Spawn right around the corner

[Tony the Tiger]

Only had four this morning. 3 whites and 1 black. The black had the start of yellow eggs in her.

[DockShootinJack]

That's enough for lunch. Ha

[Minners N Jigs]

Think you've still got some time until the next spawn, (5-6 months) but I'll do some more checking....

[Tony the Tiger]

End of Feb. here according to what I've read. Always during our high water in the swamp.

[scrat]

I read this about a fall spawn. You never know what "Mother Nature" will do.

Over the years, we’d heard reports of bass and crappies spawning in fall, but this had never been scientifically documented until biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found small juvenile crappies in their fall sampling at Orange Lake. Curious about their origin, they collected more samples and aged the young fish by looking at the daily growth rings on their otoliths.
The 2- and 3-inch crappies they collected in December had hatched between the first and fourth week of October. No good explanation of this phenomenon has been forthcoming, though rising water levels in fall were considered a possible trigger.


Read more: Crappie Science - In-Fisherman

[Tony the Tiger]

The start of roe in this fish had a long way to grow

[NIMROD]

Never seen any fish with anything other than tiny eggs just starting to form in the fall. Had a guy try to say they spawn in fall but never happens here .

[lowe175]

In my experience it happens when you water temperature hits the 60s for blacks and 70s for whites That probably going to be around March in mobile. I live 4 hours north of you Tony and it usually happens here in late March to early April. I would think early March would be about right ,
I have clean some with eggs in fall also but it's a small sack. Not surely why some have this already .

[CrappiePappy]

Not sure why some have this already .

The egg sac development starts in late Summer, and takes until Spring of the following year to completely develop. At least it does around here. I've been catching Crappie over the last two weeks, some of which have egg sacs starting to develop. They're less than half the size of a penny, but obviously egg sacs.
The lake, where I've been catching these fish, usually has a Crappie spawn in late April to early May .... IF ... the lake doesn't flood during that time frame, which it does about 60% of the time (during the months of March into May), unfortunately.

The spawn is triggered by water temps & photo period (length of daylight), as evidenced by the early calendar dates of the South & progressing towards the North.

... cp

[Tony the Tiger]

It takes a while for fish to develop their eggs The peak of the spawn for mullet on this part of the gulf coast is around thanksgiving and we would start seeing roe development in mid summer. So 5 months is right around the corner.