i built hundreds of these back in the day...
i bought the plastic coated leader wire in bout 30# test? and the steel tube shaped crimp pieces, and the crimping tool... i would put 1 #10 or 12 treble in the loop crimped on the bottom end, leave 1 loose to slide in the middle, and a loop crimped at the top to hook the snap swivel to...
we always used smelt back then, and would hook the bottom treble in the gill plate of the smelt and the other bout 1" from the tail, trying to get them through the spine and having them hang vertical... i read in some fishing book back in the day that vertical or horizontal made no difference, and after hundreds of pike i agree 100%... the tiny hooks also make a big difference i believe... a fish can take it without feeling a big hook they might learn the feel of...
using these under tipups, when a flag goes up, get the tipup out of the water and hands on the line, and when the fish starts to take line again, just start pulling firmly without a normal hook set... 95% of the time they will be hooked in the back corner of the mouth...
tipping the bottom treble with a minnow also sets you up for walleyes... we would take the smallest fatheads and hook them in the tail of the bottom hook... caught LOTS of eyes that way also... on the days the eyes want jigs pounded into the mud, set up a couple quick strikes like i explained with an egg weight b4 the snap swivel, and let the egg weight and quick strike lay right on the bottom...
one last thing... if you are targeting big pike, be sure to have a long gaff with you because a 40"+ pike, hooked in the corner of the mouth, will be a bitch to get started up the hole... we got some 1/4" steel rod, bent into a large u, and sharpened so we could put it down the hole and gaff the big uns in the front of the mouth under the edge of the ice and pull it back and out...
sorry so long... good luck...
yup, like above (slow typer)...