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I was very surprised to clean a crappie that was full of eggs. This was July 3rd. Water surface was 81°. The fish was shallow just like a spring spawn. July is late for this area. I know they don't all spawn in the same window but this is a first for me. Just scratching my head and wondering why.
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I think the spawn in SE PA was running late this year. Cold temps and flooding type rains probably wiped a lot of the early bedders out.
Bob
That maybe it Bob. Didn't think of that.
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I catch crappie that have eggs in them all months of the year.
Regards
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Same here [emoji106]Quote:
Originally Posted by Alphahawk
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AND I KETCH LIL BITTY BABY CRAPPIE YEAR ROUND tooo ......amazing aint it .....:yikes:Rofl
I catch them with eggs all year long as well
again I SAY THIS >>>> I ketch little bitty 3 inch baby crappie year round >>>> hint hint hint >>>>>:banghead
The age old riddle of which comes first the crappie or the egg?
it is more like do you think they really grow THAT much slower in some spots than others ? have seen east Texas crappie with ready to lay bright yellow eggs in August .....makes ya wonder dont it :dono
Biologist told me they won't hatch if water is hot . Latest I ever saw full egg sacks here was late May . Things so crazy these days who really knows ? :crazy:
I have caught some really small ones in January. No way they could be the better part of a year old. That fishes main job is to perpetuate the species. I am positive when the conditions are favorable they will do just that.
In the river system here in East Tennessee. We have many cold water tributaries coming out of the mountains and some large springs coming into other areas. I would think the fish could find a temp that they desired to lay eggs
biologist told me that if an egg gets fertilized it will
hatch with or without sunlight as long as it isn't frozen solid .
so that amount of sunlight and warmth bla bla bla we hear every spring is just that as well ....
every year someone says they have to have a certain amount of light to hatch ....
biologists here say NOPE ,will hatch in total darkness if fertilized....
there are probably about 3 months or so a year here that it ain't likely they can actually reproduce
the other 9 months is a who, what, when and where thing best I can tell
It is good for us that they are so prolific at making new fish.
poor parenting is their thing and often times some of the poorest of parents really do spit them out if you get my drift :yikesQuote:
Originally Posted by DockShootinJack
makes ya wonder if the get government assistance for such prolific reproduction and poor parenting :Rofl
I was thinking of the fellas that hit the spawning grounds on a search and destroy mission. You do have a valid point.
they spawn many times each year per individual , they run and gun and get it done , the idea god placed inside them, is that if you do it often and keep at it ,some if not all of the reproductive activity will be a success .Quote:
Originally Posted by DockShootinJack
the success rates depend on lots of factors , but to be sure they stay really busy making little crappie for several months a year .
My thoughts exactly.
Caught a big mess of bluegills the other day that were loaded with eggs. Thought they were full of food, never seen it this late before. I think the fast warm up this spring screwed up a lot of fish. Water temp went from 50 to 70+ in a week here.
Up here in IA/IL we do not get multiple spawns. Our water usually rises quickly from 40-60 in two weeks mid may, then 70+ by june, then 80s july/august, and will fall from 70 to 40-50 in a week or two in sept/oct depending on weather. Just isnt right up here for multiple spawns.
While eggs will hatch without light, they need to be clean (no silt) and the temp has to be correct. Two degrees off on water temp will change the development of the eggs/fry. Crappies cant spawn in 80deg water, not successfully that is. The whole sunlight thing is for water temp, more hours of sun means more stable water temp and less swings at night. If that water falls to 50deg at night the fry will not develope.
Crappie only spring spawners here . i catch hundreds ever month of the year . They are always in some stage of building egg sacks . Biologists tell most places spawning occurs once each year but can be spread out over several weeks sometimes . Been several people from time to time ask about fall spawns but biologists have told me it don't happen here .
Been discussed many times on here . https://www.crappie.com/crappie/main...0the%20process.
on a private lake I once owned for a decade the BG would be on different spawning beds from april thru august and biologist I spoke with said crappie can do it different times of year and have seen black spawn different time than whites.
one lake in my home region they were done on all bigger lakes by mid may except one and we had the most incredible spawning run all the way thru first week in june. I was lucky enough to get the 411 on it and went several times thru that first week in june. but if some of the crappie guru's on here say they will do it thru most of year and they fish one heck of a lot more than I will believe it.
Bluegills spawn every full moon in warm monthsQuote:
Originally Posted by Kevin22
Not around here. I'm sorry but they just don't. I've been fishing bluegills for almost 30 years and never seen "ready" eggs past early June until now. They start building eggs for next year pretty quickly, but that is not what I am talking about. Totally different than you guys down south. We have a short growing season and very short spawn seasons for all species, which is why our fish are slow growing and smaller. A 10" crappie up here is 6-7 years old, a 14" can be 12-15 years old.Quote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD
Where I also fish in Minnesota, they have adapted a 10 bluegill limit as they are trying to get more 9-10" fish in the lakes. In their studies they found 15+ year old bluegills that were 9" long, and it is not from over populating.. its because of the short growing season when 5 months of the year the lakes have ice on them. I witnessed the shortest bluegill spawn I've ever seen up there this spring, I watched males build beds on monday, spawn on tuesday and weds, and the females be post spawn and off the beds on thurs. Thurs/fri we caught spawned out female bluegills all day long and never saw one with eggs. These beds were 100-150 bed patches, unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. Hundreds and hundreds of females staged just off them, spawned at once and done two days later. I have also never caught a female bluegill with eggs there in july in 26 years of fishing it.