Well....Jimmy popped his cherry...where's the pic?

Awesome news !!!
 

Did she fight ya good ? Stay down and give some good head shakes ?
 
Nicccccccee ! WTG on the banner weeken.

Oh c'mon...  Everyone knows about the hot action under the Tappan Zee...
 
That is no secret! 
 
Fish fought hard enough to make it a lot of fun, no doubt.  A far cry from the Steelhead less than half it's weight, but a brawl nonetheless!  We need to teach those cows to jump!  This one ran two or three times with some real moxie...  Then hunkered down and sulked a bit until it finally came up boatside.  Halfway through it I started to shake a little bit at the realization that I was, in fact, hooked into a Striper on the Hudson.
 
Will wonders never cease? 
 
I was one season away from abandoning the Hudson all together.  But SOF pulled me back from the brink of quitting.  Thanks again buddy.  Very much appreciated...  I can't wait to get done with work to go home and go to bed.  I am up for that early morning routine anytime you are!  Gas and boat can be my treat next time if you wish.  I was amazed I made it to the office ten minutes EARLY today!  What a way to start the workweek!
 
I am already hoping to find another this season- and get a bigass photo of it to post on a billboard on I-787. 
 
I love the idea of being a "Midweek Warrior" out there, and then leaving the weekends to the masses.  But next weekend is an exception, since I hardly ever get to drink beer and fish in boats that have beds and kitchens.
 
Should be a treat.
 
Thanks for helping me out Ship and Brian.  I guess I don't have too much to complain about anymore fish-wise.
 
But I am sure I can think of something.
 
 

I am glad I tossed out that monster chew in my lip before getting photographed for the 'money shot'.
 
I think this should become a daily ritual, Ship... 
 
Funny how it took nearly a YEAR from the first plan until the first time we finally got out there. 
 
I wouldn't mind being out there right now! 
 

congrats man,
 
but gotta ask was that really your first steelie in the other post?

i guess he's lived a pretty deprived life until now. 
 
i've done pretty well up there the last few years ditching the eggs and throwing egg sucking leeches, nothing like getting those fish on the swing.

Thanks Yank...  In truth, I really can't take any credit for any of these fish this week...
 
Just a case of hanging out with the right people at the right time (when I was a kid it was always the opposite).  I have only been back in New York State for three years and I have spent most of my time fishing alone.  Tougher on the stream of course to land a Chromer with out a "Professional Net Man" to lend a hand (ever see those hilarious commercials with the "Net Men"?).
 
As for Stripers- it was very humbling the last two seasons.  I fished the Rondout Landing a ton two years ago when I lived in Sullivan/Ulster County (right on the line- literally- next to Slide Mountain) and spent about four-six days a week out there last Spring in Albany/Troy after making the move up here. 
 
Nothing different in the approach, just the good karma that comes with having a fishing buddy.  I think Tuna and Ship were both smiling as much as I was this weekend- as Tom Petty once said "Even The Losers Get Lucky Some Times".
 
Now (thanks to one raging party) I seem to have a whole bevvie of cool fishing buddies, and the 'body count' on the Salmon River and the Hudson has improved considerably.  Yank- hopefully we can get out there one of these days soon.  Good luck un the Catskills- if you get a hankerin' for some ADK trout in the next month get in touch. 
 
I'l be out there messin' with the shad too soon enough if you want to hang out!  We got several yesterday while jigging.  Last season I wailed on them on the Rensselaer "Wall" with a shad dart and my 3wt.  They are tough little snots when you hook 'em on a tiny rod like that.  Some of them were real bulldogs!

Oh yeah Yank...  THe cow went back in the river...  Didn't bring her home...
 
You know I don't eat a whole lot of fish anyway, and that big momma surely deserved to go back in and lay those eggs that made her so fat.  I estimate the fish at a solid 35", but maybe even more.  20lbs probably?
 
I would like to take a 25" male home to the house to try it out.  But the professional Ecologist inside of me made the release decision on Monday a no-brainer.  Just wish my camera wasn't screwed up so we could have gotten a better photo.  Camera phones are sweet and all- but only if you like pictures the size of a postage stamp!  Ha!
 
It still beats the hell out of the crayon drawings that I sometimes try to pass off as proof of the giant fish that I have caught back in my National Park Service days in Alaska, California, Florida, Virginia and Colorado...
 
For example- check out this badass Arctic Grayling caught in Savage Creek in Denali National Park in 2004:
 

WTG!!!!!!!! Jimmy !!!!!!!! How you need to shot for that 30+lber!!!