2nd Crappie Spawn?

[Bob D]

Hey does anyone know if crappie have a second spawn later in the summer/year? I just cleaned some nice fish from Guntersville last night and they had egg sacks in them that are now starting to develop. The eggs were small, but all the blood vessels were starting to develop around the eggs. I had heard that crappie are like rabbits and reproduce prolifically, do they spawn more than once during the year? Just found this pretty curious this time of the year. If they do spawn again, do they stay deep and still look for 68-72 degree water? Seems that if that is the case, there is another crappie spawn period that goes unnoticed and untouched because of where that layer of water would be in the thermal cline later in the summer. Just wondering if anyone knows?

[Zero]

BobD
It is my opinion that all crappie fisherman should hang up there rods as soon as the spring spawn is done. They should not fish again until the dogwoods are in bloom next spring. This is not what I do, but if most would, I wouldn't have so much trouble finding a parking place at the ramp. I think the weather this year has caused the fish some real confusion. The fish that had eggs are likely late spawners, that hadn't done their thing yet and the cold weather confused them until this recent warm up. About July last year, caught a few (30) on crankbaits on one trip. Several of these fish had eggs! In my opinion, crappie do not all spawn at the same time. If they did, the way TVA messes up the water here, up and down, supposedly for flood control, there would be no fish left. The best week for spawning this year, immediately after the end of this 8 day period of no real hindrance. TVA dropped the water as much as possible to alleviate a forcasted flood that did not develop. Just my opinion. 0

[Stymie]

I've been catching em with eggs all spring. I'm no expert so just chalked it up as either a late or poor spawn this year.

[Bob D]

I hear what you're saying about fish with eggs that are messed up this year, but these fish looked more like they are now starting the development of new eggs after having already spawned out this spring!

[crappieseeker]

Bob, it has been my experience over the years that I have caught crappie about every month out of the year that had eggs in them. I have heard some people say that they spawn twice a year, a big spawn and then a small spawn. I have no idea if that is true or not. I myself think there is one real big spawn and then the rest of them just do there thing whenever and wherever. Crappie from what I have been told can hold eggs for a long time. I am not a marine biologist, so I do not know what they are doing. I just know that I have cleaned crappie in years past in every month and a few here and there would have eggs. By the way. i went to the dam this morning and caught about 10 nice gills until they raised the water and they stopped biting. I cleaned them and put them up for a future meal. were you fishing Mink creek area?

[LarryDavid]

I just caught the crappie out of them again today. Never caught them like this before in May. They were shallow. 3-6 foot, didn't keep any, so don't know about eggs, lost two of the biggest ones of the year, couldn't get them in. Here's the best part, though. I just got home and opened the refrigerator and noticed my milk expires on May 21!!!!!! How lucky is that?

[Snapperking]

Ok here is what iIhave gotten from a couple of fisheries biologist over the few years I been around:D .Crappie spawn down so to speak.The spawning down term given me means that the largest fish start spawning first and the smaller they are the later so I guess they mean spawning down from the largest to the smallest that are mature enough to spawn.They do not all spawn at the same time but start at the 64- 65 ° water temp for the black crappie(although I think the blacks spawn at even cooler temps) and at 68-70° for the white crappie and will continue to spawn until the water gets too hot which is usually 75°.The reason given that they all do not spawn at the same time is to assure that some will get a spawn in because as we have seen this year they havent had to much of a time frame to spawn in ideal conditions...in other words nature doesn't want them to put all their eggs in one basket so to speak:D.If they have a good year and the water temp stays in the 65 to 73 range for a good 2 to 3 weeks then there will be a majority of them spawn but even then there will be a few straglers spawning late.If they do not get the spawn in once the eggs are ready to be laid because of sudden low water temps the fish will not lay them.They simply keep them in their body and the blood flow is stopped to them and they are eventually reasorbed back into the body and this process can take several weeks .If the eggs are still live they will be a bright yellow color but if they have died they will be a pale yellow to even beige color.I do not know how long they can hold the eggs alive to be laid ,i would guess a week or so.This years spawn may be a very low one given the high water and non- steady water temps from mid-March thru all of April!! I know i have caught them a few times still with active yellow eggs in May too.As to them having a second spawn its pretty certain they dont at least not like Gills but seem to because they dont all spawn at the same time.Also if the eggs get laid and there is a sharp temperature decrease or a big water fluctuation up or down it can cause them to not hatch .Good thing they can each lay thousands of eggs!!!

[crappieseeker]

snapperking, it seems as if I have heard similar information in the past, thanks for the input

[Bob D]

CS I was not at Mink Creek this last outing. Believe it or not, some of these fish were well over 1 1/2 pounds and almost 16". Two months ago, these fish would have weighed 2 lbs. That's why it looked like they were starting to develop new eggs vs still holding on to some eggs from this spawn. Interesting info guys, thanks.

[crappieseeker]

Bob, when I stated that I meant two things by it. One, if they do not lay there eggs, they can hold them for a long time until they disolve or are as someone else stated, reabosrbed. Also, if they layed early or maybe did not lay at all this time for some reason, then they are starting their egg process for a late spawn or just out of cycle. I have caught them in November and December with eggs and asked an older guy one time and he said crappie can hold their eggs through the winter and lay them in the spring. I have no clue what goes on with the fish really. They are strange and hard to figure out. All I know is people like me and you love to catch them. Wonder if there is some reading material anywhere about the reproduction time frame and egg process of crappie, that might help us. And you need to share that spot with me so that when I get out of school I can go swipe some of your fish too ha ha.