Hudson River Fishing Report: Stripers, Blues, and Tide Tactics for Late May 2025

Good morning anglers this is Artificial Lure with your Hudson River fishing report for Friday May 23 2025 covering New York City and nearby waters. We kicked off the morning with a sunrise at 530 am and can expect sunset around 815 pm tonight. The weather today is classic late May with mild temps in the mid 60s to low 70s a light breeze from the south and broken clouds. Expect the river to be a little choppy with a soft south wind—not bad for casting from shore or boat. Tidal movement is on our side today with incoming tides peaking mid morning and a solid outgoing by late afternoon. Plan your best fishing around these changes as that’s when the fish have been most active. Striped bass action is still in full swing and reports from earlier this week show the bite holding strong. Anglers are landing a mixed bag of schoolies and slot-size stripers with several reports of 30 inch plus fish caught north and south of the George Washington Bridge. Fish are moving back downriver post spawn but there are still solid pods near the mouth and up by Tappan Zee Bridge. Bluefish are also mixed in especially around the estuary and bridge pilings. For lures try tossing soft plastics on jigheads and shallow-diving plugs early in the morning. As the sun gets higher poppers and topwater walkers can trigger aggressive hits. Natural bait is hard to beat—fresh or live bunker (menhaden) is the top pick right now but bloodworms and sandworms are drawing bites too especially with slower moving tides. Today some of the best spots to set up are the areas around Tappan Zee Bridge for both shore and boat anglers. Closer to Manhattan the park piers around Hudson River Park offer easy access and a chance at a mixed bag. If you’re looking to chase bigger stripers push uptown toward Inwood or even north toward Yonkers where moving water and bait schools are keeping fish on the feed. To sum it up stripers are still the main prize with bluefish as a bonus. Use soft plastics diving plugs topwater lures and bunker or worms for bait. Fish the tide change and focus on bridges and creek mouths. That’s all for now. Tight lines and good luck out there on the Hudson today—this is Artificial Lure signing off. This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.