This has happened to me twice in one week...

After bringing in a bass, I find that I have hooked it right between the eyeball and the socket.  I'm trying to figure out how this happened, especially since I had the plastic jerkbait hooked weedless.  Maybe they test the bait once hard enough to expose the hook, and do another test strike against the exposed hook?

Normally, I'd let bass like those go, but I figured they would die soon anyways, so I kept them.  Would being hooked like that be fatal?

I'd like to know how this happens and if it can be avoided.

I can't explain how the fish gets hooked in the eye, but I don't think it is fatal.  I have caught a some fish that only had one eye.

i hooked one like that the other day, it didn't puncture the eye ball. i don't even think it will lose the eye, let alone die. it was a small fish on a senko. i have hooked them through the eyeball before.

Many times the fish will grab the soft jerkbait from the side without ever getting the business end of the hook in its mouth.  There are a few things that have to happen at the same time for this to happen. I'm assuming the bait is a fluke type bait with flat sides. The fish grabs the bait and it turns with the flat sides up and down. You feel the bite and set the hook as the fish is turning away from you. If you are using a 4/0 or 5/0 hook the first soft spot the point of the hook finds is the eye socket. This will not kill the fish but it may have trouble seeing for a while. I might be shooting blanks on this one but I have seen it happen plenty of times in the bathtub clear water I fish.