This is my first post, so if I'm posting a thread in the wrong category, please be kind and send me in the right direction.

I have always been a dyed-in-the-wool catfish fisherwoman and never thought I'd learn to love anything else so much -- until I bought a home right on the lakefront here in Lake Lafayette in Lafayette County. There is an abundance of smallmouth bass and last year, my signifigant other took me crappie fishing at Truman. What a rush! Last spring we took an old cedar tree, attached it to a cinder block and wired it to the underside of my dock in the hopes of creating a good crappie habitat. The water has always been so murky that I could never see what was going on down there. This week, with the advent of the colder weather, the lake is clearer than I have seen it in 3 years. Lo and behold, I have a crystal clear view of the cedar tree and on it are large, round appendatures that look like varying sizes of hedge apples. Some are as large as a basketball. I know nothing about crappie but that they are fun to catch and delicious to eat. Are those crappie eggs I'm seeing down there or can someone tell me what it is?