Fly the Team Iceshanty Flag! Iceshanty Proshop
Nice post Whytie, I believe I will pick up some leader material this weekend and make a few for my tipups. Have you ever attached color beads and spinner blades to help with attracting sluggish pike?
The circle hook is tied that way, for the same reason you snell a hook. The way I understand it is it is important for the hook to stay in line with the leader. The other thing is it puts more force on the front of the hook (always put the line through the front of the eye) and presumably puts more force on the point when hooking. This is important because a circle hook is set much gentler than the yank of a J hook.