I was invited to fish a private lake this weekend. Very clear catch and release only. Started with a spinnerbait to locate fish. Caught about ten but noticed lite hits,nips ,short strikes and many just followed my bait to shore. Tied on a squarebill. With only about ten casts I snagged three fair sized bass. One in the back, one in the gill and one in the side. I was sick and removed the crank bait at once. I was there to catch fish not kill fish. Over the years I have snagged fish but nothing like this. Are they just bumping it to defend territory . Water was higher then normal?

More than likely they were short striking it with their mouths and the trebel that did not get in their mouth ended up in the gill/side.  Pretty common to get the second hook not in a bass' mouth into another body part.  Just part of crankin!

 

Jeff

I dont know why they act like that but i have had them do that a lot when bouncing lipless cranks off the bottom .

Don't be upset about it. Fish get stuck in all kinds of places all the time and survive just fine. Sounds like they liked your bait but maybe wanted a different color or little different profile or retrieve. 

Pinch the barbs down, wont hurt the fish if snagged.