Dean
Anything will work for pike in the way of lures, but Johnson's silver minnows and jitterbugs hold a special place with me for the job on hardware stuff. We catch hundreds on our annual week-long trip, and a a hundred per day per person is only a good start. I use a doubled piece of Maxima 20# for leader and seldom lose one side of it... Changing every day or so is usually enough.
There is a good tieable wire leader, but it is not needed. We are almost exclusively fly fishing for them and big topwater flies like deerhair mice work great. Bunny flies work great as subsurface stuff. Marabou flies also work real well but are too delicate for sustained use.
Do not worry about long fights with pike as they have a lot of quickness, some power, and almost no stamina.
Grayling in lakes can be fussy, requiring a fairly specific presentation, but usually they are easy and flowing water usually means they are easier yet. I will often use a small nymph for a dropper on a stimulator or other large dry. The dry acts as strike indicator (bobber for those not fly fish fluent).
For spin fishing for grayling a small spinner with a dropper either before or after with a small nymph is very effective.
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