WTF am i seeing

[TheFishSlayer]

Ok so this might just be losing my mind, but I swear I'm seeing some weird shit in the bay lately. So the two past times I've been out in raritan I have been seeing some huge fish breaching and getting fully air-born. I've saw them in the lower Bay Area off Staten. So on Sunday we saw ages jump not so far from the boat, it wasn't a dolphin, to big to be a bluefish, definitely not the body of a striper, so wtf am I seeing. I got a decent look at one that jumped about 75ft from the boat and I saw its belly side and to me it looked like a sturgeon. Seriously WTF am I seeing???? Spinner shark, sturgeon, Nessie?

Help I feel crazy

[SaltLife1980]

Might be a sturgeon. I got one out there last year

[aruvio]

Definitely sturgeon. Many of them in there every year this time.

[Gerry Zagorski]

I'd say sturgeon too. We see them pretty regularly just outside Chapple Hill Channel south of the West Bank light house.

[Hunter 2]

Sturgeon, I've seen them many times by West Bank throughout the years. I hooked one on a light Bucktail rig accidentally and was spooled very quick.

[Skolmann]

Sturgeon. Had one breech right next (I mean within a foot or two) to our boat the other day. Scared the crap out of my son.

Was told years ago that the females do this to loosen their eggs prior to their spawning run up the Hudson. Not sure if that is accurate though.

[shrimpman steve]

Saw at least 15 of them yesterday. Definitely sturgeon. And yes I have always been told they do this to loosen eggs.

[dakota560]

Seems like every year someone posts the same question and would guess the answer is sturgeon. Salmon for what it's worth do the same thing when they spawn, they jump to loosen the eggs before dropping them so if sturgeon spawn this time of year it would make sense. Good to see a healthy population in this area. I was fishing a few years ago under he Verrazano Bridge and one went air borne three times maybe 50 feet from the boat, Very cool sight! Is fishing for them legal and if so are there any guides who target them. Would be cool to catch one but assume they're on the endangered species list and most likely off limits. I'd guess there's some real trophies roaming the waters.

[shrimpman steve]

Without looking it up I think the sturgeon here (Atlantic sturgeon) are on the protected list. There is a fishery out west but I don't think they can be targeted here

[Treebeard63]

These posts spring up every year about this time when the Sturgeon get frisky.. While they are endangered on the whole, the Hudson has one of the strongest populations of those that remain...In 1998 a 40 year coast-wide moratorium went on them.. we get them occasionally up here in the river while chunking bass in the spring...be great to have a C&R fishery like they have out west.. they get huge.. but once they go on the endangered list, you can't even give them a dirty look.. but when the moratorium lifts, right after my 75th birthday, they better watch out :p

[Capt. Debbie]

Saw one there two years ago. Huge scales on it and jumped completely out of the water.



I'd say sturgeon too. We see them pretty regularly just outside Chapple Hill Channel south of the West Bank light house.

[TheFishSlayer]

Great! So I'm happy to see that I'm not losing my mind, and my fish IDing skills ain't too bad either :D

[Billfish715]

They might be a mutation of the Asian Carp that are infesting the rivers and lakes of the Midwest. Or, they can be a variety of radioactively infected flying fish from the Oyster Creek nuclear plant. Because there are so many pollutants in the NY Bight, the aquatic creatures are being severely affected. We came across a school of Magnum-sized, Mutant, Hudson River Whitefish the other day in Ambrose Channel. They are becoming more prolific in the Harbor because of excessive ejaculation of Viagra by-products into the river system which has increased the urge by these creatures to spawn. Everything flows downstream so be careful to dispose of your trash responsibly. ;);)

[bunker dunker]

we would snag one every now and then while trolling umbrellas between the channels.we would also snag a few jigging stripers in the fall.talk about a fight.

[Detour66]

Most likely a Sturgeon. You see them jumping all over the place on the west side of Chapel Hill Channel south of the borrow pits. Years back one came very close to jumping into my dad's boat ! What a surprise that was!