Convincing a predator to strike a lure isnt hard, convincing it to chew and swallow a tastless hard object so that the circle hook can be pulled from its throat and lodge in the corner of its jaw.....

 

From what i have heard from a few people lately.....the new thing of using inline single hooks is causing plenty of damage too as they make it easier to get down their throats....the fact they are barbed means they are hard to get out.....more likely serious damage to the fish...They can now engulf the baits and suck them down far easier than with a bulky treble hook...Barbless trebles are the way to go......would you like your blood taken with a barb on the end?............look how easy the needle comes out...........the chance of a fish coping one in the eye is quite slim......If you get one of those inline barbed hooks in your body you are in for a whole load of pain too!.....Id rather have a barbless hook of any design in me...if i had a choice......i believe there are barbless inlines available now....I feel some charter operators have gone the wrong way with this one....BOTTOM LINE= a barbless hook comes out in 2 seconds and it comes out clean......a barbed one does not and makes a big mess,

As for the post......agree give it a go......I would consider using a split ring/nt swivel/split ring to circle hook....so it hangs down low and further away from the lure....another option for you......Good on you for thinking outside the square and Hopefully you get a result

 

LBD  convinced or not I think that sums up nicely what happens when live bait gets eaten,  Pretty sure the kingfish doesnt give the bait a bit of biffo or let it inspect its mouth for parasites!

 

 If the kingfish aint trying to swallow the bait whats it bloody doing in its mouth???

 

 

All live baits get swallowed head first, otherwise anal spines, dorsal spines, gill rakers and scales cause issues for predator.

Think about how you many times you got yelled at by skipper to not strike when fishing live baits with circles..... strayling for snapper being a prime example, strike to early and you pull the bait out of the fishes graps, let the fish run,  allow the rod to load up and bingo.

 

I come from a flyfishing background and barbless hooks have been common place in flyfishing for some time.  In fact many trout streams in certain countries you cant fish unless the hooks are barbless.

 

When fishing for Sampson fish, Iv never had a fish hooked deep when fishing a single hook on a Dacron loop.  Im guessing the same will be the case with kingfish?

Hang a circle hook off the back off a stickbait or maybe off the front on a assist and you will hook some them for sure, not all of them but some... the benefits of doing which over just single J I'm not really sure? Maybe to avoid gut hooking in situations where fish are extremely plentiful, extremely large and extremely hungry ( to the point they are swallowing the lure completely on the bite and being gut hooked)... trolling for giant bluefin on a wide open bite being such an example.