smelts on a treble work for me, or a rig of sorts.
Really the rigging of the actual bait is personal preference. I'll some times toss two treble in if im using 8 inch herring or something of the nature for bait.
as far as the line goes, i use dracon on my tip ups. or 50 lb musky braid.
Not so much for the strength, but for the ease of use. does not tangle, does not cut hands (#1 reason) and is fairly abrasion resistant. Depending on what i am fishing for i will just use a different leader.
hope that helps a bit