Fishing 5-19-06

[Eager Beaver]

Went out Friday fishing and started out slow. My first Crappie bed was full of bass and went to my second spawning bed and the new owners had torn out the wood retaining wall and was replacing it with a metal wall. It will be ok after they are done with it but it has really screwed up the spawning bed for now in that cove. Was going to run down the lake to try another spawning bed but thought I would try along the dam first. It turned out to be a good discition. Went to the wind ward side of the dam and dropped an anchor and started catching bass ,walleye, and some nice crappie. Took a picture of Lyle with a 12 inch Crappie. When the fishing slowed down we just moved down a little ways and anchored up again and sat and caught some nice crappie. The Males were 5-8 ft deep and the females were 12-14 ft. All the females had eggs in them yet. Most of the bigger females seemed like they was starting to absorb their eggs. When filleted the eggs were like mush and loose. The smaller females eggs were still firm in there sack yet. When filleted they stayed together. The water temp was 64 degrees, and very clear. I could watch my chartruese jig down about 6-8 ft below the surface. I sat out in 14-17 ft and anchored up. We fished straight down for the females and cast to the males. The water was so clear we had to stay away and cast to the males. We used mostly minnows because the water was so clear.

[Joe58]

Eager Beaver ~

What lakes where you hitting? Up here in my area, I've been fishing at Maskentine over by Stanton (Maskenthine is very low already, lots of weed beds growing up in 5 to 7 feet of water), and at Willow Creek by Pierce, and I have found pretty much the same as you. Females all still with eggs.

My father and I fished the crappie tourney at Sherman last weekend and they still had eggs as well.

Being pretty much new to the more serious crappie fishing, I was a bit puzzled by what you meant by the females absorbing their eggs. Do you mean to say that if they do not spawn after a certain time they won't?

Glad you are having some success over there in your part of the state!

Take care.......Joe

[wrwest]

sound like you had a good day of fishing. Good lookin fish too...

[fish_detective]

Now that is a fun day, one thing to think about is that you got away and had fun. Hope you have a great year...

[Eager Beaver]

Eager Beaver ~

What lakes where you hitting? Up here in my area, I've been fishing at Maskentine over by Stanton (Maskenthine is very low already, lots of weed beds growing up in 5 to 7 feet of water), and at Willow Creek by Pierce, and I have found pretty much the same as you. Females all still with eggs.

My father and I fished the crappie tourney at Sherman last weekend and they still had eggs as well.

Being pretty much new to the more serious crappie fishing, I was a bit puzzled by what you meant by the females absorbing their eggs. Do you mean to say that if they do not spawn after a certain time they won't?

Glad you are having some success over there in your part of the state!

Take care.......Joe

Thank you!
Joe, I have been fishing a private lake south of Plattsmouth. The Lake is still about 2-1/2 ft low yet. Crappie spawn a couple of times a year and if they don't spawn in a certain amount of time they will absorb the eggs into their system. This is to assure that they have a year class if the weather doesn't co-operate, like it is doing this year. The next time I go I will take some pic and show you what I am taking about if I find any with eggs.

[Eager Beaver]

[QUOTE=Joe58]Eager Beaver ~
Being pretty much new to the more serious crappie fishing, I was a bit puzzled by what you meant by the females absorbing their eggs. Do you mean to say that if they do not spawn after a certain time they won't?



I got these today so you can see what I am talking about with the eggs. The ones on the top are from small females 10 to 11 inch Crappie. The bottom eggs are from the Bigger 12-13 inch Crappie. They are like mush and aren't together as the smaller egg sacks are. You can see between the two sets of eggs that there are individual eggs. This is the way they came out of the fish.