It sounds like you've accidentally activated the critter glitch which happens when you swap bait/critters with an item in your inventory, save, swap them back, save. Then when you use the item in mid-air, it spawns the bait/critter. And it can consume the weapon/item.View attachment 187669 I have a bug I found a couple weeks back where after catching a lot of truffle worms my game glitches and while using a bug net it got consumed and spawned a truffle worm. The same happened with my mirror
If you move your item to an empty spot in your inventory, that should stop it from spawning critters. If it still spawns them, move the item into a chest, close it, then take the item out again.
To avoid the glitch, try to not swap items in inventory, but instead move items into an empty inventory spot.