Needlefish?

You guys talk alot about needlefish. Would you share the best brand name,colors,and weight of the ones I should have in my tackle box. What's the best retreval speed
Thanks

[Patrick]

I have a Boone Needlefish. It was a big waste of money if you ask me. The hooks are inferiour looking, and the thing looks like it could snap if a fish grabbed it. Maybe it is wired through, I don't know. For being so light, it casts pretty well. I can't tell you how to work them because I don't know. I was told to reel it in slowly at night when sandeels are around.

If I were to buy one, I would buy a Hab's or a Gibbs. I think Gibbs makes a needlefish. Those lures look bulkier and stronger. I know Gibbs does the through wiring thing too. That's a big selling point for me at least.

As for weights, I don't know as well as color.

One more thing. I saw it mentioned on another site but they said that Needlefish make good plugs for eelskin rigs. I don't know if it is true or not, just passing the information along.

Patrick

[JohnR]

DJO - Needlefish plugs are great. They seem to get the most attention from anglers from the Outer Cape beaches and south. Don't see or hear much about them north of P-town and the Ditch. Needlefish come in a couple flavors long and skinny or the stubby needlefish which is shorter and you guessed it, stubbier... The plugs should be worked slowly and when going for bass, I would highly recommend a teasrer/dropper rig to increase your chances...
There are three brands of needlefish that I buy, Gibbs, Habs, and Super Strike (I think #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& mentioned that Super Strike was the first volume manufacturer of needlefish plugs). The Gibbs and Habs are both wood and the SuperStrike is plastic... They all cast pretty well, even in windier conditions.

The Gibbs stubby needlefish is one of #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&'s favorite plugs.

The stubby needlefish looks like this and is about 6" long and 1.5 oz:

[img=http://striped-bass.com/Images/stubb_wh_bkhd.gif]

and the regular needlefish typically looks like this, is 8-12" long and weighs 1.5-3 oz :

[img=http://striped-bass.com/Images/needle_bk.gif]


Oh yeh, forgot to mention, I personally prefer the ones that have the single rear hook with bucktail over the rear trebble

Feathers work even better than bucktail on the rear of a needlefish, especially the gibbs stubby. Super Strike also makes a Bullet, which is sort of their version of the stubby, although it is more tear drop shaped and casts like its namesake.

[Saltheart]

I like to work needlefish plugs with the rod tip high and sort of lazily moving it left to right and right to left. About a medium retrieve speed. Not a fast rod movement like a pencil popper but more like a shift of the rod tip left to right every 15 seconds or so. I think this causes the plug to change directions slightly each time you move the rod tip sort of getting if to look like an erratic swim (or is that erotic swim! ). I'd be interested in what other people do.
I like the stubbies cause i think they cast better. For the full length needlefish , I like the skinny ones. Black is a good color. So is white or white graded to dark. Also yellow. I use the gibbs stubbies.

[Marc Z]

I've had most of my success on the Gibbs stubby, but have caught fish on the large Gibbs and the large Super Strike (never used the SS bullet). I like the Gibbs stubby with rear bucktail, and will almost always use it with a teaser. The color I have had most success with is the white belly with dark green back, alll black has been good too. I generally reel with the rod tip high and just retrieve slowly across the top. I'll twitch it every now and then, but generally just reel in slowly. I still don't know why this plug works, its like reeling in a stick across the top of the water, but they sure do work good! Funny thing is I've never caught a fish in CT with one, bu
MZ

[Marc Z]

I've had most of my success on the Gibbs stubby, but have caught fish on the large Gibbs and the large Super Strike (never used the SS bullet). I like the Gibbs stubby with rear bucktail, and will almost always use it with a teaser. The color I have had most success with is the white belly with dark green back, alll black has been good too. I generally reel with the rod tip high and just retrieve slowly across the top. I'll twitch it every now and then, but generally just reel in slowly. I still don't know why this plug works, its like reeling in a stick across the top of the water, but they sure do work good! Funny thing is I've never caught a fish in CT with one, bu
MZ

[Marc Z]

I've had most of my success on the Gibbs stubby, but have caught fish on the large Gibbs and the large Super Strike (never used the SS bullet). I like the Gibbs stubby with rear bucktail, and will almost always use it with a teaser. The color I have had most success with is the white belly with dark green back, alll black has been good too. I generally reel with the rod tip high and just retrieve slowly across the top. I'll twitch it every now and then, but generally just reel in slowly. I still don't know why this plug works, its like reeling in a stick across the top of the water, but they sure do work good! Funny thing is I've never caught a fish in CT with one, but they work great in Rhody.
MZ

[JohnR]

The Super Strike bullet is pretty nice but for some reason I keep spending more $$ on the wood... The prices on those are just unreasonable sometimes. I've seen stubbies at 14 bucks a piece and must feel nervous like MartyK up in Ogunquit :P

[Marc Z]

Think I replied enough here?????
MZ

[saltydog]

Do any of you guys ever run single hooks of of them?

[JohnR]

Front trebble and rear single. I've never tried to use a single hook at the front but I believe Saltheart has mentioned it in the past...