I don't like this!!!!

[Cane Pole]

Went wading in the flats this weekend. The TN. River is down by 2 feet since last weekend. What I saw was a lot of empty "nests" on dry land. I am afraid that some crappie have spawned shallow, then the river dropped and left the the nest land bound without water. I don't understand why TVA would do this. I know the is a flood control system, but I have not seen any threat of a flood. I do not know the long term affect of this sudden lowering of the water, but I am concerned about fishing a few years from today. I do not know (for sure) the incubation period of our prizes, but I am sure it is more than a few days. I saw no frys swiming about. Usually I see some this time of the year. Well, maybe I am jumping to conclusions, but I still don't like what I observed.

[Barnacle Bill]

You reading my mind Tom? I was wondering the same thing about Kerr lake recently. With the water being a little high and the fish spawning. Then the water drops. I was wondering if maybe they can sense this and not spawn so high? But from what you are saying, they must not.

[whizkids]

Below is an abstract from a study in Tenn. on size limits. One area of the study dealt with Hydrology ( water level) during the spawn. Draw you own conclusions.



EFFECTS OF HYDROLOGY ON RECRUITMENT OF CRAPPIES IN TENNESSEE RESERVOIRS

Black crappies and white crappies were sampled to index recruitment in eight reservoirs (four mainstems, four tributary storage impoundments) across the state of Tennessee. Crappie recruitment variation in two reservoirs was estimated from historical catch of age-0 fish in fall trapnet samples. In the remaining six reservoirs, variation in recruitment was assessed by examining residuals generated from catch curves. Mean daily discharge and reservoir storage volume values were obtained for each reservoir for three time periods each year: pre-spawn (1 January to 31 March), spawning (1 April to 31 May) and summer (1 June to 30 September). A combined model for three of four tributary storage impoundments revealed a strong positive relationship between year-class strength and discharge in the pre-spawn period. Discharge data were not available for the fourth tributary impoundment; however, year-class strength was negatively related to storage volume of the reservoir in the pre-spawn period. Crappie recruitment in the four mainstem impoundments was highest at intermediate levels of discharge, and a weak inverse relationship existed between crappie recruitment and mean daily discharge during the spawning period. No other relations were found between crappie recruitment and other hydrological variables in any reservoir. Crappie recruitment was linked to reservoir hydrology; however, the critical time and nature of the relationship (positive or negative) differed between tributary storage impoundments and mainstem impoundments. Thus, it is likely that crappie populations will rarely have strong year classes simultaneously over a wide geographic area, or even within a single watershed.

[Cane Pole]

Below is an abstract from a study in Tenn. on size limits. One area of the study dealt with Hydrology ( water level) during the spawn. Draw you own conclusions.



EFFECTS OF HYDROLOGY ON RECRUITMENT OF CRAPPIES IN TENNESSEE RESERVOIRS

Black crappies and white crappies were sampled to index recruitment in eight reservoirs (four mainstems, four tributary storage impoundments) across the state of Tennessee. Crappie recruitment variation in two reservoirs was estimated from historical catch of age-0 fish in fall trapnet samples. In the remaining six reservoirs, variation in recruitment was assessed by examining residuals generated from catch curves. Mean daily discharge and reservoir storage volume values were obtained for each reservoir for three time periods each year: pre-spawn (1 January to 31 March), spawning (1 April to 31 May) and summer (1 June to 30 September). A combined model for three of four tributary storage impoundments revealed a strong positive relationship between year-class strength and discharge in the pre-spawn period. Discharge data were not available for the fourth tributary impoundment; however, year-class strength was negatively related to storage volume of the reservoir in the pre-spawn period. Crappie recruitment in the four mainstem impoundments was highest at intermediate levels of discharge, and a weak inverse relationship existed between crappie recruitment and mean daily discharge during the spawning period. No other relations were found between crappie recruitment and other hydrological variables in any reservoir. Crappie recruitment was linked to reservoir hydrology; however, the critical time and nature of the relationship (positive or negative) differed between tributary storage impoundments and mainstem impoundments. Thus, it is likely that crappie populations will rarely have strong year classes simultaneously over a wide geographic area, or even within a single watershed.

Sure sounds like someone is talking with anal vocal cords to me.

Tom

[Barnacle Bill]

Hey Whizkids, how about interpreting that for us. I think its telling us something. LOL

[whizkids]

Not a good spawn if the water drops. Water may not drop the same in all bodies of water in one watershed. Such as Kerr may drop water level while the water level in Gaston may stay constant. Bad spawn in Kerr, good spawn at Gaston. We all knew that before tax money was spent to prove it. LOL

[Crapbie]

Does anyone have the cliff notes? Canepole do you think that maybe some crappie will
spawn deeper just incase? I would think there would always be some to pick strange places. I don't think that all crappie spawn in the exact same kind of places. I think that there will always be some stange fish that will do something way different. also is it possible that allthough most crappie spawn at one particular full moon, some will wait for the next one and some may have done it at the previous full moon?

I heard that the largest crappies spawn first so maybe all the largest crappies eggs made it all the way while the smallers ones didn't. You never know maybe the lake will be better then ever in a few years from selective breeding (kinda)

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Tom:

From my observations while cleaning crappie nearly every day during the prespawn, spawn and postspawn the females lay their eggs a few at a time during stable weather with stable water levels over about a 6 to 8-week period.

I think they start as early as possible and stretch out the spawn as long as possible and each female lays a portion of her eggs over a several week period in different nests for different males possibly even in different areas of the lake to give at least some of their offspring a chance at survival.

The egg sacs get smaller through the spawn but they get smaller faster during stable conditions. There is always at least a small portion of eggs left over in the egg sacks after the spawn is over.

One major difference in the two lakes I guide on is that one is steady level and the other is flood control. If we have a lot of rain during the spawn the flood control lake will go up and down a lot and at the end of the spawn the crappie and also the bass and bream end up with a lot of eggs left over, which they eventually reabsorb.

This happened three years ago on the flood control lake and we are catching a ton of crappie that are 8 to 10-inches long, which should put them at about 3-years old so apparently a significant number of fish were able to successfully spawn even though it appeared at the time that most of them held a lot of their eggs.

When the lake levels go up and down a lot during the spawn we’ll find that the bottom of the tails on a lot of the males will be raw from fanning beds. When conditions change they move and fan out a new bed so if conditions are constantly changing they end up moving a lot and wearing the bottoms off their tales in the process.

I think crappie are very adaptable and VERY determined to have a successful spawn. We catch more fish on the flood control lake than we do on the steady level lake but we average bigger fish on the steady level lake, which may be because the spawn is less stressful for them their. I've noticed that both males and females can loose up to 1/3 of their body weight during the spawn.

I’ve read that a 2-pound crappie can lay up to 500,000 eggs during a single spawn so I wouldn’t worry too much about the lake going up and down some during the spawn. They’ll “Get-r-done” somehow somewhere even with you stomping around in their bedrooms.

[Moose1am]

I must agree. Way too many words to describe something that didn't even makes any sense. Crappie Recruitment? Sounds like an ad for UNCLE SAM.

Why don't they just say the crappie spawn was sucessful or not when the water levels in the lake were dropped during the actual spawn.

Who gives a rat about prespawn or post spawn water levels. The crappie are smart enough to go to deeper water after they spawn and the water levels drop.

Only thing that effects the eggs is no water over the nest. How much simplier could it be?

TVA does not care about the crappie spawn or the crappie fishing industry on KY lake evidently. If they did care they would not drop the water levels in the month of April. All they care about is selling power and preventing floods.

Sure sounds like someone is talking with anal vocal cords to me.

Tom

[DENNIS BOWERS]

Canepole--we"ve Got The Same Thing Here.the Coe Have Pulled About 18 Inches In The Last Few Days---they Cant Need The Power,an Like You Said...it Sure Dont Look Like Its Gonna Flood!!i Sure Dont Understand Their Thinking Process??maybe Thats The Problem--they Dont Think Before Acting! Good Fishin To Ya!!!dennis