Thread: Interesting ...

Biggest factor in his statement is "South of I-40" ...

(that's basically from mid Tenn to Fla/Texas)

He is correct in his point about length of day, though. Studies have shown that when the length of day reaches past 13hrs (sunup to sunset) the spawn should be beginning.

If you haven't already seen it, you might be interested in this article : http://www.crappie.com/crappie/content.php?r=311

Interesting opinion and read.

I admit,I've always wondered about water temp and spawn.I live on a farm,daylight length and moon phase sure has their hands in the farm animals.The amount of light also plays a large roll in antler growth,and the rut in whitetail deer( perhaps other deer also.
I do not doubt water temp plays a role in the spawn,but with temp,there is a vast range of difference due to geographical locations.I could lean toward the belief that fish acclimate to water temps over time,(generations )allowing northern fish to spawn at lower temps than their southern kin........Dang,just when I thought I had a grip on it?

Some truth in that. Fish have a clock....and if water temps do not get to the so called spawning temps and the clock says go...they go. I fish the Caney Fork River for trout.....but I also fish it for big black nose crappie....and chunky bluegill. A lot of folks are amazed that big crappie...and plenty of them, come out of that water. The water temps stay around 52-54 degrees year round on upper part of river. Crappie and Gills spawn in that temp.

Regards

We find a few big sows on shallow stumps in Feb here but never saw any males turned dark that early . I figured they moved up on warm days to help mature the eggs . I am not sure they are spawning till you atleast see males in dark colors . Usually when spawning occurs you will catch some females with loose eggs also . But all the spawning does not happen at once either . I see some deeper river lakes with fish appearing to be spawning over several weeks . One lake we see fish ready to spawn in early April or late March and still seeing some moving shallow in full spawning shape after May .

This Saturday ... Full Moon in February.

Originally Posted by Jiggah

This Saturday ... Full Moon in February.

Let us know how that works out for you ... considering it's not only a Full Moon, but also a Snow Moon Eclipse and the appearance of a comet (the green hued comet 45P).

There is a earlier spawn in south Arkansas by as much as a month , we are just below I-40 here .