Pike Leaders

I know that when you're fishing for pike, you need to use wire leaders cause they've got big bad teeth and sharp gill plates that'll slice through mono like a hot knife through butter. But what kind of wire and how do you rig it up? Do you use wire for the entire leader or just the tippet? How long is long enough? I've seen some wire leaders in the local tackle store that are a braided or twisted wire leader (rated for 30 lbs), I'm sure these would work well for subsurface flies, but what about surface patterns like Dalhberg Divers and
Deer-hair mice? I've also heard single strand wire works.
Any long rodders who chase pike be willing to share their expertiece?

Actually there is a new alternate to old fashioned wire and clips and pliers. It's Fenwick's Iron Thread = Gel/Spun Stainless Steel Braided alloy leader material and tied with a simple knot. see below.

Forget any wire you have to crimp with clips now that this Iron Weave stuff is available. Besides tying on with a simple knot, you can cut it off your bugs with nail clippers.

A few things here:

1) Pike don't have sharp anything but teeth. I've heard this nonsense about gill plates, and I think the truth is that when the pike rolls up in the line he sometimes can get his teeth several feet up the line and cut it.

2) 12 inches of wire in front of the fly is all you need. I've lost fish to 8 of leader when I was too lazy to rie on a new piece of wire.

3) The multi-strand wires, including tyger and sevelon work fine, and won't get cut by the pike, but they curl and kink easily and are between hard and impossible to straighten.

4) Single strand hard wire is by fasr the best. A haywire twist isn't hard to tie, it takes about the same amount of time as a clinch knot, and it's foolproof. When the wire bends, it straightens easily. If it gets a hard kink, like a loop that's closed, replace it. My son Glen and I caught 800 pike each this spring at Great SLave Lake, and the only fish we lost to a leader was the monster that inhaled the diver and 8 inches of wire to cut the 20# maxima I had above the wire.

5) Hard wire works fine with divers and surface lures. Tie the flies with lots of deer hair and they'll float for an hour or 30 fish, whichever comes first.

6) Others will tell you that hard mono also works. They're right, as long as you keep the leader out of the pike's mouth. Use hard wire. it's not difficult, and it is the most reliable.