Hudson river stripers?

[Bjigging]

Does anyone have any tips on trolling for them in the spring??
I have heard that some of the lake Ontario trolling spoons work, any one have any experience with trolling the river for stripers? I know it's off topic but we will be running out of ice when they start running the river!! Lol
Thanks in advance!!  Feel free to pm me to share a few tips if you want!!

[ship of fools]

Does anyone have any tips on trolling for them in the spring??
I have heard that some of the lake Ontario trolling spoons work, any one have any experience with trolling the river for stripers? I know it's off topic but we will be running out of ice when they start running the river!! Lol
Thanks in advance!!  Feel free to pm me to share a few tips if you want!!

Not many people troll up north (Troy down to Catskill)   .....   lots of boats and tons of live bait for the fish.

Two years ago the fish showed up before the bait and the charter guys caught fish trolling ......  on big plugs.

Not sure where you are fishing but the most common way of catching them is on live or chunk herring .... right on the bottom 

[Bjigging]

Thanks ship I have done the bait thing I hate the mess with cut bait all over the boat!! I have jigged the herring an ran them to!! I am ready to troll for them well i am all set up now then I wasn't!!

[Pickeralpicker91]

Honestly I don't bother with trolling.  The big females usually hug the bottom and trolling usually only catches the smaller males which are suspended a little higher.  Not to mention early in the season the river is usually too muddy to troll and by the time it clears up there are too many other boats to troll.    You can use blood worms or something if you don't want to get the boat all fishy but herring are really the only way to go.  If I were going to troll I would use large plugs and planer boards, maybe try a large spoon or two if the water was clear enough.

[Eagle Ed]

Above posts on live bait is the way to go.  Trolling on the muddy Hudson will do very little, while fishing with live or cut herring is the way to go.  Never had much luck with trolling whether using spoons or plugs.

Eagle Ed

[bart]

myfishfinder has a thread, "2014 Hudson River Striper Thread".   http://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/index.php?topic=62595.0

[ship of fools]

Thanks ship I have done the bait thing I hate the mess with cut bait all over the boat!! I have jigged the herring an ran them to!! I am ready to troll for them well i am all set up now then I wasn't!!

Well you can see everyone has the same idea ....  herring is probably your best bet.

BUT ...  as i said the charters did well that one year although they stopped trolling once the herring showed up.  Unless we have had rain the water should be clear enough to troll .... and if it's clear enough so the herring can see the rigs the fish should see plugs too. If it was me i would troll from Albany south since the bait is less concentrated. As someone mentioned use planer boards but i would also use downriggers. The bottom is fairly consistent so you could get a lure or two down near bottom.

I've always wanted to try vertical jigging for them ......   but i always end up with a herring on the bottom 

[hot tuna]

I used to troll the run under the Rip Van Winkle.. We used downriggers with bomber long A's , beer can and Christmas tree rigs with bucktail jigs..  Caught a few and mostly smaller fish as I don't think the larger fish "chase"  so it is very inconstant.. Not worth the gas and effort IMO..

[kb]

I have just drifted with blood worms out of my kayak and have done pretty good.  Live lining herring or drifting chunks is the way to go if you want to get a big girl. There are a lot of eels and white perch, so just be ready for them if you start drifting bloods and chunks.

[Pickeralpicker91]

I have just drifted with blood worms out of my kayak and have done pretty good.  Live lining herring or drifting chunks is the way to go if you want to get a big girl. There are a lot of eels and white perch, so just be ready for them if you start drifting bloods are chunks.

and catfish can be pretty bad on even live herring. I caught a few 7-10 lbers on live herring last season and the smaller ones will still try to eat it anyways.

[RIVERRAT2]

Above posts on live bait is the way to go.  Trolling on the muddy Hudson will do very little, while fishing with live or cut herring is the way to go.  Never had much luck with trolling whether using spoons or plugs.

Eagle Ed

the LIVE bait is the way I go,BUT I did good with plugs in the locks,
 
RAT

[yellabella]

I only use live bait and do very well, but the post about only smaller fish being caught trolling couldn't be further from the truth. Sure there is a lot of smalls caught trolling but the record for the Hudson was caught trolling and I know of one fish caught last year that would have won the river basin tournament if the guy was in it that he caught trolling. Big fish can be caught both ways but with the price of gas I will stick to my drift fishing and shore fishing with live bait.

[hot tuna]

I only use live bait and do very well, but the post about only smaller fish being caught trolling couldn't be further from the truth. Sure there is a lot of smalls caught trolling but the record for the Hudson was caught trolling and I know of one fish caught last year that would have won the river basin tournament if the guy was in it that he caught trolling. Big fish can be caught both ways but with the price of gas I will stick to my drift fishing and shore fishing with live bait.

Did you see the words, mostly and inconsistent  ?
Not saying it don't happen . Why agin are you using bait ?

[Pickeralpicker91]

Did you see the words, mostly and inconsistent  ?
Not saying it don't happen . Why agin are you using bait ?

I'm not sure if that comment was towards me or you but either way, I've mostly caught smaller male fish trolling as well.

[yellabella]

I was just saying that not only smalls are caught trolling and I only use live bait because yes you do catch larger fish more often with live bait. I will almost never hook fish under 30" if they do take a live herring, they like to take it from the back and don't get the hook. Not trying to piss anyone off just stating the facts. you might fish for years and years and only catch smalls trolling but the fact is some of the biggest fish caught were trolling.

[edddieo]

  stinger hook

[RIVERRAT2]

TRY Hudson river fishermen's association
LOTS of info[water temp. is key
 
RAT

[upstate bass2]

I catch all my stripers trolling. I troll diving plugs on braided line with no down riggers. This one came on a rapala cd14 magnum. 46lb  10 oz

[MJB518]

Thats a monster upstatebass.

These were caught jerk trolling. Was not in the hudson though.  We were using some type of umbrella jigs.

[yellabella]

that 1st pic is a big girl, I don't use stingers because more often than not it messes up the live bait presentation or kills the herring faster and I don't really want to catch fish that are smaller than 30" anyways

[edddieo]

  Sorry  I just like to catch fish,  ::)g