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February - March 2017 February - March 2017 8 9 boatingonthehudson.com Find Us On Facebook at Boating On The Hudson
What could be better, the last vestiges of February’s
cold, brutal winds, and then the opposite, of a warm sunny day,
and finally its March!
Striper season on the Hudson River has arrived. Some of us
fisherman are getting smart as we age; we painted the bottom
of the boat with a fresh coat of bottom paint, after we washed
it down during haul out, and cleaned up the boat, already for
spring. Now, if it is not buried in the back of the boat yard, or
in your own back yard, you can get it out and down to the river
for an early launch that will begin the wonderful ritual of spring
striper season on the Hudson River.
The Season begins with five year old and older stripers
gathering on the west side of New York Harbor all winter. In
March savoring the small differences in rising temperatures,
as the sun warms the shallows from Jersey City to
Englewood, the “bass” begin to move upriver.
In my lifetime these stripers have grown in size
much larger than when I was a child. The quantity
of striped bass migrating each year is nowhere
near as large as they were in the early 90’s, but the
stripers are most definitely larger as a year class
than ever before.
Perception is everything and the older striped bass
fisherman, remembering what it used to be like, can
be discouraged by all the changes in the rules that
allow a delicious striper to wind up on the dinner
table. But, for those of you who are willing to adapt
to the new rules and conditions the eye opening
opportunity to catch stripers is still there.
The biggest break we have gotten is that “Bunker”
are back in the Hudson River in large numbers. They range as far
north as Peekskill, NY in huge schools, something we have not
seen in my lifetime!
“Menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, is, without a doubt, the
single most important fish in the western Atlantic. This oily
filter-feeder swims in schools so large that they block the
sun from penetrating the water’s surface as it regulates
ocean health. Earlier this week, we were greeted by news
that menhaden stocks were rebounded, yet despite their
near-universal importance in the western Atlantic and Gulf
of Mexico, most Americans have near heard of a menhaden.
Andrew David Thaler”
Spring
Striped Bass
Fishermen
Just Caught a
Real Break!
by John H. Vargo, Publisher
These two photos by Chris Pritchard
really tell a story of back-breaking, cold
miserable work, not only hauling in the
net to the boat, but of then “picking the
net clean”, putting the bunker on ice and
then getting them to market all within an
hour of hauling.
You truly have to love what you do to
enjoy the benefit of having fresh bunker
for bait, and Chris Pritchard does enjoy it!
In the lower “river’ the most signifcant
positive change is the huge schools of
“bunker” that now arrive in April. This
is a major change in live bait fishing as
“bunker” is the number one ocean fish
that striped bass feed on throughout their
migration up and down the east coast
of the United States. Herring, another
part of the Herring family of fishes, is still
very important to the upper river’s live
bait fishing for striped bass, but fishing
from Newburgh south with bunker has
created an entirely new “game” for live
bait fisherman. Those fishermen that have
caught on to this new development will
be the first to say, “The bunker had better
be fresh if you’re going to consistently
catch stripers!
There is licensed commercial fisherman
on the lower Hudson River that is allowed
to sell this fresh bunker. This is the number
one reason why some striper fisherman
consistently are successful in catching and
releasing stripers on their fishing trips.
They always use fresh bunker as bait!
Chris Pritchard’s Lowrance electronic fish
finder on his net boat, late April 2016, these
are bunker by the thousands on the screen.
A fresh haul of bunker, (Mehaden) Chris Pritchard photo late April, 2016