Needlefish Plug History Presentation

[steelhead]

I don't have much experience with Needles and it sounds like I need to get with the program... I've been told by several people I know that they need to sit a particular way in the water, nose slightly above the tail and that they should sink at about an foot a second. I'm trying to tie this info back to Bassmaster's How To on Fishing Needles and slow, medium and fast sinking needles. There are also floating Needles? Sounds like I need to tune the plugs to the flow rate of the water I'm fishing, particularly a rip? The surf would seem to be somewhat different unless there is a good current running parallel to the beach or you're fishing those neat little rips that pull off the beach perpendicular to shore (Man I've caught some nice fish in them.). Is it used as a plug to "search" the water column by slowly cranking it in and then letting it settle and then repeating?