Eel rigging w/ circle hooks?

[Pt.JudeJoe]

Putting any bait on a circle hook takes practice.It took me a while to get out of the habit of thinking the same way as when using a "J" hook . Once you get the hang of it though ,it becomes second nature ,just like the "not setting the hook" part of circle hook fishing.Some guys cannot get used to that. They are not for everybody ,but they work well for me. Try practicing putting the hook in on a dead eel until you find the right "groove" and it will be easy after that.

[piemma]

6/0 Gami Octopus and 50# (80# on the Block) for a shock leader. Don't even think about anything less unless you are into loosing fish because of equipment failure.

[libassboy]

Im not a fan of circles, dropped a few good fish and never went back...
I like the gami octo or gami live bait for eels and a heavy leader of 50lb and up. I also use heavy braid(65), i drag eels thru sme real nasty boulder fields..and like piemma says..its not a time for light gear/tackle.

[stormfish]

Fishing 1 spring day and hooking shorts after shorts with 10/0 octopus hooks and gutt hooked about 6 and 4 of them ended up floaters. Switched to 7/0 circle hooks and success rate was 1 for 3. Not to mention the 1 of missed hook set was the biggest fight of the day I was reeling in for 2 minutes before the fished spat out the bait and hook.

The trick to circle hooks from what I hear is to keep reeling in without and the hook will manage it's way on the corner of the fish mouth. The only bright side is that it doesn't end up in the fish's guts. Down side is having a story of the 1 that got away.

If riggin with eels I do recommend the live bait hooks.