Western Sound/ CT

Went out on Sunday evening for some fair weather surfcasting.

The snappers were in force with nothing notable chasing them.

The sun dropped and a pair of ****tail blues took turns for short rides on the
siwash of my needlefish. I switched over to a nine inch black sluggo for the
remainder of the outing. Just as the light disappeared I got slammed pretty
hard but after a five count the hook pulled. The sluggo came back whole, so
I assume it was a bass.

question:
I am new to fishing these larger sluggos. On my first rigs, I used 7/0 oct
circles, which I had managed to hook one fish. After pulling a couple
hooks, I rigged a new batch using regular 7/0 octopus. I figured that the
circles may not be as likely to engage as the regular octopus hooks.

When fishing these sluggos and a fish takes them:
1. Do you set the hook immediately...or do you let them cruise a bit?
2. How hard do you set the Hook?
3. What is your strike to land ratio?

I fished another couple hours for a few mystery bumps and a couple chomps
from the blues. Not much else to report.