I have been following a lot of the threads on here about the best way to rigg stick baits and poppers...and also I have now seen how bad a combo of  trebble hooks can be when releasing Kingies. So I want to re rig all of my lures, poppers and sticks to single hooks and I think I will probably start with two singles on the middle (cable tied back to back) with one at the

Nice one Stu, so that belly hook on the popper will trail as a tail hook on the retrieve huh, will you rig a shorter one that sits in the belly section  to cover non tail strikes ?

I am just heading out for a fish so this will be short and sweet. Singles are a good idea here in NZ. IMO Trebles still have there place in the Pacific.
     What ever hook you choose to rig up with it must be as big as possible WITHOUT killing the action of the lure, this single fact is the most over looked when throwing top waters. mid sized poppers with huge Jobu on its arse lifts its cup face clear of the water I.E. not a lot of pop like it could do if balanced with the right hooks. To many anglers throw hooks on there top waters and never throw them until they get an opportunity, finding out then they don't swim as they should and missing hookup. Take them to the beach with a selection of hooks and swim them so when you get a chance to throw them in the heat of battle your lures swim. One other thing to try at the beach is how to work your rod to gets the best swimming action from each lure type they do not all work the same, so knowing what works for the lures you have will put you out in front also.
Lots of 200+lb BFT fall to little Owner 3/0 trebles.
Tight Lines

no rule really....as long as the combination does not effect the movement of the popper or stickbait...especially stickbaits....

why not just have a single coming off the back of the lure CA?......not sure what you are hoping to achieve with all that hoopla?.... ......

I don't like split rings, to get a decent sized hook into a split ring, the rings just about always do not handle it well (had enough of them opened by GTs in the tropics), and I think the assist would be stronger. Also, I hope/expect the tiny little ziptie I used to hold the hook at the tail will break under pressure, so the fish will not be able to use the body of the lure as leverage to help work the hook free.... it may flap about a little in the fishes face, which may irritate the fishie a little, but the lure, not being attached to the hook will mean that the fish cannot get any purchase on the lure to lever it out of it's jaw (don't worry, I know what I mean).
If I had wanted, I could have just used a shorter assist and looped onto the belly ring, that would have given me a hook in roughly the same place, it is what I did with the popper-caught kingi  pic above. That still left the lure in the frame though... I really do like the idea of the line from rod-tip to hook not include a hardbodied lure.
Much the same as assists work with jigs, I suspect that if you had a nice single split ringed onto the tail of a long jig, you'd get plenty of hookups on that too, but the length of the jig would pop out the hook pretty quick.
I also like having the hook as close as poss to the tail of the lure... if I used an assist just looped onto the tail position, then the hook'd be a couple of inches astern of the lure itself, and then I'd want to have one at the belly just to cover a fish whacking the body of the lure... and I'd be back to having a 2 hooked lure in a kingie, something which I do not like the idea of, having seen how good kingies are at turning a second hook into a flying gaff for catching people with before, and not wanting a repeat of that exercise! :-) (Another excellent reason for not having a tail hook on a long jig).
So that is why I thought I'd have a looksee at the assist attached at the lures head. Second choice would have been at the belly. Last choice would be to have multiple hooks on the lure, for me anyhow.
Oh, and there's not really all that much "hoop-la"... it uses one cable tie at the back, but then otehr options given here have cable ties used to join twin singles at the belly position as well. There is actually a lot less to go wrong with this rig than there is with a couple of hooks with split rings etc... I don't see that assist braid pulling apart any time in a hurry, and it enabled me to use a very nice large Gammie hook on the lure, so I know it ain't gonna let go either.
Well, thems my thoughts anyhow,
cheers,
Stu.

No, my Ingenious Plans are always plans of fiendish ingeniousity. Slight amounts of Hoop-lah attend all such acts of supreme ingeniousositiness.
Ingenuitity is one thing however, practicalitiness is another, that is why I'd like to play with this rig, just to see if it works as well as I am naturally assuming it will.... being such a fiendishly ingenious plan and all :-)

Ideally I would have gone for hook up, but that ain't how it rolled....

Yes, good point Moocha.... I remember reading that post, and it is gone now... as you say, wtf.
I will ask on the mod forum....

Here is how I rig my stick baits and poppers.......................all owner hooks.

The lower one, the hook acts as a rudder to stop it rotating on retrieval. It's a light stick bait and with my heavy 250g popper rod it could rotate.