What triggers fish to suddenly go on the feed?

[snagged in outlet 3]

Yeah I’ve never experienced that “white bass frenzy”.  Here we go again 😆

[snagged in outlet 3]

Here’s my lone frenzy.  

[Al Agnew]

I think it's one of the great mysteries of fishing.  I also suspect that it doesn't have just one answer; in fact, it probably has a bunch of answers, including some that make perfect sense and some that are completely mysterious.  We know that changes in water level can cause it.  On riverine lakes, opening up a couple floodgates can make more of a current, and turn the bass and other predatory fish on.  Most of us have probably experienced the big flurry of activity right before a strong front comes through...and plenty of other times when the front comes and it DOESN'T happen.  I've had plenty of days fly fishing on the Yellowstone when it was a partly cloudy day, and as soon as the sun would go behind a cloud the river would just come alive with trout rising...and then the sun would come back out and the rising would shut off completely, even though the bugs were still floating down the river.  And yes, I've experienced it with smallmouth on rivers plenty of times.  There have been a lot of times on rivers like the Meramec that have all three species that one or two species would be active and the other one would be so inactive that you would go the whole day without catching one, and then the next day you'd be on the same stretch and catch a pile of that species.  

There was a three year period on Big River and the Meramec that had the same pattern over most of the summer; the mornings would be exceedingly slow for smallmouth, and then sometime between noon and 2 PM all of a sudden the smallies would just be going crazy.  Then after that three year period, the next year the smallmouth were almost always going nuts from daylight to 10 AM and then would slow down to almost nothing for the rest of the day.  After that, I never again experienced a pattern like that where it held true all summer long and stayed the same day after day.  It was just weird.

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Yeah I’ve never experienced that “white bass frenzy”.  Here we go again 😆

It's not just White bass, all fish seem to do it.   I can't count the number of times I've been doing good....and then instantly for no apparent reason the bite just goes dead.  And it's never ALL FISH, it's just a certain species, as if they take turns.  

If you are on a Winter bass bite and start catching drum....you might as well go home, cuz you're not going to do worth a crap bass fishing that day.  The bass have quit eating, and the drum start gobbling up everything that moves.....which totally blows the whole Solar/Lunar theory out, because if you're following a solar/lunar time table there's never a mention of which SPECIES.   Never are ALL GAMEFISH in a highly active state at once.  That just doesn't happen.  And that fact right there should indicate that it is NOT related to lake level, current, light penetration, current flow, or other habitat related things.  Because if a sudden dam generation turns on the bass....then why doesn't it turn on the crappie, catfish, stripers, and walleye? 

[top_dollar]

I think it is hunger that makes them feed.

[snagged in outlet 3]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

It's not just White bass, all fish seem to do it.   I can't count the number of times I've been doing good....and then instantly for no apparent reason the bite just goes dead.  And it's never ALL FISH, it's just a certain species, as if they take turns.  

If you are on a Winter bass bite and start catching drum....you might as well go home, cuz you're not going to do worth a crap bass fishing that day.  The bass have quit eating, and the drum start gobbling up everything that moves.....which totally blows the whole Solar/Lunar theory out, because if you're following a solar/lunar time table there's never a mention of which SPECIES.   Never are ALL GAMEFISH in a highly active state at once.  That just doesn't happen.  And that fact right there should indicate that it is NOT related to lake level, current, light penetration, current flow, or other habitat related things.  Because if a sudden dam generation turns on the bass....then why doesn't it turn on the crappie, catfish, stripers, and walleye? 

I know what shuts white bass down😆

[liphunter]

I wouldn't have a clue as to why. I noticed that behavior in other animals as well.Have you ever watched a mass of starlings in flight. They don't seem to be following each other as much as instinct kicking in. I mean I have watched other them for long periods of time. ( TV broke... Medical marijuana kicking in! ) They all turn, climb, dive in unison. Which means to means to me, they're  not really following each other.  Which fly's in the face of a Cornell University 20 year, 2.3 billion dollar, tax payer granted study of this sort of animal behavior.  There conclusion was praised and accepted by the scientific community. The official study is was named Monkey see, Monkey do... True story...

[moguy1973]

Dinner time?

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, top_dollar said:

I think it is hunger that makes them feed.

Well it's a good thing that we don't all get hungry at the same time like that.  The rushes at McDonald's and KFC would start riots.

[tjm]

do a search of the web for 'fish communication'. many fish make sounds that carry  farther underwater than in air, it's how schools synchronize swimming and probably a component of pack hunting like coyotes.