Bill, I have the assist hooks connected to a welded ring. The welded ring is inside the nose loop of the lure itself. here is a better pic of that:
The welded ring is where the assist hooks are and the loop on the left is the center rod of the lure.
As far as casting these I've done plenty of it with the regular needles but these haven't been used yet. This configuration is common with the buttlerfly jigs which get casted and I'm sure there would be the occasional hook wrap but it shouldn't be any worst than on the butterfly jigs since the lures are rear weighted.
Armand