Circle Hooks

[fishin-fool]

So I found an older thread while searching the forum for info on Elkhorn Creek. And in reading the thread several members mentioned using circle hooks so as not to mortally harm the fish. I really only fish catch and release so hurting the fish as little as possible and getting them back in the water quickly is important to me. But I've never used circle hooks before and pretty much know nothing about them. Are they for special applications only? Can you Texas-rig with them?

At the moment I use Gamakatsu EWG's for Texas-rigging soft plastics.

[jastew]

Circle hooks are great if you're using bait of some kind. You don't set the hook, you just raise you're rod and put pressure on the fish and the hook will get them in the corner of the jaw almost every time. If you jerk, you'll pull the bait our of the fish's mouth.
I haven't tried them with any kind of artificial bait, I'm thinking they wouldn't work well or we'd see some factory baits with circle hooks.

[fishin-fool]

Ah ok. So they're really only for bait.

[Fishin is life]

Mostly for live bait and I've seen some people who use them on a drop shot....They wouldn't work well at all for texas rigging

[llg]

Worms and flukes work well with circles. Just swim them back very slowly, even let them drop slowly, then as said before, raise the rod and take up the slack. Don't "set" the hook.

I change the hooks in all my catfish dip bait worms to 5/0 circles. Works great unless they eat the bait and don't swim off. They then can swallow it deep just like any other hook.