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Fishing the East River around Midtown?

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Newtown Creek

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Howdy All,

My inability to catch anything in the east river around L.I.C. has reduced me to the most remedial questions: what can one catch? How does one catch it?

I have tried snell hooks with squid, snell hooks with pile worms, lures, jigs, flies. I am having a rough go of it. :-(

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

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Hello Newtown Creek,

Back in the mid 70's I used to tag thousands of Striped bass at East River and the Hudson river. The research analysis (high PCB levels) caused the striped bass closure for a decade! At that time, it was not unusual to catch over 100 bass a tide with little soft plastics and sandworms. Although most of them were schoolies... it was alot of fun.

 

I hope I've answered you question.

 

"Crazy" Alberto

 

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A great spot to fish the east river from the Queens side is Astoria Park right underneath the Hellgate Bridge. You'll need to wear korkers theres plenty of slippery rocks there and plenty of parking right next to the water. You'll be able to catch tons of stripers there starting in April. Crazy Al covered the rest.

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I must admit, I havent spent a huge amount of time fishing the east river, but, I used to work on 3rd ave and 98th street, I used to fish after work and during lunch at the 96th street entrance to FDR. I wasnt the best of spots but, I did catch fish there. I mostly used soft plastics like Cuckahoe minows on a 1 ounce lead head and bucktails. Also, early in the year, Iused to see real big schools of bunker getting chased in the evening hours by some decent bass, I used to snag a binky (bunker hee hee) and live line em of the wall, I had a couple decent fish that way too... Most guys there worm fish, theres a couple older guys who really are good fisherman.

 

Quick story, I was coming home from work (via the 96th street entrance to FDR) and, while dead stuck in traffic, I see this guy with rod bent. lugging something with a bridge gaff up over the wall, a HUGE BASS(+25 lbs...) then I saw two other guys getting hits, and I sadi to myself, I just found my new lunch hang out. A guy in a suit throwing bucktails at lunch isnt that od din new york, I regularly saw 1-2 other guys in suits doing the same thing..

 

 

"The kids they dance and shake thier bones and the politicians throwing stones. singing ashes, ashes all fall down"

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Last Fall I spent my lunch hour(s) fishing for Bass under the South Street Seaport. I caught about 5, but I did have one take drag for about 5 seconds (on a Baitrunner 4500) before coming off. It's knid of tough to fish here because the fish sit under the pilings, wires, and whatever else is under the seaport waiting to tangle your line.

There are a bunch of guys who fish here and keep everything they catch, then sell it on Canal Street. They all use the same bait too, a 4" white swimbait (sassy shad) with a 1oz. head.

The best time to fish is when the tide changes.

"the internet is the greatest platform for people who don't know anything, to tell people how much they don't know, to people who don't know anything and believe everything they read."
-Billy 40:16

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Gentlemen,

The night before last I dreamed I caught a fish. That evening, I went down to the river, soft plastic with two ounce jig in hand, and lo and behold,biggrin.gif, I CAUGHT A FISH!!!

Given the erosion of my self confidence, I had no plan for hoisting the fish out of the water onto the pier, no gaffe or net, so I just sat there looking down in utter disbelief.

It was a striper, maybe 20-23 inches long.

Thanks a million for your advice I will keep you posted.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

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  • 7 years later...

Hi there all

 

Just moved form Cape Town, South Africa about 3 days ago. I live at east 52st between the river and 1st avanue. I realy need to go fishing I have all the gear but know idea. Were does one go fishing and when, is there anyone I could join? I also need someone to help out when it gets to using the correct tackle I have poppers, gulp blood worm, mino's 3oz waits. I would love to try Flyfishing for the Strippies, here I only have a 6-7 weight fly rod with floating and sincking line.

 

Looking forward to any reply to this

 

Adrian Matern

Patients is a vertue, but lazyness disguised as patients is a skill.
Confidence is that feeling you get before you understand the situation.
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  • 1 month later...
View PostHi there all

 

 

Just moved form Cape Town, South Africa about 3 days ago. I live at east 52st between the river and 1st avanue. I realy need to go fishing I have all the gear but know idea. Were does one go fishing and when, is there anyone I could join? I also need someone to help out when it gets to using the correct tackle I have poppers, gulp blood worm, mino's 3oz waits. I would love to try Flyfishing for the Strippies, here I only have a 6-7 weight fly rod with floating and sincking line.

 

 

Looking forward to any reply to this

 

 

Adrian Matern

 

The best thing you should do is take the A train subway all the way to Broad Channel in Queens and fish off Cross Bay Bridge in Jamaica Bay. I fish in the east river and while you can catch fish there, it's not the greatest spot. It doesn't really matter where on the e river, but you should use surface lures, not bait.

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Thanks for bumping this thread. I fish the east river as well using everything from bucktails, storm shad, spoons, and poppers. The part that I fish has a fast fast current. I'm wondering if fish hang around where the current is running so strong. Any tips on how to fish in such a current such as casting up and letting it drift with the flow of the current. I use baits in the 1.5 - 2oz range and I don't even know if they get a chance to sink low enough. I keep trying, and have been fishing now daily. I've caught one schoolie so far that I hooked literally 2ft in front of me. Getting frustrated, but still can't wait to go back out and try again, with the hope that today it will happen

 

Another thing is I noticed that everyone I see on the east river fishes with bait. I guess I'm just wondering if I'm wasting my time out there or if there's something to be had casting plugs off the rocks. Thanks

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Here's how I do it.

 

1 oz cheap, disposable jig head. (you will lose a bunch till you get the feel of this)

 

Curly tail, stingray or shad plastic.

 

Cast up-current and let the jig come back to you.

 

You must be a line watcher.

 

As soon as the jig hits bottom lift the rodtip and crank the the reel as you lower it back down.

 

Or instead you can take 3-5 fast cranks on the reel.

 

Watch your line as it sinks again.

 

Usually the bass hit on the drop and the blues on the hop.

 

If you wait to long to hop the jig off the bottom, the jig will lay down and you'll be stuck.

 

You'll still get stuck when the jig wedges between rocks, but sometimes you can pop it out by walking up-current if possible or by brute force.

 

I use 20lb mono on a 5500. Strong enough to pull out of the rocks, but not so strong I can't break the knot. Plenty of line for ERSchoolies.

 

As for where.

 

Look for breaks in the current. Places were the 'seams' show. Places where eddies form.

 

Hope that helps biggrin.gif

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IF you want large bass fish bunker chunks .May and june are good times to chunk in the river by the bridges late at night.You will need at least 10 - 16 ounces to hold bottom .I have had some nice bass in the past using chunks .

 

Soft plastics work great on shorts in the river .IF u fish bunker by the bridges try and place your bait in one of the eddies that are formed by the bridge footings.The river definetly holds big bass. I have seen fish in the high 40's landed using this method .

 

 

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Thanks for the feedback guys, for now I'm set up for plugs only and I actually prefer artificials from where I'm fishing. I couldn't sleep last night, because I was so anxious to get out there this morning. So I stayed up all night headed to my spot at around 5:30am Needless to say the tide was ripping real fast. I tried everything I had to throw and fished the incoming tide without even a hit. I also noticed that the tide seemed signifigantly lower and didn't raise as high as it has in the past, perhaps the moon could have an effect, maybe one of you guys know something about this. Slack came in and slowed the current almost to a halt. I threw a popper and a swimmer with no luck. Went back to my bucktail/curly worm and my spoon w/ bucktail curly set up( I love the action on that thing) as the current picked up and started moving out. Nothing. I got shut out, and was shocked, because it felt like when of these days where I was going to catch one on my last cast. I didn't want to leave, but I was losing balance on the rocks, due to lack of sleep.

 

My question(s) are is the current ever so strong you don't even bother throwing, or do you proceed the same only with heavier tackle?

 

Also I kept looking and casting around the pools or pockets where the current seems to deposit. Are the eddys the calm patches that contrast with the rip line? I see a lot of swirls and such and kept thinking that the fish are lurking behind those deposits as the current is pushing the bait that way. I'm also using 1.5 oz buckies and 2oz storm shad, could it be that they're not getting low enough in that current?

 

Sorry for the long windedness, but I'm so eager to learn this stuff, but I'm also getting frustrated thinking that I'm fishing in know where land. By the way I fish NE of the east river bank, mentioned earlier on this thread. Thanks

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