I usually hook them from the bottom-up, putting the hook through the digger on the bottom and just piercing the top of the shell with the hook until the barb comes through. If you throw them too hard they will fly off no matter what, and if you are using a double-drop rig and keep losing the bottom flea, you might want to move up higher in the water column to keep the bottom feeders off. There's not much else to do with them live. If you want to preserve them dead you can salt and freeze and makes them last longer, but they won't be any tougher than when live.