Spawniing Q&A

At what average age and Length can Arkansas crappie reproduce?

How long do males stay on the nest?

Do they even build a nest, or just lay their eggs on something?

What is the coldest and warmest water temps they will spawn in?

Do the fry school up or split up on their own?

How's come some lakes seem to produce more Hybrid's than others?

Can a female hold her eggs or absorb her eggs?

What is the deepest recorded depth they have been found spawning in?

How long do the males wear their Tux's?

What is the average time a male and female will stay together?

Is it true that crappie can reach a certain age and become infertile?

How long do eggs take to hatch.

I have heard a male crappie releases a chemical reaction to attract females, I have also heard the female picks the location and the male builds the nest where the female wants it. Is this true?

So many great questions about the spawn, please give your input. if you know the answers. Maybe D-10 can help out to.

Those are great questions and I don't have a clue. One additional question, where are your three best coordinates on Lake Conway this time of year??? :pray. :biggrin

I think that if a female does not actually lay her eggs for whatever reason, she eventually absorbs them. I also think the males prepare the area before the female ever moves in, so I doubt that the female chooses the site. IMHO.

I think the males keep their tuxes on until the fry leave, unless, of course, their bow ties start choking them and they have to wear more loose fitting clothes :Rofl

Dang Russ! Looks like a quiz I would get in school. I'll pull out some books soon and get some specific answers to your questions the best I can.

HAHA Matt you don't haft to anwser them all just putting questions out there to start the conversation. But that is funny. I probley know some of them pretty close, but I would like to hear what others have to say. Note to all please answer what you want.

I will take a swing at some of them.
I don't think crappie build a nest like a bream would. But, they do some kind of prep by the looks of the bloody tails.
I think fish do reach an age where they do not reproduce. My pond has channel cats and crappie. There is no indication they reproduce each year. I also think they could be some of those LGBT type fish.

DP

We get a better spawn when our lakes are high enough for the fry to get away form the predator fish"espically stripers and hybrid's" .Especially in our mountain big lakes.Not so good when they are low may even lose a year class spawn.

The crappie in Greers need a "what we call a spawning tree"usually a pine to rub their bellies"too help drop their egg's before they go to their bed's to spawn.Usually in 20' of water."Quote form creekslick" you know it's true!!!Work's I fish every pine i see!!Don't tell Creek I told ya.LOL.:biggrin:yikes

About the spawn at Lake Dardanelle Nuke Plant discharge cove... the water there was 71 to 71.8 yesterday. The main lake -at least at Piney Bay- is still 55 to 56 degrees. Of the six crappie I caught and cleaned from the Nuke cove, none had spawned. I thought crappie would spawn around 62 to 66 degree water temp.

I would guess that the Nuke plant cove is around 250 to 300 acres.
Is that not enough water to influence when crappie would spawn even though it much warmer than the remainder of the lake?

[QUOTE=goblerblaster;3377500]About the spawn at Lake Dardanelle Nuke Plant discharge cove... the water there was 71 to 71.8 yesterday. The main lake


I still believe the move phase triggers the spawn for a large part, they like to do it with the light on. That's what I been learned my whole life any ways.

[QUOTE=Lkconwayguru;3377598]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by goblerblaster

About the spawn at Lake Dardanelle Nuke Plant discharge cove... the water there was 71 to 71.8 yesterday. The main lake


I still believe the move phase triggers the spawn for a large part, they like to do it with the light on. That's what I been learned my whole life any ways.

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I agree. What Temps get them going but length of daylight, degree days, and moon phase trigger the spawn for most species. This isn't to say that some will start earlier or later.

Length of day light triggers spawn.

Spawn generally starts where I fish at 60-64* water temps, can spawn up to 70*+.

Spawning depth depends on water clarity, anywhere from 1'-20', but sunlight needs to reach the eggs.

Females usually do reabsorb eggs every year. They lay eggs in several nests, protected by the males, and almost never lay all of their eggs in a spawning season. If water drops or rises, the females could run again and lay eggs in a better spot based on conditions. Each female produces hundreds of thousands of eggs.

Crappies mature to spawn in 1-2 years, depending on growth rate of their location.

Males stay on the bed and do fan out a nest similar to a blue gill, but don't stay on the bed as tight as a bluegill. They may be tight on the bed, or 3-4' away from their bed under better cover keeping an eye on their eggs and watching for willing females to come in. In clear water lakes I've seen several males bunched on cover/wood structure, but run out to protect their nest when a predator or jig gets over their actual bed.

Females run in and find a bed guarded by a male, lays her eggs, and heads back out to deeper water, although hanging out at a similar depth as the male/nest, holding 2-4' deep even if in 15'+ of water. Females usually retreat to cover out in deeper water from the males, but fairly close 20'-50 yards. The female may be there for an hour or just a few minutes.

Spawning does happen in waves, but not all of the crappie are ready at the exact same time, or even the same week. Some could be on the banks spawning, and others be 10' deep having already spawned, or not ready yet.

From what I have seen the spawning colors fade a couple-few days after the males leave the nest.

full moon and new moon can be triggers to get the spawn going and for crappie to move shallower. just heard that at Crappie U by Barry and found it to be true few days later at my lake. usually bite ends or slows way down hour or so before dark. but as full moon was rising caught the fire out of bigger crappie, so I am a believer. read several so called experts saying the full and new moon's trigger spawning FWIW

:ThumbsUp:ThumbsUp

They are on the daylite savings time for spawning, so they will have an extra hr. of daylite beginning this saturday.(or does that only work for us lowly humans)..