After thinking a lot about all the hold over schoolie striped bass in Norwich Harbor in March in previous years, I decided to try my luck for a bit tonight. I figured with the warm weather this weekend the stripers would be active, so armed with an Arkansas shiner colored super fluke on a 3/8 ounce jighead, I made the trek behind the police station onto the harbor edge.

As I was getting there another fisherman was leaving. He told me he had fished with plugs for the last two days and had nothing to show for it, so tonight he tried some chunk bait, also resulting in a big old skunk. Unfortunately this was a sign of things to come for me.

I fished the pilings and docks in the harbor that are castable for the shore behind Norwich police station. After 45 minutes of nothing the rain started picking up, so I decided to call it quits for the night. On my way out I spoke with another fisherman that was throwing chunks and a deep diving bomber who also had no luck tonight.

He did however have some info regarding the recent striper bite in re harbor. He told me that the boats had been doing well on umbrella rigs all day, and other people had been fishing around the private docks using 6 inch live shiners, which resulted in fish in the 30+ lb range.

Later I spoke with a few buddies in the area that said there were so many fish on their depth finder the last few days they had to just turn it off since it was worthless. They told me that the fish have only been accessible via a boat. So I guess the moral of the story is if you aren’t on a boat don’t waste your time in Norwich Harbor just yet.

So here is my question to you guys… Has anybody been fishing Norwich harbor for hold-over stripers, and while you’re at it, what is your favorite way to catch the cold water schoolies? My favorite technique for when the stripers are holding the bottom is to throw Arkansas Shiner colored super flukes on white 1/4 ounce jigheads. I will throw the jigs around the pilings of the docks, count to 8 and reel as slow as possible, when the jig stops set the hook, you’ve got a striper!

When the fish are actively feeding on the surface, my bait of choice is a black and purple mambo minnow or bomber long A. Just give it a good zing out there and keep your rod tip up while reeling slowly. Hold on tight, the big boy stripers will really give you a good rip on topwater.