Hudson River NYC Fishing Report: Building Moon, Strong Tides, Schoolies On The Move

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Hudson River NYC fishing report. We’re on a building moon phase and the **tide** is doing a lot of the work for you today. NOAA’s Battery and West 23rd Street tables show a classic two‑high, two‑low cycle, with a strong early **flood pushing in from the south** and a solid **ebb rolling out mid‑day into the evening**. Around the Hudson, that means best windows are **the last two hours of the incoming and the first hour of the outgoing**, especially around structure and current seams. Weather-wise, National Weather Service has us in **comfortable early‑summer conditions**: light southwest breeze, fairly stable barometer, and **partly cloudy skies**. That’s prime for fish roaming the channel edges and piling onto current breaks. Expect a soft bite mid‑day if the sun gets high and bright, then a pickup again toward the evening tide swing. Sunrise and sunset from USNO tables put **first light just after 5 a.m.** and **sunset a little after 8:30 p.m.** That **pre‑work gray light** and the **last hour before dark** are your money times, especially for stripers and blues sliding tight to the rocks and pier shadows. Recent action report from local tackle chatter and dock talk along Pier 25, Pier 40, and down by Battery Park has been **mixed but improving**. Schoolie **striped bass** in the 18–24 inch class are still around, with the occasional keeper pushing high 20s to low 30s. A few **bluefish** have been blitzing bait on the surface during the stronger tides, mostly 2–5 pounds. Daytime has seen steady **schoolie bass, cocktail blues, and plenty of harbor bycatch**—**snapper‑sized bluefish, sundial, and the usual mix of sea robins, eels, and the odd fluke** on the bottom rigs. If you’re throwing artificials, the hot producers have been **small paddletail swimbaits** in the 4–5 inch range, **white, bunker, and olive over pearl**, on 3/8 to 3/4 ounce jig heads to match that Hudson current. Anglers working the edges with **3/4 to 1 ounce bucktail jigs tipped with Gulp** in chartreuse or white are picking up fluke and the better bass. At night and in low light, **slim profile plugs**—sp minnows, small metal lips, and 5–6 inch soft jerkbaits—have been taking fish right along the wall. For **bait**, fresh is king. Local shops report **fresh bunker, sandworms, and bloodworms** moving quickest. A **chunk of bunker on a fish‑finder rig** dropped just off the rocks during the tide swing is still one of the best ways to connect with a bigger bass or blue. If you’re looking for mixed bag and just want rod bend, **peel shrimp or bits of clam** on hi‑lo rigs will keep you busy with smaller bass, perch, and panfish species that push up with the salt. A couple **hot spots** to keep on your list: - **Pier 25 to Pier 40, Manhattan side**: Fish the **current seams off the pier ends** and the **rocky edges just north and south of the structures**. Great for schoolie stripers on soft plastics and bucktails, plus roaming blues when the bait stacks up. - **Battery Park and South Ferry area**: Classic **meeting point of East River and Hudson water**, lots of moving current. Work **jigs and chunks along the bottom contours**; it’s snaggy but holds quality fish, especially on that outgoing tide flushing bait out of the harbor. Keep your leaders **20–30 lb fluoro**, especially with those cocktail blues around, and don’t be afraid to downsize lures if the water clears—those Hudson fish see a lot of hardware. That’s the word from the river. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn