Temp-

[bentpole]

This my have been asked before,But at what WATER temp- does it take before a crappie will lay their eggs.>>>>Bentpole

[FalconSmitty]

different on each lake but between 65-70 I think. That is what I have used for years. Crappie may be spawning on one end of a lake but not on the other at the same temps

[Crappie Attitude]

FalconSmitty, Is that 65-70 farenheit or celsius?

bentpole,To take what FalconSmitty said one step further, in my experience water temp is only one factor and not neccesarily the most important. Nor is it unimportant.

There are several other things as FalconSmitty mentioned that come into play, length of daylight, water color, moon phase, water levels and of course surface temp. It's a combination of many factors.

I can say this though, in my experience on a particular latitude and longitude you can predict the spawn inside a band of prolly two weeks on the calendar each year. I don't know the science of it but that has been my observation.

Just fish every day for a month straight and you are bound to hit it right! :D

[CrappiePappy]

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/crappi.../gf_aa013601a/

..........cp

[Jerry Blake]

Hey CP:

Good article but I have a problem with one statement:

"For anglers, this means that you can catch males on the nest guarding the eggs and fry for about 10 days, but the females deposit their eggs and leave, giving anglers only about a 24-hour period to catch them in the actual nests."

I think as long as conditions are favorable, which could last for 4 to 6 weeks and maybe longer, there will be crappie moving in and out of the spawning beds. At least that’s now it seems in the reservoirs I fish.

I don't think each female lays all her eggs in a 24-hour period but lay a few at a time in different nests for different males on different days to give some of her offspring a chance at survival.

If all the females came in and laid there eggs in a 24 hour period followed by heavy thundershowers most if not all the spawn could be lost due to water level, clarity and temperature changes.

Since I have been guiding I have been concentrating more on staging beds than the shallows during the spawn, especially when I have more than two clients with me.

We catch about equal numbers of both males and females on average on staging beds during the spawn and find that once the females start laying their eggs the egg sacs will gradually get smaller and smaller over at least a month indicating to me that the spawn is continuing through this period.

[TAE73]

Also depends on how big your lake is, on Truman Lake in Missouri. The spawn starts in the upper ends of the lake and takes several weeks as it travels down the lake.

[kunes]

Hey CP:

Good article but I have a problem with one statement:

"For anglers, this means that you can catch males on the nest guarding the eggs and fry for about 10 days, but the females deposit their eggs and leave, giving anglers only about a 24-hour period to catch them in the actual nests."

I think as long as conditions are favorable, which could last for 4 to 6 weeks and maybe longer, there will be crappie moving in and out of the spawning beds. At least that’s now it seems in the reservoirs I fish.

I don't think each female lays all her eggs in a 24-hour period but lay a few at a time in different nests for different males on different days to give some of her offspring a chance at survival.

If all the females came in and laid there eggs in a 24 hour period followed by heavy thundershowers most if not all the spawn could be lost due to water level, clarity and temperature changes.

Since I have been guiding I have been concentrating more on staging beds than the shallows during the spawn, especially when I have more than two clients with me.

We catch about equal numbers of both males and females on average on staging beds during the spawn and find that once the females start laying their eggs the egg sacs will gradually get smaller and smaller over at least a month indicating to me that the spawn is continuing through this period.

Right on as far as I've seen. Last year someone from NC posted that the crappies start to spawn when the dogwoods bloom. Someone else told me they spawn when the water temp stays at 64 overnite. Both those events occured on the same day last spring. From my deck I could look down into the shallow end of a Lake Wylie cove. Sure enough-the crappies moved in to spawn. The first was a large female. She went around to 3 different nests that I could see and deposited eggs on each. She made the rounds several times. Other crappies soon came into the same area and used the same nests. I also agree with concentrating on staging areas during this time.

[unknown 5]

I will go with the dogwood bloom. The crappie are generally spawning and the fishing is great when the dogwood is blooming.

[Cane Pole]

One thing I have observed over the years is that the smaller females move in first, followed as much as 2 to 3 weeks by the larger females. I have observed this time and again as I usually do some "wading" during this time. Boy, they can get shallow too. I can see their dorsil fin out of the water. It is something to behold. When the males move in and set up housekeeping, it is something to see too. They fight!!! These nests are only a couple of feet apart. It is unbelivable. I have tried to take pictures of this, but I cannot tell the fish from the debris (leaves and twigs). Other fish get busy at this time too, especially gar fish.
Also bass busting the water at this time. I need a HDTV camera. When the water is over pool during spawn, you can see where the nests were in the fine gravel at the entrance to my boat dock...It looks like a bunch of scooped out shallow holes in the driveway. Water temp is usually 63F to 68F degrees and dogwoods are blooming. Also notices when Buttercups start pushing up, the fish start moving and biting strong. These are just personal observations. No scientific data to back my observations.

[Moose1am]

Cane Pole:

Try putting a polarizing filter over the camera lense and see if that helps. Might help cut the glare and allow you to see the fish under the water in your picture. Fool with the lens and rotate it until it screens out the most sunlight (get darker) then try taking the picture. You may have in open up one stop to compensate for the filter.

One thing I have observed over the years is that the smaller females move in first, followed as much as 2 to 3 weeks by the larger females. I have observed this time and again as I usually do some "wading" during this time. Boy, they can get shallow too. I can see their dorsil fin out of the water. It is something to behold. When the males move in and set up housekeeping, it is something to see too. They fight!!! These nests are only a couple of feet apart. It is unbelivable. I have tried to take pictures of this, but I cannot tell the fish from the debris (leaves and twigs). Other fish get busy at this time too, especially gar fish.
Also bass busting the water at this time. I need a HDTV camera. When the water is over pool during spawn, you can see where the nests were in the fine gravel at the entrance to my boat dock...It looks like a bunch of scooped out shallow holes in the driveway. Water temp is usually 63F to 68F degrees and dogwoods are blooming. Also notices when Buttercups start pushing up, the fish start moving and biting strong. These are just personal observations. No scientific data to back my observations.