Please excuse the crappy shot - just a quick shot from this morning with the iPhone.

The bottom fly, a tube fly, is a favourite of mine and a typical first choice. It's big - 10 inches or more! So I've been tying smaller versions like the smaller one above. I suppose that small is not really the right term - less big might be more appropriate!

I would have tied them on shorter shanks, but I only had tarpon-style short shanked hooks with a big enough gape, and they're simply too heavy, I think! So I used these - the new Partridge Universal Predator in 4/0, which is a really awesome pike hook, and the "extended shank" shouldn't put off pike and might even offer a little (more) bite protection.

Speaking of that, I almost always use wire. Really heavy fluorocarbon is indeed less visible, but I don't trust it completely. I always have some if the water is very clear. I haven't used it much after I had heavy Mason Hard Mono cut by a pike. I saw the take, pike charged the fly from the side and cut it off the leader and I didn't feel a thing! So it's steel and titanium wire for me, please!