My rod is rated for up 3 oz but I would like to keep the lure weight between just under 1 oz to just over 2 oz.
Just an idea of where I fish. A lot of times it's daylight to dusk into night. I'm sticking to Penfield Reef which hasn't any lights but there are some cottages nearby that may have some small lamps on. Not pointed at the water or anything just on so for the most part, it's just me, the moon and the stars. The other place is the marina which has a lot of lights on.

I have a boone Needlefish which looks pretty flimsy. Well I just got my Surfcaster catalog and I'm thinking of picking up 4 new lures from it. The sand eels around here get up to about 5 inches I would say. First, should I go for a standard Needlefish or a "stumpy" needlefish? What are the positives of each and what are the negatives? I want to stay away from Boone because that isn't through-wired. The three brands the surfcaster has: Superstrike, Lex Lures, and a Montauk one. I'm not too sure on colors as of yet. Of course recommendations here would be good too.

Next lure I plan on getting is a darter. The only choices I saw in the Surfcaster were Superstrike and Lex Lures. I know Gibbs makes a darter but everyone says they have screw eyes instead of through-wiring so I want to stay clear of them. If I'm paying 10+ bucks for a lure, I'm getting the good stuff. No idea about colors for this lure either.

I know I'm getting an Atom Jr. I've just heard so many great things about that lure. How it's a classic and all. I'm thinking blue/white would be good since that's pretty close to the bait around here. Unless I get a great response otherwise of course.

Then I'm going to get set of sluggo. 9 inch ones. Probably a dark one close to eel colors.

Now that I've bombarded you with a billion questions, I'm going to bed. I swear I have the pre-season jitters SO bad. I haven't been sleeping at all. I keep looking at fish pic galleries. I've been walking getting my muscles toned up for the season. Taking my medicine to stay "normal". If some of you don't know. I have Social Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as diagnosed by my physician, psychologist and psychiatrist. Going out and meeting other fishermen is part of my recovery. How great is that? Well on my way to becoming normal again.
And I'm getting some rigged eels :)

Adios!

I personally like the Gibbs Stubby needlefish and occasionaly use the Habs and SuperStrike. When using the full size I tend to use the Habs. The stubby is one and a half ounces which is right where you want it. Black, Black and white, yellow, and green fill my bag... Almost always fished with a teaser usually a RedGill but sometimes a bucktail...
Don't miss out on the danny swimmers either as they can be nice at dusk and in the evening...

John:
The newest version and color combos of the Habs Stubby are awesome, the stubby eel and yellow colors were good producers last year. He is also making a Gorgeous long Montauck style needlefish. Should have some didital pictures this weekend. If you would like I can send them to you?

Sounds good to me...

Thanks for the fast replies fellas, it's appreciated.

I was looking at Tim's site and I saw the Hab's needlefish in the Eel color and I'm in love with it. :D The only problem? He's out of stock. I know my guys don't carry them, where can I get one? Hab's Needlefish is manufactured by Gag's Grabbers right? Anyone know if they have a website?

Hab's needlefish are made by Johnny Habs, John Haberek of Smithfield, RI. It's a small scale operation, and he has more people who want his plugs than he's capable of making. Your best shot is waiting until SOL has them back in stock, or taking a field trip to RI and checking some of the shops there.

In the interim, try the Superstrike ones with the dark green backs. You can also load them if you want a little better cast or stability in rough water. Superstrike makes the best plastic plugs going.

Gibbs darters have screw-eyes, but the plugs are made from birch and the eyes hold better than they would in soft pine. Sometimes, the fish only want the Gibbs, they won't look at a Superstrike darter.

That big Montauk needlefish in The Surfcaster is also made by Lex--it's an exclusive to The Surfcaster, you won't find it anywhere else. Tony is making some exclusive models and colors, for them, SOL and CMS. Hab makes a monster needlefish, too.

Don't sell the "carrot top" Atom Jr, the pinkish/yellow one, short. It doesn't look like anything in nature, but there are nights the fish just inhale it.

Don at Weekapaug.com carries them. Hab's doesn't have a website to my knowledge...

Patrick,
Habs are nice, superstrike's are good, Boone's are OK. The absolute best needle on the market is the Gibbs 1 3/4 ounce model. I have the track record and experience to prove it.
DZ

Partick: We have all sizes of the HABS needlefish, in all colors and sizes including the new 11". No pictures on the site yet, http://www.weekapaug.com , reel soon. You can e-mail us via the site if you are interested.

Well I'm getting a lot of votes for Gibbs. I think I'm gonna get a gibbs standard needlefish and why not, the gibbs stubby too. I've got some extra cash that I've been saving for a rainy day.

For the Darter, I'm still stuck between Superstrike and Gibbs.

The other things I'm getting:
some 10 inch Fin-S (For when the Shad and alewives are around, I'm gonna knock the stripers dead.)
some 9 inch Sluggos.
Swivels(75lb test) and duolock Snaps #54s
Atom Jr. in that "Sunrise" color Ditch was talking about.
1 Oz. rigged rubber eel with replacements.
30 lb fluorocarbon.

If you couldn't tell, I'm targeting big fish this year :D

I'm gonna go down to The Surfcaster since it is relatively close. I'm assuming that this catalog they've handed out isn't all the stuff, correct? Why wouldn't they put the Gibbs lures in there? I'm hoping I can pick up the darter(if I decide to go with Gibbs otherwise I'll grab the Superstrike) and the needlefish and the stubby one down at that shop as well.

On an interesting side note, if you look at page 23, all the way at the bottom, there is a special jig head for eelskin rigs. It has a hole in the middle so water can flow through. I don't have access to eel skins but I thought some of you guys who do might be interested in it.

Yikes Patty-boy! weve got somethin' in common! scary huh? Although I call them my "drugs" and instead of thinking that they make me normal (I dont believe that possible) I just dont give a poopie any more! HA! So now I dont sweat the small stuff ! At first I had a real hard time with it...but now I am more carefree andif someone doesnt like it......too bad! no skin off MY back!


OK EVERYONE YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW!!!! i AM DONE WITH MY BORING REPLY......... :p

Other than increasing the weight of a needlefish, does anyone know any modifications to increase the plug's "bite" in rough water?

Welcome aboard Skip,

I don't know how much weight you'd want to add because the more weight, the quicker the fall off and sink. And the needlefish, especially the stubbies, like working at and near the top...one reasone they are wonderfull over reefs. As far as bite, you could play with adding some drag to the plug. Take small but varying diameters of circles cut out of plastic 2 liter botters and put them just behind the eye or before the rear bucktail. Experiment with different sizes and cup side in or out to tune it to your conditions...

A very interesting idea John. Clear plastic would be less visible?, push/grab more water. How about a disc that would collapse in one direction so it wouldn't hurt the cast? A clear parachute!

That collapsing could work disc could work. But that disk can be smaller with a deeper cup and get the same effect. Because the pulg typically flies out arse end first, the increased drag would be minimal while airborne. This is something I played with a little last year and want to experiment some more this year but I got the idea from Steve Papos when he gave a spiel at a MSBA meeting. He was using this small disc of plastic to drift flies too small to cast on a dropping tide. The disc would create sufficient drag to carry the fly out further then one could possibly hope to cast without a flyrod... He came up with this to get into the mix when only the fly guys were having luck catching fish and everyone else were improving their casting skills or twiddling thumbs... Interesting concept so I wanted to see where else it could be applied...

Patrick---I think the Surfcaster "shop" is Bill P's house. I don't think they do regular retail sales out of it, just catalog sales. I wouldn't just show up unannounced, call and see whether they do business that way first. The only business I think he does in person there is a pre-arranged pick-up of a custom rod that's too long to ship at a resonable cost. Don't surprise him and ring his doorbell unannounced :o

As far as Gibbs goes---he dropped them because he got fed up with not having them when Jim Griecci spent all winter skiing in Vermont and fishing in the tropics, instead of making plugs, and because the first thing the new owners did when they bought out Griecci was to jack the prices up 30%.

I'll just order them from Tim then I guess. I'm gonna get a lot of stuff. I dropped the 25 yards of 30lb Seaguar and I'm going with 125 yards of Triple fish for not much more money. That's just smart shopping.

*** Unnecessary comments, removed by John R ***

Patrick patrick patrick
necessary comment removed by chris L
enough said

Look, I said I wasn't accusing him of anything. It's just not a smooth road we've been on. I think he's a good guy too, no doubt about it. It just raises questions in my mind sometimes.

If anyone's upset, please don't be. To be honest, I trust Tim with that information more than I trust other sites. (Non fishing ones so it's not you guys)

Paranoia is indicative of character.

Patrick , I'm in a real problem with that post above. Just the insinuation is insulting. Tim has never , ever done anything that would cause you to even suggest he would do that. Modify your post or I'll ax it myself.

Patrick, pull your head out of your ass. Your "his fault or not" is extremely accusatory anyway you read it and it isn't right or fair. In addition to modifying your post, you should apologize as well.

Saltheart I give you the honor of jiggling the handle if he doesn't modify it AND apologize sincerley...

Glad you took care of it John. I figured I'd give him about an hour to do it himself but I'm glad its done. Some guys never smarten up , not even a little.

Saltheart, I figured that I would let you have the honors but I didn't know when/if he would change it or when you would.

Patrick, Engage thy brain please before you put it down in writing. That was not called for and I doubt there is any real truth in your comments.

Allright, I apologize for what I said. I can see why you were upset but honestly, I do trust him. I just ordered 90 bucks worth of stuff :) Bronco bag, darter(blue/white), needlefish (since eel was out of stock, I went with black over gray the fish like theose dark eels anyways right?), fluorocarbon, sluggos(alewife), swivels, snaps, a rigged eel and a Super Shad Rap.

What you guys may not have realized, is while I am the one paying for the stuff, I am using my parent's credit card with their permission of course. When I take on the responsibility of using some one else's credit, essentially their good name, I need to be paranoid no matter who I am buying from. Sorta like if they had cosigned for a loan. I really didn't mean anything against Tim, he seems to be allright and he has enough sense not to throw away his growing empire on me but I was being paranoid for the sake of my parent's credit, not of distrust to Tim. While HE might not do anything to me or my parents, someone may decide to "look around" his files. Oooh baby baby it's a wild world.

Anyone know how long his shipments usually take? I can't wait to get my hands on the goodies. :)
Up next, suspenders and a surf belt. Then the atom jr. after that, the manual bail(If I can't find one or afford it, I'll just whip out the dremel with wooden lure prices, I can't afford to lose them) Then, after that the 10 inch fin-s.

Again, sorry if I offended anyone, that wasn't my intent, just watching for the safety of my generous parents.

Patrick---you really want to take care of your generous parents? Get off your ass, get a job, contribute to the support of the comfortable home they give you, and support your own fishing. In a year or two, you can get your own credit card, and people will start taking you more seriously when they realize you're on the way to becoming an adult. At 18 years of age, unless you're physically handicapped to the extent you qualify for SSI, if you ain't in school, you should have at least a part-time job.

I am handicapped. Diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive disorder. While they might not seem "real" to you, they are very much real. Anyone who has lived with one of them, knows how difficult doing simple tasks can be. I'm on the way to recovery, seeing a shrink and taking some pills to help me along but I'm not fully cured and I never will be. The only thing that can help me along is time and learning how to cope with the stress that comes along from the two disorders.

Once I get a job(which, if I make as much progress as I have lately will be within a few months :)), I'm getting one of everything from Tim's shop :)
Just a question, why doesn't he carry the Atom Jr? That's the one thing I really wanted. The local tackle shop has them in the size and color I want so I'll just go down there. People seem to like them though and I seem to remember people making eelskin rigs out of them.

Well I have been away for a few days and fortunately did not have a look at that post....but I think I got the jist of it....Patrick....just when I was starting to think maybe you were starting to "grow" you went and did it again....you do not surprise us anymore with your posts. Why dont you try and shake us up a little by being NICE!!!! Friendly joking is one thing (and I have taken it wrong or had someone take my comments wrong) but totally bashing someone is uncool :(