With the off season grinding by, thought maybe some discussion would help pass the time. Last season was my first spring bank fishing the Hudson for striper and I was pretty unsuccessful. Spent about 90% of my time fishing frozen chucks around the Albany area, and spent a Saturday in Newburgh feeding bloodworms to ravenous perch while staring at a group of guys catching off a small point they had staked out that could reach deeper water.
So, what am i going to do differently this year? For one, i think im going to concentrate my efforts on fishing the troy dam. The location is convenient, and it seemed to be the only spot with a more serious crowd, especially at night. The other locations are by no means secret and if they produced consistent fish i think you would see more guys there.
Next bait. Since i plan on spending a lot more time at the dam, those conditions are going to favor lures. I've been slowly expanding my bag over the summer and im finally reaching a point where i think i have a nice variety of poppers, darters, crank baits, bucktails and some soft baits like sluggos and eels to get me started. With the current the way it is at the dam, trying to fish chunk or live lining just seemed very impractical (i tried). Its not impossible, but you better have a cooler full of bait and a helper to hand rods off too for rebating if you want to enjoy your self and actually spend time fishing. Or you could just sling lures.
As for tackle and equipment I've added a second rod to my outfit. That 9ft penn fierce combo is just too good a deal to pass up for freshwater applications. And you can even get it with the live liner feature. Planning on using it as my chunking rod should the opportunity arise. Having 2 rods that can be configured for different needs is a great time/aggravation saver. I'm also planning on picking up a set of breathable waders and some korkers before the season gets underway as well. While these aren't totally necessary, i do a bit of surf fishing in southern Maine during the summer and they will certainly make getting out in the evening's or early AM hours more appealing.
So that's about it. Hoping with last years time and experience i can land a few fish this year. What about everyone else? What are you going to adjust to get into more fish this year?
So, what am i going to do differently this year? For one, i think im going to concentrate my efforts on fishing the troy dam. The location is convenient, and it seemed to be the only spot with a more serious crowd, especially at night. The other locations are by no means secret and if they produced consistent fish i think you would see more guys there.
Next bait. Since i plan on spending a lot more time at the dam, those conditions are going to favor lures. I've been slowly expanding my bag over the summer and im finally reaching a point where i think i have a nice variety of poppers, darters, crank baits, bucktails and some soft baits like sluggos and eels to get me started. With the current the way it is at the dam, trying to fish chunk or live lining just seemed very impractical (i tried). Its not impossible, but you better have a cooler full of bait and a helper to hand rods off too for rebating if you want to enjoy your self and actually spend time fishing. Or you could just sling lures.
As for tackle and equipment I've added a second rod to my outfit. That 9ft penn fierce combo is just too good a deal to pass up for freshwater applications. And you can even get it with the live liner feature. Planning on using it as my chunking rod should the opportunity arise. Having 2 rods that can be configured for different needs is a great time/aggravation saver. I'm also planning on picking up a set of breathable waders and some korkers before the season gets underway as well. While these aren't totally necessary, i do a bit of surf fishing in southern Maine during the summer and they will certainly make getting out in the evening's or early AM hours more appealing.
So that's about it. Hoping with last years time and experience i can land a few fish this year. What about everyone else? What are you going to adjust to get into more fish this year?