Jus picked up some maple for needles, pencils and maybe darters. Does maple need to be completely sealed?

yes, or it my split wide open the fist time u use it.

Just finished turning some needle's and pencil's, so what's the best sealant to use on maple? The bare wood itself?

I don't know what the best sealant is, but I have used boiled linseed oil before. Some have used that minwax wood hardener, but I think there have been trouble with that but not sure.
No matter what, you have to seal the wood with something, not just primer paint. I take a pipe cleaner and get the oil all the way thru the thru-hole since that part will be the most exposed to seawater.

the minwax hardener is great! I did a test with a plug, unpainted, weighed it, then let it sit in a pail of water for 5 days straight, never stopped floating, then weighed it when it came back out and it weighed .1 oz more when i dried it off...but when I re-weighed it an hour later it was the original weight again so i think it was water stuck in the thru wire hole.