Tonight I was fishing in some current, so I rigged a 3-way with a 3oz river sinker and a 7/0 Gamakatsu octopus circle hook. Action was hot tonight, but I only reeled in about 10% of the fish that pulled my rod down. I'm wondering if the problem is the slack in the free floating leader? Was kind of frustrating. The kind of action I had tonight was fast limit material. Any tips on would be appreciated.

Small fish?
Gar?
Snelled hook?

Yeah, I was into 1-4 lb fish.

Gar everywhere

Snelled the hooks.

Old hook that was not sharp? Sounds like it might me gar to me since you say they were everywhere.

I say Gar problem.

Gar. Hardest fish to get a circle hook in.imo

I bet you guys are right about the gar. Had times when the bait was picked up and moved, 3oz sinker and all, for a distance before dropped. Would have been fun to catch one of those guys though.

Also don't try to put to big a piece of bait on a circle, they wont hook up well.

Sounds like gar to me.

Be sure and don't bury the hook in the bait, leave a lot of the hook exposed

Yeah, I made sure to keep it hooked shallow so that the circle hook could do it's job.

Also check for scales or anything on the point of the hook.

One little piece of debris can ruin any chance of a hook up.