Hi all, last few nights I have been tying up some spare assist hooks, for my 200 and 300 grm kingie jigs, my question is how important is it to finish off the rig with the heat shrink plastic sleeve, cheers.

I used to, now I don't bother, don't think it makes any difference.

if you are worried about knot slippage you could always put a couple of drops of super glue on it

I use heavy cord so no need for the heat shrinking

I disagree.......here is an assist rig i made with heat shrink and it had caught a whole load of kings and was abused by couda all day long( see below/the cord was pretty good under that).....it was the only rig i used that day..It was then recycled..If there was no heat shrink i would have gone through many rigs......Its also keeps the assist rig stiff and less likely to hook itself on the leader during jigging..............there were many people who used to do this.......Coxy caught his 41 kg Kingfish on one of my rigs that i made for him with heat shrink.......Its worth the effort.....I fished alongside Marx on here one day....he used zyon and he got torn off but i didnt with my heat shrink......it makes for secure hook sets IMHO.......there are a few there with plastic tubing(for couda) for protection....which i never tested.....i no longer use the shrink around the solid ring....preferring that area be free to swing around the ring.