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I have used circle hooks last year and so far this year, with eels, with success. I do believe that they work with eels. The thing to remember is NOT to set the hook. You have to wait generally 5-7 seconds, with your rod pointed at the fish and then smoothly raise your rod and start reeling and the fish generally hooks itself in the jaw. I use a Gamakatsu 5/0 circle. I don't have a lot of striper fishing experience with a hard hook set so basically the circle hook non-hook set doesn't have to replace any other habits. It still takes discipline not to set the hook. Instinct and excitement still set in and fish have been lost to hard hook sets. I also believe that since almost all the fish I catch, are going back in, a few missed fish due to circle hooks are well worth price of releasing fish that are almost always hooked in the jaw.
Carl
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