I burned the end of the mono and tied it in through the eye...some have said that is not necessary. The man I watched does this. I then coated with Sally's. So any thoughts on that would be appreciated too. I want the next batch to be better constructed. Still I believe these will catch some fish. I have others similar to these. The foam is soft, and I love the bodies...very easy to work with. I like these hooks because it has a large eye...so putting mono through the eye is not a problem to tie in...as it is not crowding the eye at all.