NYC Winter Fishing Report: Schoolies, Perch, and Cats on the Hudson

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Hudson River NYC fishing report. We’re on a mild late‑December pattern. National Weather Service shows temps around the low 40s at daybreak, pushing upper 40s by afternoon with light northwest wind and a mix of sun and high clouds. That’s a decent setup for bank and pier fishing – cool but not brutal, and the west/northwest breeze lays the river down a bit on the Manhattan side. According to NOAA tide predictions for the Hudson around Chelsea and Riverdale, the morning high is right in that mid‑morning window, with a solid incoming pushing up around 8–9 a.m., then easing toward low early afternoon. That first two hours of the flood and first hour of the ebb are your money tides today. Night tides are weaker but fine if you’re soaking bait for stripers and cats. Sunrise for the city comes just after 7:15 a.m., sunset a little before 4:35 p.m., so it’s a short day. First light through about 9:30 a.m. and then the last hour of light should see the best action. Winter pattern means we’re mostly talking **schoolie striped bass**, **white perch**, **channel cats**, and the odd **holdover carp** in the quieter pockets. Local reports the last week have had guys picking a half‑dozen schoolies a tide with a few pushing mid‑20 inches, plus steady perch around structure. No big blitzes, but a slow pick if you grind. Best **lures** right now: - Small 3–4" soft‑plastic paddletails in chartreuse, white, and bunker on 3/8–½ oz jig heads. - Slim metal like Kastmasters or Hopkins spoons for working the current seams. - Bucktail jigs ½–1 oz tipped with a thin strip of pork rind or soft plastic. Best **bait**: - Fresh or salted bunker chunks, bloodworms, sandworms for stripers and perch. - Nightcrawlers and cut bunker for cats and carp in the marinas and back basins. A couple of hot spots: - **Pier 40 / Hudson River Park (West Village)**: Fish the outer corners on the flood tide. Cast uptide, let it swing through the seam. Schoolie bass and perch have been coming on small paddletails and bloodworms on hi‑low rigs. - **George Washington Bridge / Fort Washington Park area**: Work the rocky edges and eddies just south of the bridge. Bucktails and metals on the moving tide; bunker chunks on bottom for a shot at a better bass or steady catfish. If you want a quieter scene, slide upriver to **Riverdale / Spuyten Duyvil** shoreline and work the calmer water with worms for perch and cats. Keep your leaders a bit heavier – the Hudson’s still got plenty of debris, and those rocks eat light mono. Travel light, dress in layers, mind that slick concrete and those fast currents. Stay legal with your NYS license and check the latest DEC regs on size and season before you keep anything. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for more local fishing updates. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.