Sunday Stripers and Schoolies Along the Hudson

Artificial Lure here, your Hudson River angling insider with the rundown for Sunday, October 19th, 2025. The city’s just waking up—sunrise hit at 7:22 a.m., sunset’s 6:16 p.m., and we’re looking at a classic mid-October morning: 48 degrees, mostly cloudy, perfect for a jacket and waders as you hit the banks. Today’s tidal swing is shaping up to be textbook for Hudson stripers and schoolies, with high tide hitting mid-morning and ebb running strong into the afternoon, according to NOAA’s latest predictions. Your best window will be catching that last push of incoming water and first trickle of outgoing—consider planning your cast from dawn until late morning, then again as sunset nears for the evening bite. Weather-wise, you’ll want to keep a sharp eye for shifting winds and a stray shower or two. NOAA and the local forecast call for mild SE winds at 5–10mph, keeping things manageable for both pier and boat anglers. Let’s talk fish activity. Reports from Dockside Bait & Tackle and local city piers show the Hudson’s been holding good numbers of striped bass—mostly schoolies in the 18 to 28-inch range, with the odd mid-30s fish for those putting in the night shift. Blues have pushed through sporadically off Battery Park and the piers, especially after dusk. Porgy action is steady in the lower river around Pier 40 and Pier 84, with the bite on fresh clams and sandworms. White perch are being picked up near embayments and slack water—use small spinners or bloodworms for best results. Bait is king right now. Today, bring fresh bunker if you can get it, either chunked or whole, as the stripers are chasing the fall menhaden schools. Sandworms remain your go-to for both stripers and porgies, and bloodworms are a close second. For artificial action, top picks include 5-inch soft plastics on jigheads, Gulp! swimming mullets, and smaller topwater plugs at first light, working the current seams. Hot spots for October? Don’t miss Pier 96 and the waters adjacent to Hudson River Park, especially as the tide turns—the current and bottom contour here funnel baitfish into waiting predators. And uptown, check out the area by the George Washington Bridge—structure and boulders here have been holding fish, especially for those casting swimbaits tight to the rocks. Recent catches have been encouraging: multiple slot-size stripers landed this week off Chelsea Piers and Pier 25, top fish pushing 33 inches. Over at Pier 40, porgies are being caught in numbers, with a few keeper blackfish thrown in for those dropping green crabs along the pilings. A quick word for boaters—the channel edges between 79th Street Boat Basin and Spuyten Duyvil have produced action at dusk and dawn, and trolling a weighted umbrella rig or deep-diving plug is producing strikes as transient schools move upriver with the tide. Best advice: carry both bait and artificials, match the hatch to what you’re seeing in the water, and don’t be afraid to move if a spot seems quiet after the tide cha This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.