In early March, ECOs from Putnam and Westchester counties conducted details along the Hudson River to focus on recreational fishing violations related to striped bass. Officers issued more than 130 tickets for various freshwater/marine fishing violations including illegal possession of fish, illegal take of fish, targeting striped bass out of season, fishing without a license/registry, and failure to use non-offset circle hooks for striped bass. Additionally, ECOs confiscated 33 illegally caught striped bass. The season opens on April 1 and striped bass caught in the Hudson River and tributaries north of the George Washington Bridge during the season may only be kept if they are between 23 inches and 28 inches long. The Hudson River striped bass fishing season and bag limit remains unchanged, with targeted angling allowed between April 1 and Nov. 30, and a one-fish bag limit. The new size limits are in response to the increase in the coastal recreational harvest of striped bass in 2022, and repeated years of poor reproductive success in the Chesapeake Bay
