John,

I had a similar problem with deep hooking bass when fishing in deep water with a full sinking line. I tried clouser style flies and circle hooks and had problems getting ANY good hook ups. As best I can tell, the barbell eyes interfered with the way circle hooks are made to function.

All that went away when I switched to tube flies for this application. Gettting the circle hook separate from and well behind the eyes where it can rotate seems to work.

I also like circle hooks for those flies where it's hard to detect strikes. Deep fishing applications mostly, but also places where the current can cause you to lose contact wit the fly.

Good Luck!

Buddy