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Assist Hooks for Jigging.    
Since the articles that I put together for Sea Angler this year(2007) I have had more email correspondence on this subject than on any other subject that I have written about over the last four decades. So the time has come to put up the pictures and explain the step by step procedure for making your own Assist Hooks.
Good quality Assist Hooks are expensive to buy and unless you buy the Japanese Shout brand or a brand of a similar quality you will never be sure that the lunker Cod that has just jumped on, will ever reach the surface.
In my humble view the best way to be sure is to "roll your own", that way you can be sure that you are not going to get a back street sweat shop product. Then if it does break, you can blame no-one but yourself. Like many things at sea, lessons learned the hard way rarely let you down.
You will see from the pix that I use my own tool for threading the braid back through itself. It is made from 20 thou(0.5mm) Piano wire which has the right degree of stiffness and malleability to make yourself and yet do the job. Piano Wire is a standard engineering material, which in truth is how I got mine. Ordinary 20 thou wire will do the job but maybe a phone call to a local piano tuner might get a foot or two.

 

This is the Hiro brand Rigging floss and Dyneema Braid that I use. It is obtainable from Hopkins and Holloway in the UK. I like this deep orange colour Dyneema braid because I think it adds to the illusion that the fish like jig is hurt or bleeding.
The brass handled tool that looks like a rug making gadget is the tool supplied by the tackle trade for making Assist Hooks. It is rubbish!!!

The simple bent wire tool will be familiar to old time electricians and toolmakers who had to thread wires and such into very small apertures, pre electronics days!
It is made from twenty thou Piano Wire and bent to shape with fine pliers, believe me it makes the manufacture of Assist Hooks so easy...
Cut about two inches of braid from the spool and remove the inner core. Tweezers are useful.
Thread the wire tool up through the braid for the length required.
Slide a swivel, or solid ring onto the braid and trap the end between the two strands of wire.
If you only require to form a loop, then ensure that you have enough braid to form the loop size that you want plus just enough to pull back through the core.
Pull the tag end down through the outer core to form a loop or as I am doing to trap a swivel.
The swivel (or solid ring) is trapped between the inner and outer layers of braid.
Slide the braid through the eye of the hook so that the braid length is right to your judgement.
I have used Owner bait hooks on this occasion because I could not get hold of the hooks that I really wanted. No doubt they will become available eventually.
Trim the braid to length to accommodate the hook shank. Cut the braid on a slight slope so that the rigging floss tapers to the shank when you finish the whipping.
Notice between my thumb and forefinger there is a length of floss disappearing out of frame. I double this back under the last few turns of whipping and use it to trap the whipping back under itself, just as you would with any whip finish.
This shows the braid trapped under turns of heavy whipping. Experience has shown that it is better if small gaps are left between the turns of whipping so that the Super Glue can penetrate combining the rigging floss and braid together.
I use this Siroflex super glue which is an industrial strength glue you can get from double glazing outlets. You get a big bottle of glue and an aerosol accelerant which is great for people like me who can't wait for the dang stuff to dry.

Go careful out there... this is stuff you do not want on your skin or in your eyes.

This is the basic finished Assist Hook. I have used them just like this without covering the whipped and glued braid with Shrink tubing and it worked real good.
When I shot these pix I did not have the shrink tube that I use today, which is red in colour and big enough to just fit over the eye of the hook. Cut the length you want, slide it up over the whipping. Then holding the hook in a pair of pliers so you don't scald yourself, shrink the tube in the steam from the spout of a boiling kettle.

Another part of the job where you should be very careful not to injure yourself, so take care.
Shows the Assist Hook Rigged and ready to go fishing. The hook gape want's to be at least a third wider than the jig body or else put two hooks on, one either side. I have to say I prefer the large single hook myself.

Also notice I use another swivel on the split ring to tie my main line onto. Never tie line to a split ring, because the movement between the two halves of the split ring will sever your line.
   
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