CrappieTom - no spawn this year?

[sloopjont]

Hey CrappieTom! Thought I'd contribute - thanks to you and united for keeping things going waiting for others to post.
I was on Deer Lake in Wisconsin today, pretty clear lake. We were catching small to average size crappies, maybe caught 40 or 50 and kept about ten about 10", good action for the kids (lots of largemouth mixed in, too!). Fish were in about 10 feet of water.
But, when I cleaned them, there were still eggs in most of the fish.
What's your take on that? Do you think they missed the spawn this year?

[united jigsticker]

I don't want to step on Tom's toes, but I'll offer my opinion on this issue as well.

I believe that female Crappies can not excrete 100% of their eggs.

I have seen this year after year, and there is always some residual eggs left behind in the females I have cleaned.

Also, even if the fish "miss" the spawn due to unfavorable conditions, the fish will typically "dump" their eggs.

My best explanation for this, while not exactly technical and scientific, is they can only be "pregnant" for so long before needing to release.

What kind of mass of eggs are you seeing? Is it comparable to what you'd see a Crappie hoilding around the early part of May?

Good luck and good fishing

[This message has been edited by united jigsticker (edited 06-24-2003).]

[sloopjont]

Hi Jigsticker! Thanks for the reply.

The amount of eggs is not as much or as 'ripe' as when they're in the week they're going to spawn. There's no belly-bulge like usual that tell you they are carrying eggs. It's more like the after ice-out, early May look.

Your theory seems to hold up to what I'm seeing in these fish.

[CrappieJohn]

Sloop...As UJ stated, these fish will hold spawn until conditions are right, void only so many of the available eggs on board, and if conditions do not come about that will allow a "taking" spawn, they will dump the eggs. To add to this, the fish have been known to retain and re-absorb the eggs as well. This year has been a tough one to figure. We approached the mid pre-spawn without too much hassle, but the late pre-spawn was nailed in most areas with these revolving door fronts and with COLD rain and wind. All of this on and off activity with the weather is tough enough on the fisherman let alone the fish. One must have to assume though that most of the fish were able to spawn, at least in part and hence the fish still holding eggs. If they were(the egss) a golden orange color and more a liquid mass than visible eggs, the fish are probably going to re-absorb then. To add to UJ's theory of not dropping all of the eggs, I think that the reason the hens are so huge in the gut at the spawn is that the fish rely on the sheer weight of that volumn to expel the eggs. When the pressure within the gut no longer is great enough to force any more eggs out, they are techically done. If you look closely at a crappie you will see that there is little in the line of muscle in the belly and near the vent, so something has to assist them some. Not being a scientist, this is what I think. If the taking of fish is a concern, I would urge you to take only the "black" fish during the spawn ans set a keeping slot the falls in the middle of the size range for the crappies in your lake. On many species c/r is the most beneficial way to sustain the fishery, while with other fish a selective harvest does more good...crappies fall into that catagory.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!