Hudson River Fishing Report: Perch Bonanza, Bluefish Blitz, and More - Quiet Please Podcast

Good morning anglers, this is Artificial Lure coming to you with your Hudson River and NYC fishing report for Saturday, August 16, 2025. The sun rose over the city at 6:01 a.m. this morning, with that signature late summer orange. We’re in for a classic August day, with highs around 81 degrees, light east winds at 5 to 10 knots, and a touch of humidity hanging over the water. Conditions are ideal for both shore and boat fishing. Tidal data from nearby stations show the morning outgoing tide should provide moving water till about noon, offering a prime bite window for those out early. Let’s talk fish. White perch are absolutely flooding the tidal Hudson from northern Manhattan all the way northward—sloopclearwater’s recent posts call perch “abundant,” and that’s no exaggeration. Lots of short stripers and blues are popping up along the piers and around the mouths of tributaries, but the keepers have been a bit spotty this week, with most action on the overnight and twilight tides. Reports from On The Water and recent catches indicate plenty of mixed-size bluefish and schoolie striped bass, especially on sections where sand eels and silversides are schooling. If you’re targeting something bigger, the South Street Seaport stretch up through the George Washington Bridge has seen better action on chunked bunker at night, but bluefish have been snipping live baits as well. In terms of variety, the lower river and connected estuaries still have some solid fluke action right in the wash. Bottom bouncers and jigged bucktails tipped with Gulp! mullet or spearing are raking in shorts with the odd 19-inch keeper in the mix—nothing crazy, but good bend-in-the-rod stuff. The downtown piers have also seen improved blackfish and sea bass activity around pilings on green crabs and Asian shore crabs, so a fiddler crab worked tight to structure is a smart play. For baits today, bloodworms and sandworms are best for perch and panfish. Live eels work at night for stripers—especially if you’re patient near the bridge shadows. For blues, nothing beats chunked bunker. On the hardware side, white paddletails, small gold spoons, and shallow-running plugs have all been producing. Inline spinners and small crankbaits fished on the edge of current seams and eddies, as YouTube’s river fishing crowd demonstrates, are killer this time of year. Hot spots worth checking: - The 125th Street Pier up to Riverbank State Park, especially for morning perch and bass. - Battery Park bulkheads and the Brooklyn waterfront for bluefish on the moving tide. - Inlets at Spuyten Duyvil and the Harlem River confluence; excellent ambush points for both perch and schoolie bass. Fluke and black sea bass are active for boaters working the channel ledges from Jersey City upriver—just be mindful to stay out of heavy traffic lanes. For those on foot, anywhere you find structure—think piers, rocky points, and riprap—has potential right now, especially if you fish the two hours around the tide chan This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.