Joe

On a bait with a narrow line tie on the nose, like a castaic softbait trout or a generic live trout softbait, you can tie directly to the nose, but you do lose some action. I've been putting a #6 owner hyperwire split ring on the nose of baits like that to get more action. Just don't tie in the gap of the split ring, and cinch your knot down tight so it doesn't slide into the gap on accident.

Rubber baits do loosen up over time for sure. You'll find the more fish they catch, the more fish they catch :)