The proposal described in the first post for the fall event seems an excellent compromise to me, much better balanced than the ill-formed change from last year. And yes, why not extend the event till the end of November (fishing remains excellent throughout November in most Northern states, and yes, fish will get fatter in the South by then, this sounds fine and fair). No more than 2 months though, otherwise we'd lose focus.
About separate events in the spring between north and south, this made me cringe a bit to start with, a nation-wide event really should occur at the same time for everybody, but it is certainly true that the regional conditions are very different by then, and yes, this would basically end up with 3 distinct events. Why not give it a try and see what goes. It's good to experiment a bit, as long as feedback is sought for, and the changes are well communicated ahead of time.