Living several hours away and loving to fish Rend, it's nice to see your post!! It would also be nice for the guides on Rend Lake to weigh in on the progress or lack of the spawn on the lake.
They see and clean fish on a daily basis and could inform the members of crappie.com as to the progress on the lake.
I fished Crab Orchard yesterday and can tell you that the fish we kept were primarily all males and not very far from the bank in about 3 or 4 feet of water and I don't believe that they spawned there yet!!!