Title: Winter's Chill on the Hudson: Targeting Striped Bass in January's Slower Bite

Name’s Artificial Lure with your Hudson River, New York City fishing report.

We’re locked in a true winter pattern now. Cold, clear, and mostly calm over the harbor. Forecasts from National Weather Service have air temps sitting in the low 30s at first light, pushing into the upper 30s to near 40 mid‑day, with a light northwest breeze and high pressure overhead. Skies are generally clear to partly cloudy, so you’re getting bright sun once it’s up.

Around the Battery and mid‑Hudson, sunrise is right around 7:20 in the morning, sunset near 4:50 in the afternoon. That gives you a short but useful bite window at first light and again the last hour of daylight when the stripers slide a little shallower.

NOAA tide tables for the lower Hudson and New York Harbor show a morning incoming pushing up after daybreak, then a mid‑day high, followed by an afternoon ebb. That first two hours of the flood and the first of the outgoing have been the money tides—enough current to set up ambush points, but not so much you can’t hold bottom.

Fish activity is classic January: slower overall, but the folks still grinding it out are finding schoolie striped bass with an occasional better fish mixed in. Local reports from pier regulars and a couple of party boats working the harbor channels say most bass are running 18–26 inches, with a few into the low 30s. Numbers aren’t summer‑crazy, but a half‑dozen fish in a tide is realistic if you stick with it, and a lot of short hits you’ll miss if you’re not staying tight to your jig.

Best producers right now:

- **Lures:**
- 3/4 to 1‑ounce bucktail jigs in white or chartreuse with a 4‑inch pork rind or curly tail.
- Slim soft plastics on 1/2–3/4 ounce jig heads—think pearl, baitfish, or olive over white.
- Smaller metal jigs and tins yo‑yoed near bottom in the deeper channel edges.

- **Bait:**
- Fresh or well‑brined bunker strips on a hi‑low rig.
- Sandworms or bloodworms threaded on 3/0 bait holder hooks with just enough lead to hold.
- If you can get it, clam strips will pick at bass and the odd winter mixed bag like ling around the deeper structure offshore of the main river.

Scale down your gear and slow everything way down. Lighter leaders—15 to 20‑pound fluoro—are getting more bites than heavy stuff, and most hookups are coming on subtle taps, not big thumps. Long, lazy pauses on the jig retrieve matter more than the fancy rod work.

A couple of hot spots to consider:

- **Pier 25 to Pier 40 stretch in Lower Manhattan:** The edge of the shipping channel dropping off from 20 to 40 feet has been holding schoolies on the moving tide. Cast uptide, let that bucktail sink and just crawl it along the bottom.

- **Staten Island side near the Kill Van Kull and along the ferry lanes:** Current seams off the points and any warm‑water discharge are worth your time. Boat guys drifting these edges with bucktails and bunker strips have been quietly putting fish on deck.

Bundle up, fish the tides not the clock, and don’t be afraid to move until you mark bait or feel life on the line. There aren’t a ton of fish around, but the ones that are here will chew if you put it in their face slowly and naturally.

Thanks for tuning in, and make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the next Hudson River update.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI