Quote Originally Posted by CrappiePappy View Post
Same thing I've seen up in this area .... various stages of egg production and they're still viable, BUT ... water temps have gone from the high 60's & low 70's to the mid to high 70's (several weeks ago) and then got brought back down to the high 60's from the cold fronts & associated rains ... and are now edging back towards the mid 70's (in the top 10ft of water). That may not be a bad thing, if we were talking about late March to early May ... but we're not. We're talking late April to early June. And by that I'm talking weather, water levels, and the increase of activity by boaters & anglers and how that affects the spawning areas & the depth at which the fish are forced to spawn because of those factors.

That's my theory, anyway. And that's not even taking into account that the photo-period (hours of Sunlight per day) has already reached the point of 14.6hrs of sunlight (which is the average amount of sunlight for the last spawning sites to be created, according to a study done on Table Rock Lake). To me, that says if they don't do the deed pretty soon ... they aren't gonna get it done, in which case they will absorb the eggs and try again next year.
The water temps here have just now reached where we were in early April. As you can see in the pics, there were a couple of males that are still dark. We got in an area that produced a fish on almost every drop, and a lot were darkened up males about 9-9 1/2". I thought at first that it was just the little guys finishing up, but then we got into the bigger ones. Thanks for your insight, as I am totally confused.