Help I Keep losing fish?

Today i was fishing with my 1/0 Octopus circle hooks (I recently asked a ? similar to this). i was using slices of hot dogs and i like to try and conceal the hook. But everytime a fish starts running with my bait i pick up my rod from my rod holder and it just spits the bait, its like the hooks aren't setting. I've heard don't set the hook with circle hooks, but i don't get how you don't do this because when i reel in fish i naturally just raise the rod tip...which is basically like SETTING the hook. I realize not to pick up the rod and yank upward, but i still raise the rod tip. when i first got these Octopus circle hooks i had no problem with losing fish. but recently i went fishing probably about 5 times in the past 3 weeks and i have lost at least 6 fish (either carp or cats). I am getting really frustrated, and also is there any good alternatives for baiting hot dogs like trying maybe a treble or something.