I generally use #6 eagle claw bait holders (not that I need the bait holders for shiner and smelt but whatever). If I'm targeting large touge or pike I may step up to a 4 or 2. With touge/brookies/salmon and I plan on releasing a lot of fish tough, I step down to #8 at biggest. I hope for a lip hook, but if they swallow it, I just snip the line and hope the smaller hook causes less harm.
I experimented with circles for a time but was unhappy, and went back to J hooks. Ive had fewer "gushers" when using small hook sizes, and still have good hookup ratios. I reason that cutting the line on a small hook must be better than a large hook for the fish, although I have no idea if there is any difference in long term survival to back that up.