That's a good catch where I'm from as long as you weren't sight fishing.

Doesn't really matter, when you're fishing from shore and releasing your catch.  This was early spring, and it's catch and immediate release in NY.  There's no rules against sight fishing either.  The regs I know of about foul hooked fish in NY are for trout and salmon, and walleye in some specific rivers.  Snatching, snagging, and lifting are illegal.

14 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Doesn't really matter, when you're fishing from shore and releasing your catch.  This was early spring, and it's catch and immediate release in NY.  There's no rules against sight fishing either.  The regs I know of about foul hooked fish in NY are for trout and salmon, and walleye in some specific rivers.  Snatching, snagging, and lifting are illegal.

In Ohio all Walleye must be hooked in the mouth and all others cannot be foul hooked while sight fishing.

I have caught bass that have had the spinnerbait hooked in the corner of its mouth and then during the fight the trailer hook caught under the jaw. Upon landing the fish the only hook was under the jaw.

Frequently happens with smallmouths and have seen this with a few largemouths as well.

 

I have also caught a smallmouth that I watched swipe at the first smallmouth I hooked and that one was caught under the jaw as well.

 

I would not be able to make a determination one way or the other as to what happened on the hook set as there are just too many variables and even more with crankbaits because of wobble and deflection.

think of the question,.....

 answer? absolutley nothing.

 The hookset is your re-action, means nothing about a fish's activity.

 Finding certain hooks that the fish are hung on? are they the sharpest?, is the lure properly tuned? etc. etc.