Rich,

I've had good luck using circle hooks for bass fishing with streamers fished either on very light rods or fished very deep or far away.

These are all circumstances where a 'normal' hard 'bass style' hookset was not possible.

The circle hooks worked great. They do require that you modify your hooking technique. If you don't, you WILL miss fish.

What I found was that it was best to do NOTHING but let the line come tight then lift the rod gently, letting the fish pull the hook into place. That's what these hooks are designed for...any 'strip set' or hard pull of any kind would pop the hook right out of the fishes mouth.

It's hard to do when your previous experience tells you to try to jerk the fish out of the lake and onto the opposite shoreline behind you....but if you can make yourself do nothing, the hook up rate is darn near 100%.

I've also had good luck with circle hooks used conventionally on soft plastic baits like the Senko rigged wacky style. Bass tend to swallow these things, so using circle hooks, and again learning NOT to try to set the hook, just reel the fish in, gives you a hook in the corner of the mouth rather than down in the gullet or gut.

Like any other piece of equipment, hooks are tools that you can use to your benefit, IF you learn to use them correctly.

Buddy