The first needlefish we had back in the day
 

The first needles we got on Cape were Boone's, They were nicely made back then. Just after that Johnny Gibbs started making the six inch model. The first batch was white w/ red head. The one in this picture is from that batch. I got it from Bass Run in Eastham, A friend, Wyane Pleska and I were given them by John in T.C.'s shop parking lot one night. It was fall 1978 if memeory serves me right.

nice. You don't see many needles made with the 2 belly hook nowadays. Any idea why??

They didn't want to lose fish. If a fish looked at that plug sideways, he was hooked.
I saw my first needles in the late 60s. Don't remember the brand. It was on one of Art's dune tours. The driver whipped one out and said that this plug is hot this year. I was using Rapalas and killing them and thought , yeah right. Young and dumb and knowing everything...

If you noticed we used to put 4/0's on the front and leave the 3/0's on the back of the Boone's. .kewl:

Fred, do you remember breaking the lips of of 7 inch Rebels and using them like needlefish over shallow bars. We used to do that but never made the connection, talk about young and dumb, we never sharpened hooks when we first hit the beach either!

Nice...I sold a whole box of those 2 years ago...shoulda kept 'em!

Funny abouot the broken lips, I still have one in the shed, I have a hard time dumping stuff.

After years of trying with no one to show me how, I caught my first striped bass......all of about 15".........on a green Boone's medium needle, about 1967. Probably was 20 years before I used one again.

I made a few with 2 belly hooks I like em.
Problem is u only have so much room to lay things out in..
Belly lead, hook holes,Eyesholes... U end up with a skinny piece of wood that looks like swiss cheese before u put it together.
Them problems are not as bad with screw eyes..