The circle hook has yet another advantage.  Though none of us like to see the hook down the throat of a fish, sometimes it happens with any type of lure, fly, or bait.

The circle hook, however will sometimes snag only a tiny “tag” of flesh in the throat because of it’s design.  Remember the hook point actually bends back so it points perpendicular to the hook shank.  This rounded point frequently grabs only a miniscule bit of the throat as it slides out, unlike the “J” hook which grapples a gob of flesh whenever and wherever it gets the chance.

On a recent trip out, a client of mine caught a small sunfish on a chunk of night crawler and this was just the case.   As I opened the fish’s mouth and grabbed the line to see how bad it was, the small tag of throat flesh popped, there was no blood whatsoever, and I was able to release the fish all in about 30 seconds.

Here’s a creative way to fish circle hooks and plastics with topwater lures:

Select your favorite topwater poping, or “dog walking” lure.  Remove the front set of treble hooks (you don’t ever need these on topwater lures anyway).  Tie a 24″ piece of 10# line to the bend of one of the hooks.  Tie a 1/0 eagle claw circle bait hook on the other end, and hook on a gulp 3″ plastic minnow.  Make sure you just barely hook the very tip of the plastic minnow. You’ll catch fish on the popping lure, but probably 4-1 on the 3″ plastic minnow, with the benefit of a 96% lip hook rate.

One tricky part is that the popper requires an immediate and “hard back” hookset while the circle hook requires you to “freeze the rod” and reel like crazy.  Good luck, and be patient.