All is well with your choice of a single action. The advantages of the level wind are that when you have to pick up line on a fish swimming towards the boat, you can do it in a hurry. But yes, I have a few Shimano Moocher Plus GTs that were used for years on the inside, and were plenty of fun.
As for the circle hooks, been doing that since I moved back from Florida where they were used exclusively for big marlin and sailfish. It has now become a regulation down there, as fish are easily released, do not suffer gill damage, and when dealing with fish that can jump and run for over two hours, they stay hooked.
When the fish hits, they bite and turn. If you can get ahold of any of "Charlie White's Fishing Machine" videos from the 1970's, he ran an underwater camera on a downrigger. Fish hit and turn away. Watch the videos and you will see.
The Circle hook slides to the corner of the mouth, digs in on the turn, and cannot be pulled back in a straight line. That is the secret. There is a german fellow from Campbell River who runs a Seaswirl by the name of "Alkami". He went so far as to snag our line with a big spring on it thinking we were fishing with barbs. He netted the fish, and immediately tried to unhook the Spring in his net, without success. You have to rotate the hhok and push IN to get it out. I explained how it worked, and gave him a pack of 5/0s to try. Now we are friends.
Just saying.
Drewski
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