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A number of the new yorkers I was friendly with had early variations of needlefish plugs they made themselves. Nate Piazza had numerous variations that he made , and before he passed on, he was kind enough to give me a small bundle of them. They are styled like the Musso plugs, and I am not certain who's version came first. I know Nate was fishing in the late 50's, but we never discussed the origin of the plugs. He had another needle that was about 7" long and weighted, but had a broad body and pronounced red eyes on it. The one I had prior to losing it resembled a large beachmaster needle, but was much heavier. The first modern super strikes were being fished by a guy named Carmine, who was second to none as far as surf fishermen go. I remember he was up the cape in the early 80's fishing the plastic versions of the musso plugs. Prior to the modern conventional needlefish, a number of cape sharpies simply used a big black pencil popper either alone, or with a redgill dropper.
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