Thread: The spawn as I've learned it

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

Spawning = laying and fertilizing of the eggs. Just because a fish is caught shallow and its full of eggs doesn't mean it was spawning. The females spend very little time near the actual bed and really just go in and lay the eggs and have the male fertilize the eggs and then they guard them. The female is gone after that. Most of the fish are males that are caught in really shallow water that are guarding or building the nest before the female gets there. That is a good point made about a woman being 7 months pregnant actually but not all fish are ready to lay eggs at the same time. Crappie on a lake like D'arbonne may lay eggs as early as February and some may even go into late April. This is nature's way of keeping the species going. If every crappie spawned on say March 1 and some sudden drought/flood/natural disater was to happen, then that whole age class would go away, or if they all laid on Feb 15 and a freeze came along that would wipe that class out. Also, there are always fish that 'move up' when water temps warm up but doesn't mean they are laying eggs or nest building. They just want to get in that warmer water. A 3 foot flat at 63 degrees in January beats staying in a 25' hole that is 50 degrees! This is why you see people catching crappie on yoyos in 2 feet of water in the middle of January. A few warm days in January/February will have the fish in either shallower water or way up in the water column. Even a really warm day in say December will have em coming way up. It seems like just last year or the year before there were people catching crappie shallow in Larto in January.

You can even see this in saltwater fish escpecially speckled trout. In the wintertime when the air temp is cold early and then warms up in the day, the fish get real shallow at times. You start out catching them in the deep holes and as the day progresses the fish move onto the flats and some days even in December/January you can catch trout on topwater baits in less than 3' of water

release in the grease

What he said,they don't all spawn at once and it's over,it's an ongoing event throughout the spring

Originally Posted by Shallow Runner

What is the orange supposed to resemble? I have had good luck in muddy water on black / chart / red head.

Color means nothing when males are guarding nests,you can catch em in a cigarette butt

crawfish?

I have had the same February experience at a different lake multiple times.Seen it in the same cove and the nest at slightly different depth.And I know the dogwoods are good indicators,too

Originally Posted by Tbone

This is all interesting. I'm no expert on the spawn by any means but I do think we all try to rush it every time we get some warm weather this time of year. I was always told as a youngster that the time to catch spawning white perch is when the dogwoods start blooming and I've found that is pretty true year in and year out. But I also know that perch do move into shallow water much earlier than that for some reason. The last two years I've hammered them on Poverty Point right up on the bank in February but it was a one time event. I went back a few days later and nothing.

Originally Posted by Shallow Runner

What is the orange supposed to resemble? I have had good luck in muddy water on black / chart / red head.

It might be the crawfish like jig rig said, but I've always thought of the bream with the bright orange bellies. They are an enemy of small crappies. I don't know though....just a thought.

I enjoyed the thread. I've found bream spawning on dishes and caught the heck out of them in July before..... I was suprised since I thought they had that all over with by that time. They definitely do it when they're ready. Which is why I go whenever I get the chance. I have actually never fished for spawning crappie. I'm going to give it a shot but am very worried since I've never seen anyone do it. I'm going to look for some brushy areas in 2-5 foot near some major creek channels- preferably with some sandy bottoms. Correct?

Originally Posted by bayoumonster

I enjoyed the thread. I've found bream spawning on dishes and caught the heck out of them in July before..... I was suprised since I thought they had that all over with by that time. They definitely do it when they're ready. Which is why I go whenever I get the chance. I have actually never fished for spawning crappie. I'm going to give it a shot but am very worried since I've never seen anyone do it. I'm going to look for some brushy areas in 2-5 foot near some major creek channels- preferably with some sandy bottoms. Correct?

Bream spawn multiple times in one year though.

Originally Posted by PMantle

Bream spawn multiple times in one year though.

I've have read that sacs spawn multiple times too.