How long do females hold their eggs?

[Wichita]

How long do females hold their eggs? Guess my main question is when we're having below normal temps and water temps are still low., how long will crappie wait to spawn? My magic temps are 65 to 68 degrees at the lake I normally fish and it's not there yet. My belief is they will spawn no matter what when temps do get right but it might be a short spawn. CP jump in on this one....

[Slipped Cork]

This is only my opinion. I believe they will lay their eggs in deep water just to get rid of them. I have also caught crappie in 20 ft well after the main spawn that were full of eggs. Next weeks temperatures are in the high 60s and that wont get it.

[Larry C]

I just cleaned 34 crappie today and 3/4's of them females full of eggs. Sacs were getting pretty bloody in some of them and the eggs starting to be pretty good size. So I was wondering the same thing myself. We caught them 12-18 ft deep over 20-25 ft water. Temp is still hanging around 55 degrees so don't know if they will make it to the full moon in May or not. I agree with you, they will have to drop them even if it's deep it seems to me.

[crappiemax]

I think they spawn every year but the water level dictate if its successful or not.

[CrappiePappy]

... if they don't get a chance to deposit them in a viable nest. That would be a waste, as the eggs wouldn't have any chance at getting fertilized & becoming fry. Nature don't work that way ... at least not with Crappie. The eggs will be absorbed, utilized as a foodsource (protein) to further strengthen the fish and help it survive until next years attempt.

The weather, and thus the water temp, is never stable thru the month of April. Many false starts, short/quick/early spawns, and repeated attempts at spawning will take place. Not all of them will spawn at, or even near, the same time ... around the state, or even on the same body of water. It's a crap shoot, at best ... and the Crappie just have to deal with it and adjust as best they can. If conditions dictate that the spawn gets interrupted, or totally washed out ... they'll just lose a year class, for the most part, and continue on in their normal habitual ways until next Spring, and try again.

Our state's lakes and waters are so diverse, that we can have spawning fish from late March til well into May. They've still got plenty of time, and will wait until the conditions are favorable. I used to never go Crappie fishing, for spawning fish, until the end of the third week in April (Green River Lake, Cave Run Lake, Barkley Lake, Herrington Lake) .... and rarely found Taylorsville Crappie to be spawning before late April (and even into the first couple of weeks of May). I used to go to Watts Bar Lake, in E Tn, in the second week of May ... and found Crappie in only a few feet of water, even though the air temps were in the upper 80's to mid 90's.

Egg development is water temp related, and I believe that the females control their development by staying in water temps that facilitate the growth & development ... and can drop back into cooler water, to slow that down, if the conditions at the nesting site are not optimal. They continue to feed, to nourish themselves and the eggs, so they are usually alternating between deep and shallow water. Once they find the shallower water temps to be to their liking ... they find a suitable nest and deposit a portion of their eggs. This can last a few days, under ideal & stable conditions, and up to 3 weeks ... if conditions are seesawing from good to bad, back and forth. I think that we fishermen & fisherwomen, are in a bigger hurry than the fish are :p sometimes ... and tend to try and mentally rush the process, or try and fit it into "our" schedule of days we can be on the water :D

It's just MHO, and certainly not scientific, in any way ... just personal experience speaking, for what that's worth.

... cp

[mepperson]

Very wise post.......

[Wichita]

Once again Crappiepappy comes to my rescue! I had sorta thought along the same lines but needed confirmation. I do know that Taylorsville usually comes in last compared to other areas. I have cabin fever and like you said I'm the one rushing that spawn along. Gonna go tomorrow and load up on water temps, clarity, and see where they are holding.