catskill is fairly consistent at this time of year so you can expect that to be running around 39. As we pointed out last week we really don’t expect the arrival of the stripers here until after the river water rises above 42 / 43 degrees. The stripers will be following the first of the herring on their northward migration. The very first of those herring to arrive are rather hard, if not impossible, to spot since they will tend to stay out on the deeper channel edge until the waters warm another 5 degrees or so. When the water temp gets to be in the high 40’s they move shallower and become much easier to spot - especially in the feeder creeks. Last year (2008) our first confirmed reports of herring in the Catskill Creek came on April 6 (Sunday) when the river’s water temp had jumped up to 45 degrees. That was the start of a warming trend which saw the creek’s water hit 51 the following Sunday, April 11… and that’s when the first stripers made their appearance in Catskill (the river was still in the mid-40’s). Today we heard some unconfirmed reports of a few stripers in the Rondout Creek at Kingston. That waterway meanders its way around Ulster County for quite a bit and tends to warm up much quicker than the streams 30 miles further north. All indications are that we will be seeing the start of the run here at Catskill in the next week or two. Remember that this will just be the start of the run - you could call those early fish “scouts”. There aren’t many of them. The main contingent of fish will be arriving a little at the time, building up their numbers until the end of April, at which time the fishing will finally become “good”. STRIPER CONTEST SIGNUPS - Signups for our 22nd Annual Striped Bass Contest are also continuing to build in number. As of right now the total 6 position payback exceeds $4,000, but $3,000 of that is already allocated as a minimum guarantee to the first place winner. The event, which pays back 100% of all entry monies, has a registration fee of $15 which must be paid by April 18th at the latest. It’ll be interesting to see what the final pot will be in just about two weeks from now. It was finally pointed out to us by an astute angler that our contest entry forms do have a typo in one location, where last year’s dates are given as the contest time-line. Not to worry – the paragraph after that shows the correct time span in LARGE BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS so we don’t really expect anyone to bring a fish in for measurement… over a year late! FISHING RULE CHANGES – As of what we are aware of right now there have been no changes in fishing regulations for any of the spring migratory species - stripers, herring or shad. Everything appears to be the same as it was in 2008. BOAT LAUNCH – The first of the floating docks at the Catskill launch ramp was installed today. Although the total installation still has quite a bit of work to be done it now is possible to launch and load boats with ease. Looks like a gorgeous weekend coming up. Although we are still officially on our winter schedule here at the River Basin, closed on Sundays and Mondays, it looks like we’ll probably open the shop this Sunday and part of the day on Monday. If you need any supplies but don’t want to make a worthless trip, just give a call first. The shop number is (518) 943-2111. Tom G *************************************** Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, March 19, 2009 Time marches on… and the time of arrival of this year’s striped bass run up the Hudson River is getting closer and closer. We had the air temperature hit 65 degrees one day this past week and are anticipating the water in the creek and river to follow this lead. Since the creek ice just went out barely a week ago we’ve seen that temperature climb all the way to 43 degrees (as of today) and the main Hudson’s temp hovering around the 38 – 39 degree mark. Generally the stripers will arrive here in the Catskill area when the river gets to 42 – 43 degrees. We have seen them arrive a little bit earlier in years when the water temp had fluctuated due to dramatic shifts in short-term weather conditions but generally their arrival will be at 42 degrees or warmer. Of course, the stripers will arrive at locations to our south a little bit earlier than here but this is usually just a matter of a few days at the most. Actually, there have been a couple of occasions when we’ve received verifiable reports of stripers up in Albany… even before any were spotted here, 35 miles further to the south. The motivation for the stripers to move upriver, other than the spawning urge brought on by the temperature rise (and longer daylight hours), is the arrival of their food source. True, stripers are more than happy to gobble up anything that happens to swim in front of them but their preferred menu item is HERRING. Once these fish (alewives, herring and shad) enter and move up the river on their own spawning run… the stripers follow. We the fishermen, in pursuit of the stripers, will use whatever bait is available (or legal) to catch those migrating linesiders. It used to be, a few decades ago, that just about all we used for this purpose was artificial baits – we’d troll Rebels, Bombers, Rat-l-traps, Roadrunners, bucktail jigs, etc. Then things changed as a much easier bait was discovered – the herring! It was a major change in striper fishing on the river. It didn’t take too long for the fishing fraternity to embrace the use of herring as a striper bait. Sure, the artificial lures that had been in use up till that time still worked but using them effectively became just about impossible since now bait fishermen would be anchoring or drift-fishing on the old trolling runs, clogging them up. What’s more, using herring was a far easier way to fish… and usually produced bigger fish. From that time on the main problem for the anglers was in figuring out how to catch the herring for bait. Sometimes it was possible to find somebody selling them creek side but this got to be real expensive so other methods developed. First among these was fishing with smaller shad darts which the herring would strike. Then it was discovered that the herring/smelt rigs (Sabikis) were an even a better bet at catching the bait, sometimes even producing 4 or 5 at a time. Somewhere along that time an angler saw that river herring were following his striper lure back to the shore. The lure he was using was a 9 inch rubber fish meant to imitate a herring. It wasn’t too long afterward that those herring following the phony fish in were getting netted to be used as bait and the rubber fish derived the nickname “stoolie”, short for stool pigeon. By the way, our most popular “stoolie” (silver flake with black stripes) appears to be going the way of the Edsel – the company we had making them for us is folding. What we have left in stock is all there is. Anyway, at this stage, as the demand for herring seemed to dramatically increase and the supply seemed to wane, various netting methods came into use. Regular scoop nets, seine nets, scap nets, cast nets and gill nets became the easiest way to procure the needed bait. Even though the initial monetary outlay for such equipment, and the hassle involved in licensing some of it, was a real pain it seemed to be well worth it. Of course, we here at the River Basin Sports Shop do sell all these goodies. If you want to try some of them out keep in mind that gill nets require you to obtain a commercial license from ENCON (not expensive) but the scap nets and other stuff we sell do not require any special permit (if an exception occurs we’ll let you know). The 4 foot scap nets which we were sold out of last week are back in stock again (no special license required if you’re getting bait for your own personal use). Ever since the practice of using live herring for striped bass bait here on the upper tidal Hudson River caught on in the mid 1980’s one perplexing problem has remained for our anglers – how to keep such an extremely fragile bait alive and spunky, readily available for use. Oh sure, just before going out fishing you can try to “hook and line” some, maybe even net them, and even easier yet … just buy a few from some guy that’s hawking them down on the dock. But all these methods are very iffy and you can’t ever be sure that the herring will be available for you when YOU’RE ready to go out fishing. Enter the era of “herring pens,” basically large floating net-covered boxes (cages) in which to keep herring alive – maybe even for days after you’ve obtained them! These bait pens are usually the property of those boaters who keep their vessels docked at marinas during the striped bass run, but they can be utilized by anyone who has access to a location with deeper water wherein to sink the pen. At the marinas these pens are usually relegated to the back side of floats, into spaces which are not suitable for mooring, or else are tied off in the same slip as the fisherman’s boat (space allowing). So, the fisherman obtains his bait in advance, keeping it alive and spunky in his holding pen until he’s ready to wet a line. Sounds perfect but certain problems can and do arise. The primary bugaboo is… would you believe it - theft! Yup! You’ve got a cage of live herring and the guy further down the dock has none, can’t catch any, and is determined to go fishing. Unless there are other anglers around to act as deterrent witnesses there’s a chance that YOUR herring will mysteriously disappear. This is the reason you see locked covers on a lot of the herring pens that are left at marina docks. Another problem with the pens is the practice of two or more anglers sharing a pen. All too often the later-arriving angler finds the cage to be empty or just containing one or 2 bait. That kind of shoots the thought of an all day fishing trip. Pens also make enemies very easily – your sometime fishing buddy asks to “borrow” a few herring. Bad move on his part - probably ain’t gonna happen and bam! instant enemy. Even cages with locked covers are known to lose herring – snapping turtles have been known to chew through the mesh while attempting to reach a dead herring lying on the bottom of the pen, and at other times holes of unknown origin appear, seemingly as mysteriously as crop circles in some farmer’s field. Another problem with these enclosures is the after effect of a heavy rainstorm. If the water becomes silted up for any kind of prolonged period the herring will usually die. The best story we’ve heard of missing bait came in a few years ago from one of the Catskill marinas. It seems that bait had been disappearing on a fairly regular basis from a grouping of bait pens in one section of the docks. Those striper fishermen were rather perplexed and couldn’t figure out what was going on, so they laid a trap – they posted an all-night watch to see who was “borrowing” their baits. One Friday night three shifts of watch were laid out – the thought being that Saturday was the most likely day for the bait to be missing. Then three stalwart anglers each took turns waiting inside a cabin cruiser moored just a few slips away. No action was to be seen by the first two watchers, and with the first trace of dawn on the horizon the third one’s shift was also drawing to an end with no sign of anybody prowling the dock. It seemed that the night had been wasted. And just then… a subdued splash was heard from the direction of the pens. Yet there was nobody on the dock at all… just a splashing fish perhaps? A few seconds later another splash was to be heard and movement was seen at one of the pens… and then with the dawning of the day the mystery of the disappearing herring was solved - a full-sized river otter emerged from one of the pens, clutching a still wiggling herring in its jaws. Yup – this is the kind of stuff that makes fishing interesting. Of course, we ARE selling herring pens here at the RIVER BASIN – in five different sizes. The smallest is an 18 inch pen with a drawstring top and is perfect if you are going to keep just a few alive to hang over the side of the boat. These cost $44.99. The next size is a 24 incher which might work to keeping a few herring overnight, for a trip the next morning… or to hang over the side of the boat if you’re going to catch bait and fish stripers at the same time. These smaller cages cost $59.99. The next size is a 30 inch pen which really is the minimum size to have if you plan to try to keep any number of bait alive. This size pen jumps up in price and costs $109.99. For use at a boat dock though, you really should have at least a 36 inch pen. This size is adequate for keeping up to several dozen baits alive at a time, all swimming merrily around. This 3 footer does have a lift-up top which can be relatively easily adapted so as to be locked against bait theft. The cost here is $114.99. The largest pen we carry is a 48 incher, the herring fisherman’s dream. It’s big enough to keep alive sufficient bait for several fishermen and, like the 36 incher, the lift-top can be adapted fairly easily so as to be locked. These 4 foot pens are just about impossible to come by – you wouldn’t believe the hassle we had in obtaining these. The big cages cost $129.99. Expensive yes, but oh, so nice and handy. If you’re at all serious about this striper fishing stuff you probably have already thought of getting a herring pen, or already have one. We have ALL FIVE SIZES at the shop, stop in and take a look. Those herring will be here in two to three weeks, with the stripers right behind, so you had better be ready. Presently the River Basin is still on its winter schedule: closed Sundays and Mondays but open the rest of the week from 9:30 to 5. The cut-off date for registering in our 22nd ANNUAL STRIPED BASS CONTEST is Saturday, April 18th (at 5 p.m.). From that point on we will be open 7 days a week through May 30th (Sundays only from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and then we’ll be closing Sundays and Mondays once more. The contest itself pays back 100% of all money taken in. We’re guaranteeing a minimum prize of $3,000 for first place and are paying back to the top six fish brought in. If you’re going to be out there on the river, between the Troy Dam and West Point, you might just as well throw your $15 into the pot – you never know what might turn up at the end of your line. If you live in the Albany area you can pick up an entry form for our striped bass contest at the Outdoor Expo being held this weekend at the EGG. There will be some available at the GREENE COUNTY TOURISM booth but they will have to be returned to the shop along with the entry fee (no credit cards). Tom G ************************************************ Hudson River Fishing Report – Thursday, March 12, 2009 The ice-out on Catskill Creek has occurred and open waters once more rule the tidal Hudson River flowage. The departure of the ice was rather anti-climatic this year as we could see the ice weakening during the preceding week until finally, late last Saturday (March 7, 2009) with the aid of some warmer rain run-off; the creek became navigable once more. This date lies pretty much in keeping with the trend of the past 7 years where we’ve seen an ice-out in March. Since 1980 this has happened in January five times (counting the two years we didn’t have enough ice to get rid of so as to consider it a genuine ice-out) and in February 8 times. The day the ice was breaking up the first boat-angler of the year hit the creek. Late that afternoon he discovered there was already enough open water to make a few trolling passes. His reward for that early effort – a couple of nice chunky walleyes in the boat. Since last weekend the creek has been flowing off-color and fast but this has not deterred anglers from trying their luck. The reports from shore bound fishermen have just been of some nice hefty catfish and a few perch – no walleye reports from there. Keep in mind that the final day to fish for walleye will be this Sunday (March 15). After that we go into a closed season for them until the first Saturday in May. 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. Despite the dour economic forecast for this coming year we’ve gone ahead and stocked a full assortment of these “bad boys” – as of a matter of fact, even more than ever before. Right now we have 19 different striped bass size reels in stock, many of them 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 some regular customer seems to finally “discover” that this service is available. This is particularly noticeable with the striper fishermen who require heavier lines for their equipment. Generally speaking, the total cost of having us re-spool a spinning reel with 20, 25 or 30 pound Berkley Trilene XL or Big Game monofilament (up to 200 yards) is $8 plus tax. This is all PREMIUM line and winds up costing less than if you purchased the line separately. You’ll have no left-over yardage of line that goes to waste and you won’t have to wonder and ponder if you wound-off the new spool in the proper direction so as to avoid line twist. As we approach the middle of March and look at our past records we see that even though the herring usually tend to make their first appearance in our area in the second week of April there were a few years when they arrived as early as the end of March. The weather during the next couple of weeks will be the determining factor in that. And then, a few days after the herring, the first of the stripers will make their appearance. They tend to be few in number at the start but that number will continue to grow throughout the month. The final week of April usually sees a goodly number of big stripers around. As of a matter of fact our annual striped bass contest has been won four times with fish caught during that week. Our observations here at the shop lead to the conclusion that the striper run of 2008 produced the best striper fishing, in both size and number, we’ve had in the past 4 or 5 years. From reading a recent Hudson River Fisheries Unit report I see that their statistics mirror this same conclusion. Where they seem to differ is in the amount of “herring catch” which to us, from all reports of anglers and commercial netters, appeared to be really good last year. The Fisheries Unit’s figures, for some reason, seem to be lacking in this regard. As far as changes in the striper or herring regulations for this coming year – there are none as of this time. However, apparently this could change on a moment’s notice depending upon the whim or whimsy of some individual. Look at what they did to the Hudson River black bass fishery by instituting a ridiculous 15 inch limit on the river’s bass, a bass that just about nobody was keeping anyhow. They killed the number of river tournaments by a good 75% - and along with that death comes a decline of millions of dollars in associated revenue to Hudson River Valley merchants and inn keepers. Just great! Anyway, our striped bass contest sign-ups appear to be going about normal. This year’s entry fee is $15, 100% of which will be paid back to the participants. We are absolutely guaranteeing a payback of $3,000 for the top fish caught and will be paying back for the longest 6 fish brought in by entrants. Last year Walt Chudkosky’s 46 inch striper paid him $3,797.00. The total contest pay back was $7,690. The entry deadline is 5 p.m. on April 18th and the contest runs from April 19th thru noon on May 30th. For anybody coming to the area and needing accommodations or other information you can call the Greene County Tourism department at (518) 943-3223. Those folks will be glad to help. Tom G. ********************************* River Basin Sports Update – Wednesday, February 25, 2009 Brrrr! It’s been a cold winter but that’s all changing now. March is traditionally a month of great transition here in our area of the Hudson Valley, a transition which can be seen to have already started at the end of February. Here in the Village of Catskill lots of land is snow free and the creek has some large pockets of open water - over the shallower areas it’s true but somewhat earlier in development than in a normal cold year. The Hudson River, where it passes by the mouth of the Catskill Creek, is free flowing. This “free-flow” of the river is a rite of spring which must occur before the ice in the creek itself can depart. Even though we considered the previous winter (2007 – 2008) to be just about ice free (not thick enough to support an ice fisherman) this certainly is not the case this time around. We figure that the ice will depart sometime in the next 2 to 3 weeks, perhaps even sooner if we get a few days of warm rain as is liable to happen any time from now on. Yet another sign of the winter to spring transition has occurred right here in the shop – we have started accepting entries into our 22nd ANNUAL RIVER BASIN STRIPED BASS CONTEST. Entry forms and contest rules are available here at the store and must be filled out and returned by the end of business on April 18. The entry fee per contestant is $15. Since the event pays back 100% of all entry monies NO charge cards (which take a percentage of the money involved) will be accepted for registration. Last year was a banner year for this event and, thanks to some assistance from the Greene County Promotion Department, we paid back a total of $7,690.00 to the top finishers. First place itself paid a whopping $3,797.00 to Walt Chudkosky for his winning 46 inch striper. A total of 469 anglers participated. This year we will be paying back awards for the top 6 striped bass to be entered. They must be caught from the waters of the Hudson between West Point and the Federal Lock at Troy, N.Y., either from a boat or from shore, by the registered angler. The contest starts on April 19th and ends at 12 noon on May 30th. Full contest rules are on the entry forms. Here at the shop we are also hastily preparing for the striper run. Already we have live herring tanks available, as well as the mesh herring live-pens. The herring gill nets have arrived (although they still are not unboxed) and scap nets are in the process of being assembled. Thirteen different “baitrunner” striper reels are presently in stock as well as the rods to go with them. We have brought in over HALF A TON of different types and sizes of striper sinkers and dozens of different striper catching rigs. Many of the cases of new tackle in the back room have overflowed into the main shop space itself. More and more equipment is being unpacked and put out for sale each day but it is a tedious drawn-out process. This is all specialty stuff for the stripers, the best selection you’ll find anywhere and we’re working hard to get it ready for you as soon as possible. Hope to see you soon. Tom G *************************************** BE SURE TO GO TO THE "PICTURES" PAGE TO SEE ADDITIONAL SHOTS OF GREAT FISH! For FISHING REPORTS from earlier this year, visit our archives at "HUDSONRIVERFISHING.COM".