is it common for a bass to look like this?

sorry for the clarity, these are from my phone.

Nope.  Probably some congenital defect or injury related when the fish was just a fry.  Here's mangled brown I caught last fall:

It's not common, but I've seen my share. Not sure of the reasons but JF is probably on the mark.

I caught a small rainbow off Hedges (at night of course) that looked like a rainbow trout colored softball, with a tail glued on. It was as round as any fish I've ever seen as wide as it was deep. Very strange. I remember it fought like a...a softball with fins.

I've caught a couple like that.Since the fish looks healthy otherwise it's probably just a early defect as said above. There is a disease caused by a bacteria that can cause this symptom, called Mycobacteriosis, but I think that is usually associated with other symptoms.

Hey Copen, I like your avatar -nicely composed shot, and a pretty fish too.

Thanks. Pure accident, both catching the fish and the pic. Took it with a cellphone in a hurry because she needed to get back in the water.

Can't see the details but you lucked into the "Rule of Thirds". You divide the image in the viewfinder by thirds and place your subject there -not dead center. Works vertically and horizontally across the image. It works by providing some background that also leads the eye to the subject.

In the case of your pic, the muskie runs across the bottom horizontal third and leads to your handsome mug at the right vertical third. Even better, your face falls at the intersection of the right side 'thirds'.

It's a lot simpler than I explained; not the first time LOL.