anthropic,

I wish we could give you more help on the circle hooks.

I think(?) I would want a hook that caught easily in the big bass's mouth BEFORE it got the live bait near the gullet.

As I remarked in your "Double Jeopardy" thread, we used to troll a sunfish behind the boat under a bobber. Sometimes my brother would have to replace the poor bait fish because it had been so badly mauled by the bass. Some even looked like they had been partially scaled!

All of that abuse was doled out with the bass managing to avoid the point of the catfish hook sticking out of the back of the bait (dorsal hooked).

Maybe our fish biologists can help as regards exactly how a big bass eats a big live bait?

My two cents would probably be HOW the baitfish is hooked is most important. Lip hooked, dorsal hooked, or tail hooked? I have no clue as to the correct answer.

I wish my Gpa was still around! He fished a lot with live baits.