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April 2017 43 boatingonthehudson.com
being only a one fish limit per person per day 18” or better,
having to let these huge fish go seemed painful to some!
To appease those clients who wanted to keep fish, we
changed our tactics and attempted to target smaller juvenile
fish who were over 18” but less than 28”. To some degree we
were able to do this, especially earlier in the season when
the water was cold. Once the water warmed up, this became
increasingly harder to do. One adjustment wemade to combat
the effects of the slot limit was to inform potential new clients
as well as the old that there would most likely be a lot of catch
and release going on. Most clients seemed to be O.K with this
when told up front about it.
In 2015, our clients boated two fish over 40”. What do you
think happened in 2016? First off, to my surprise, most people
were O.K with practicing catch and release. In fact, our charter
calendar on the Hudson was full and the fishing turned out to
be fantastic! Our Ace Charters’ clients boated eight fish over
40” with our biggest measuring 43” and tipping the scales at
over 33lbs. We experienced many double digit days and had a
blast battling upper slot limit fish. We had many fish that were
in the 39”plus range and just short of that magic 40”mark. Our
best group boated 21 fish and they were all in the slot.
I must admit that my earlier skepticism in regards to fishing
quality and the client reaction to increased catch and release
fishing has changed. The 2016 striper season on the Hudson
was a banner year in terms of quality and quantity of stripers. Many
other fishermen that we converse with on a near daily basis were
also experiencing great fishing for stripers as well. It was quite
common to hear that fish just under 40” were being released back
into the river almost daily. It reminded me back of the good old days
when we first started fishing the Hudson in the mid-eighties. I’m
hoping this year is at least as good as last year and perhaps maybe
even better. There were a lot of fish last year returned to the river
unharmed that were just less than 40”. Imagine what affect another
year of growth will have if these fish were able to survive!
Capt. Jimmy Samia owns and operates and
operates his charter out of Coeymans Landing New York. He can be
reached at 413-346-7675 or e-mailed at
watch?v=4Z8lczMtKuU
“The proper
way to land
a big Striped
Bass.”
Check this out on
YouTube: