Gday,
yes it is a bit frutrating that pretty much all pre-riggegd jigs seem to come with the dacron assist, which , particularly with short shank hooks, is suicide on spaniards. There's two options - buy the separate assists made by Williamson that are wire, or make your own. I have tried both with similar success. I have found the best and most durable way is to use a short length of nylon coated multi-strand wire. I use 80lb wire on a 50lb jig outfit and it is fine. I crimp the hook onto the wire, run a length of lumo tube over the wire, crimp and hook eye (this seems to make it less likely to tangle on the leader and for better hook ups) and attach to the jig - I generally just crimp to the eye of the jig. If you make a loop in the wire with a crimp and then try and loop it onto the jig eye, as you do with the dacron, the stiffness of the wire will make the hook and length of wire sit pretty much at right angles, which probably isnt the best. As far as hooks go, for spaniards I have found that a longer shanked hook than the typical jig hook is best.
Anyway, thats just what has worked for me. Good luck
martin
