Yeah, my experience with small spionners was all with bass, and they don't take the lure as deeply as trout seem to. For such a small mouths, trout can get surprisingly big things in them.
Most of the Bass I have cough have been in the lips and no problem releasing them, with my bad hands treble hooks seams to get me hooked and that hurts so I avoid them when I can
The Panther-Martins that I like don't have a split ring, so I've been adding them as I change hooks. Yesterday I just clipped-off two of the three hooks on the treble - easy with wire cutters - and the spinner ran true without tweaking it, so we'll see what effect the split rings may have on the action.
Thanks, all. It freaks me out when I mortally wound a fish I hadn't planned to keep and I'm extremely relieved that the ones I hurt were legal sized keepers; I'd have been thoroughly disgusted with myself if they's been under-sized fish.