Originally Posted by
CrappiePappy
The first two pics do seem to indicate a darkening of the tip end of the egg sac, which would indicate that the fish is starting to absorb the eggs ... or, at least, the eggs are not going to be dropped and are in the process of disintegration.
The bottom pic shows a brighter yellow color to the eggs, which would indicate that they are not yet even developed enough to consider dropping. But, at this point in the season, considering the factors that control spawning, they probably wouldn't be viable in time to matter. And even if they were, there may not be any males still on the beds to accommodate them. The fact that the males are still "dark" doesn't necessarily indicate that they're still in the spawning mood. They may have just given up, recently, and haven't evened out their hormone level ... and returning their coloration back to normal. Also, the fact that they were caught "together", from the same group & depth as the females, would indicate to me that they're schooling back up ... as they would normally do post-spawn.
Again, I say ... I'm no expert on the matter, and these are just my assumptions.