We have been using these and Octopus hooks of the same size. Not really sure what the difference is between the two.
As far as when to set the hook I think the mood of the fish has a lot to do with it. Most of the time we give just a second or two pause. Nice thing is if you pull the sucker out of the fishes mouth just stop and that fish will not let it get away a second time. I’m fishing the river up north so the majority of the time we get to see the bass hit the minnows and then just figure it out from there.
Bring a long curved hemostat with for the deep hooked fish. It works amazingly well going in through the gills grabbing the shank and twisting the hook to pop it out.
Went through three dozen sucker minnows today on the river.