Late Fall Hudson River Fishing Report: Schoolies, Tog, and Bycatch on the Move

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Hudson River NYC fishing report. We’re sliding into that late‑fall, early‑winter pattern now. According to NOAA tide predictions for The Battery, the Hudson’s running a solid set of highs and lows today, with a mid‑morning falling tide and an afternoon flood, both giving you nice current edges along the Manhattan and Jersey shorelines. Those moving‑water windows are your shots; slack is pretty dead this time of year. Weather out of the National Weather Service shows seasonable cold: temps hovering in the upper 30s to low 40s, light northwest breeze early, building a bit mid‑day, then laying down toward evening. Skies are mostly cloudy. Sunrise around 7:10 a.m., sunset just after 4:30 p.m., so you’ve got short light and long dark—prime low‑light bites at both ends. On the fish front, On The Water’s New York and Long Island report from December 11 says the striped bass bite is winding down but there are still fish hanging in the western Sound and metro area, with more shorts and schoolies than keepers, plus some tog action lingering on structure. That lines up with what locals are seeing from piers and bulkheads: small bass chewing right at first light and again around dusk, especially on the dropping tide. Recent catches in and around the lower Hudson and NY Harbor have been mostly: - Schoolie striped bass in the 18–26 inch range, with an occasional mid‑slot fish. - A few late blackfish (tautog) off rock piles and wrecky corners where boats can tuck in. - Bycatch mix of white perch and the odd late bluefish or hickory shad closer to the Kill van Kull and Arthur Kill. Best lures right now: - Small **soft plastic paddletails** (3–5") on 3/8 to 3/4 oz jig heads in white, chartreuse, or bunker patterns, slow‑rolled near bottom along the current seams. - Slim **metal jigs** and diamond jigs, Ava‑style, lightly tipped with a strip of pork or Gulp—On The Water has been talking up those diamond jigs as a winter standby all over the region. - For toggers, traditional **green crab or Asian crab** on a simple bottom rig or tog jig right tight to structure. Best baits: - Bloodworms or sandworms on hi‑lo rigs for schoolies and perch where access is limited. - Fresh bunker chunks if you can get ‘em, fished on the bottom along deeper edges during the slower parts of the tide. Couple of local hot spots to focus on: - **Hudson River Park Piers (Pier 25 to Pier 40)**: These Manhattan piers give you quick access to decent depth and moving water. Fish the up‑current corners on the outgoing, casting soft plastics diagonally across the flow and letting them swing. - **Jersey City waterfront / Exchange Place down to Liberty State Park**: That wall and adjacent flats hold wintering schoolies, especially around the deeper pockets. Work metals and small paddletails along the drops on the last two hours of the fall and the first of the flood. If you’re running a boat, the channel edges off the Statue and into the Kills This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.