Early Winter Stripers and White Perch on the Hudson

This is Artificial Lure with your Hudson River NYC fishing report. We’re locked into a true early‑winter pattern on the lower Hudson now. Overnight temps have been dropping into the low 30s with daytime highs in the low‑40s under mostly cloudy skies, light northwest wind around 5–10 knots. Local marine forecasts out of Sandy Hook and New York Harbor are calling for manageable chop on the open river but it’ll feel raw on the piers, so layer up and bring a wind shell. Sunrise over the skyline is right around 7:10 AM, with sunset just after 4:30 PM. The productive window has been the late morning to early afternoon when the water’s had a chance to warm a degree or two and the wind lays down a bit. According to NOAA tide tables for the Battery and Hudson River at West 145th Street, we’ve got a moderate morning incoming, topping out mid‑day, then a decent outgoing through late afternoon. The last two hours of the flood and the first hour of the ebb have been the money times along current breaks, pier pilings, and eddies. Striped bass are mostly schoolies now, with a few keeper‑class fish still hanging around the deeper channel edges and warm‑water outflows. Local pier regulars from Pier 40 up through Riverside Park South have reported mixed bags of 16–24 inch bass this past week, with occasional fish pushing into the low 30‑inch range. White perch are starting to show in better numbers in the quieter pockets and back basins, and there’s been a light pick of channel cats and the odd wintering carp for guys soaking bait on bottom. Best artificial options: - **Small soft plastics** on 3/8–1/2 oz jigheads, 3–5 inches, in albino, bunker, and pearl. Work them slow and low, just ticking bottom. - **Slim profile metal** like Kastmasters and Deadly Dicks for the deeper edges when the current is moving. - **Bucktails** 3/4–1 oz tipped with a small strip of soft plastic are still putting fish in the net if you crawl them along the bottom. For bait, you can’t beat: - Fresh or salted **bunker chunks** on a fish‑finder rig for the remaining stripers. - **Bloodworms** or sandworms on hi‑lo rigs for schoolie bass and white perch. - Small **shrimp pieces or nightcrawlers** near the bottom around structure if you’re targeting perch and cats. A couple of local hot spots to focus on: - **West Side Piers, Manhattan**: Piers 25, 40, and up around 57th to 72nd have been steady for schoolie stripers on the moving tide. Set up just off the main sweep of current and cast uptide, letting your jig swing down and across the seam. - **Liberty State Park, Jersey side**: The Fisherman magazine has highlighted this area for big weakfish and fluke in season, and the same structure—rocky points, deep edges, and rip lines—now holds wintering stripers along the channel. Work bucktails and soft plastics along those edges on the last of the flood. Water’s cold and clear enough that downsizing and slowing down your presentation really matters. Lighter fluorocarbon lead This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.