I have had many folks over the years ask me about the "Fall Frenzy", or the reason why bass eat like crazy in the fall.  Well first of all, my experience has been that at no point is this "fall frenzy" theory in stone.  There are days when I expect fish will eat like crazy and they are tough as nails, and there are those days that are really tough, except for a short window of voracious eating.  Although higher flows are best for keeping bass feeding more consistenty in our rivers, they even throw a curveball at times when water conditions are in the "perfect" range.  So........as in most situations associated with fishing, timing is everything!

Here's an example.  Although we have elevated flows in all our rivers this fall, the water has been clear in many cases.  On a recent trip on the Delaware River, I told my clients we'd wait to fish my best 2 areas until later in the afternoon closer to dark.  Why?  Firstly, the water temperatures are lowest on mid-late fall days in the morning.  The highest water temperatures occur during the late afternoon, responding to the sun's yet relatively strong rays (Remember the sun's rays are weakeneing until the winter solstace.).  Bass will feed better with this usually predictable spike in water temp.  Plus when the water is clear, I know on the Delaware, smallies will eat better during low light conditions.  The best of both worlds is the period 2 hours beflre sunset.

My clients decided they had fished enough by 3:30 PM.  So I ventured out for the last 2 hours to make sure the bass were still in the areas I had mentioned to prepare for next week's trips.  In two hours, I boated 29 smallies after boating 18 with 3 anglers in 6 hours.

That experience is proof that bass will eat in that "fall frenzy" mode, but as I suspected earlier that day......timing was everything!  Next season, viewers of Backwoods Angler Tv will see 2 shows depicting this scenario perfectly, one from the Delaware River and one from the Juniata River.

Good fishin!

Blaine