Stripers up the Hudson, walleye season open, and stocked trout in prime form

What's Biting

What's Next

The 60°F water reading on the Hudson marks a key threshold as we move deeper into May. For striped bass, this temperature band typically draws fish off their post-winter hold in the lower estuary and pulls them into shallower, more accessible reaches — expect the bite to build as the river eventually crests and begins dropping. On The Water's May 15 migration map puts the push firmly in the Northeast; Hudson Valley anglers should find fish staged at current seams, rocky points, and feeder creek mouths where baitfish concentrate.

High main-stem flows (14,800 cfs at USGS gauge 01358000) will likely keep the primary channel off-color through at least mid-week. That actually favors structure-heavy side channels, backwater coves, and tributary mouths, where clarity tends to be better and both stripers and bass pin tight to the bank. The new moon window this week suppresses ambient light — dawn and dusk are your best shots for topwater action; keep a surface plug or large streamer ready during those transitions.

For trout, 60°F sits at the upper comfortable limit for stocked rainbows and browns. Should temperatures hold or nudge upward, look for fish to stack near spring seeps, shaded runs, and cooler inflows in the Finger Lakes. NY DEC's late-April stocking push means recently planted fish are still present and acclimating — early morning on stocked tributaries entering the Finger Lakes is the most reliable setup this week.

Walleye anglers should lean into dawn and dusk windows around rocky structure, ledges, and tributary mouths now that the season is fully open statewide per NY DEC (May 1 opener). New moon low-light conditions can extend walleye feeding into later morning on the larger lakes. Start with finesse jigs in the 1/4- to 3/8-oz range tipped with natural-colored plastics or live shiners as post-spawn fish transition back to aggressive feeding.

Looking to the weekend: if Hudson River flows begin receding and clarity improves, open-water striper action from boat should pick up across the mid-river. Stable or warming conditions should carry this multi-species window through Memorial Day weekend.

Context

Mid-May is typically one of the two peak angling windows for Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes anglers — the other arriving in early September when water cools again. The 60°F water temperature recorded May 16 at USGS gauge 01357500 is broadly on-schedule for this region: the Hudson usually crosses the 58–62°F band sometime in the first three weeks of May, depending on spring snowpack and rainfall totals. This year's reading falls squarely within the normal range, neither notably early nor late.

The elevated main-stem flows (14,800 cfs at USGS gauge 01358000) reflect the classic spring runoff dynamic — snowmelt and spring rains push the Hudson and its tributaries high and off-color through mid-to-late May in most years. Experienced Hudson Valley anglers expect this and plan around it, shifting focus from open-water drifting to structure, tributary confluences, and backwater areas until levels settle and clarity returns.

NY DEC's Fishing Line confirms the stocking program is running on its normal spring cadence, with brook, brown, and rainbow trout distributed across eligible streams and lakes through April. The coolwater season's May 1 open date is fixed by regulation and arrived on schedule.

The one genuine departure from recent historical norms is the partial rollback of the Hudson River PCB consumption advisory, as reported by Wired 2 Fish. For roughly five decades, those advisories shaped how anglers fished the Hudson — catch-and-release was the de facto standard for most species on the main stem. The 2026 announcement that some Lower Hudson fish are considered safe for limited consumption marks a generational change in the river's story. Anglers interested in harvesting should review the current NY DEC health advisory language directly before doing so, as species-specific limits and geographic boundaries apply selectively rather than river-wide.

No additional early-or-late season signals for this specific region are available in the current data feeds.