>>1044239 I personally leave my drag low or spool open as a catfish will often bite the bait and take off with it without actually getting the actual hook in it's mouth.
That's because when putting bait on a circle hook, you always want to leave as much of the actual hook exposed as possible (pic related). That means that unless the fish just totally inhales the bait at once, it might not have the hook far enough in its mouth where simply moving away will result in a proper hook set. It may have to swim for a couple seconds to work the bait down further in its mouth.
You also want to ensure the fishing is moving away from you, because if it's headed towards you, reeling in with a circle hook will more often than not simply pull the hook out of the fish's mouth without a hookset. Or it can just be investigating it and not committed to eating it yet and when you reel in, you're taking the bait away from it.
When I see a fish is starting to run with the bait, I give it a couple seconds to close bail/set drag, and determine direction, THEN start reeling.
