When you think of holdover fishing for stripers, typically a tiny soft plastic being reeled in at painfully slow speeds pops into your head. But about 4 years ago, I started using a hard plastic freshwater lure with a lot of success for cold water striped bass. This lure is none other than the Rapala X-RAP.
I like using the XR-8’s which are 3 inches and float, and my colors of choice are the black & red combo, and the blue & white combo. I always swap out the flimsy factory hooks with sturdy VMC trebles of the same size, which as a bonus gives the lure a slow sinking effect which I prefer over the floating style. I have caught many stripers (at times with ice on the water) slow trolling and casting these X-RAPS, there is something about them that just drives the fish crazy.
An early April bass that fell victim to the blue X-RAP. I proceeded to land 5 more trolling on this lure
Be warned that these are technically fresh water lures, and I have had gator bluefish absolutely destroy these things by ripping the wire right out of it. Once the big saltwater fish are around, I would suggest using something more robust. But for finicky holdover and early season stripers, this lure is my go to.