Never thought of using circle hooks on gills. Did you have any swallow the hook? Were they hooked right in the corner of the mouth?
Hey i went out in search for gills myself today found them in 8-12fow drift/trolling with jigs 'n plastics....had one rod on one side of boat and one on other side and was casting a spinner too.....one time had a nice gill on all rods and landed them all...what a blast....only got one pic of a spinner caught gill...caught a 13" bass, 12" perch...9.5" crappie with the 15 gills. No pic of rest....gave them to a regular shore fisherman except for bass and perch (grill time)
Were you setting the hook? If you were, then you could of just pulled the hook right out of their mouth. When they bite and start to swim, just pull up slack and apply pressure, they hook them selves as the line tightens. I’d also try a size or two bigger for the hooks, a size 10 may not have enough of a gap to pivot around the corner of the jaw and allow the point to dig in. I use eagle claw lazer hooks in size 8 or 6 for them. Edit: well I miss read what you said. My bad! Congrats on getting some bull gills and learning a new trick! My favorite way to get them is with a fly rod and popper lately, but the biggest ones where I fish are a bit deep now.
SOME ONE-here stated he used them and give it a try.one swallow the hook but bigger hook easy to get out24 others in lips.