Actually ,I heard Donny few nights ago at the seminar say that he prefers split
ring on the back with a single dressed hook.That way hook can "fold" against the body on a cast.His own words
Also ,Don has been saying for years that most of his pugs are designed for 4/0 hooks but the 3/0 fit better in the package and its adequate
btw
adding split rings to the SS
darter results in hook swinging and catching a nose of the plug,rendering it useless
now ,putting a ring on the darters nose is another story............
btw
I don't like split on SS needles either.The hook hangs too low from the body resulting in too many dropped fish