NEW YORK --- Mention big fish in the Big Apple and most people don't think of the kind you find in the water -- unless there's a mob connection.

Corporate titans, entertainment impresarios and publishing magnates?

Fuhgeddaboudit! The waters off New York City fill every spring and fall with migrating striped bass, one of the largest, fastest and most powerful sport fish available to anglers who don't have access to an oceangoing vessel.

"Striped bass are a great game fish," said outdoorsman Trevor Gowdy. "And they're very accessible to a lot of people."

That might not be truer anywhere than in New York, where stripers are caught from jetties, beaches, piers and small boats.

Gowdy has been fishing since he first wet a hook in a Wyoming river some 50 years ago with his father, famed sports broadcaster Curt Gowdy. Gowdy's late father was also an avid outdoorsman who hosted the trailblazing The American Sportsman on ABC.

Trevor Gowdy inherited his father's love for the outdoors, and has traveled the world to produce and host shows for TV. He was recently in New York to do some striper fishing and promote his new show, Monster Fish , which makes its debut on the Outdoor Channel in January.

Gowdy has seen the effects of overfishing around the globe and says the resurgence of the Atlantic striped bass is an example of what good fisheries management can accomplish.

"My dad used to take me down to Cape Cod (in the 1960s) and we'd cast plugs off the beach," he said. "There were so many fish you could have a great day."

The migratory striped bass fishery bottomed out in 1982 at fewer than 5 million fish, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages the 15 Atlantic states' recreational and commercial fisheries.

"Striking a balance between the two interests is the toughest part," said Jeff Gilmore, director of marine resources for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Though Atlantic striped bass are found from Florida to Canada, the migratory populations range from North Carolina to Maine. The fish move north in the spring and swim up rivers to spawn in fresh water before returning to the ocean and then heading south in the fall.

Stripers live to be 30 years old and often reach 50 to 60 pounds. Gowdy's group of eight didn't catch anything nearly that big on a four-hour trip aboard two boats from Fin Chaser Charters that left from Chelsea Piers in lower Manhattan at the end of September. With Gowdy barking advice, about 30 stripers were caught fishing the bottom on live bait off Coney Island in Lower New York Bay.

"Anyone who's ever fished wants to see if they can catch something bigger," said Gowdy, who tries to release everything he catches.

"It's a pretty simple concept that's very difficult to accomplish because it's harder to find big fish these days."