How long can the spawn last?

[sjprkr1]

I can't help but notice in the females that I've caught over the last month. Some had really bloody eggs, some had very light colored egg sacs and some had almost laid all of theirs. It almost evenly averages out to a 33.3% type deal. I began seeing this pattern in late February and it's still going! How have most of them them not finished spawning yet? I've never seen it drag on this long. Is it a bad thing? Just wondering what anybody else is seeing. Most all of my fish have come from Bankhead on the Warrior River.

[CrappiePappy]

Spawns can last for weeks, given that the conditions don't stay stable over a shorter period of time. With this yo-yo weather situation, it's likely that they will "try" & come in, & get pushed off, try again, etc. They will continue to move in & out until the water temps are such that any further attempt would be pointless ... and they'll consume the eggs (for their own survival).

In a perfect world, under perfect conditions (water level/water temps/stable weather) ... it wouldn't take, all those mature enough to spawn, more than a week to spawn out.

Unfortunately, we don't have perfect conditions ... so the fish will adapt, and continue trying to spawn until their instincts tell them it's fruitless. That may be a problem for the fish ... but not necessarily for the anglers, as it does spread the timeframe of them being shallow over a longer period of time. Can you imagine what Crappie fishing during the spawn would be like, if they all came in to spawn within a few days time

... cp

[sjprkr1]

Thanks for the reply and nice info cp. I've only been fishing for them all of the time for a couple of years and haven't ever known them to have such a variation in eggs for this long.

[LarryDavid]

You also have to know that just because it gets down in the 40s for a couple of nights, that does not throw these fish off in any way, shape or form. It only affects the surface water temperature a few degrees, and hardly any down a couple feet under the surface. You're just catching fish in different stages of the spawn and I really think the spawn is just fine. There hasn't been any nights lately in the teens or prolonged 30s, the water temp has been in the strike zone for quite a while now and everything is fine actually.

[panfanman]

Don't know but I'm from South Carolina and we've been sayin the same about the spawn dragging longer and slower than usual.