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Originally Posted by goblerblaster
Reply With QuoteLength of day light triggers spawn.
Spawn generally starts where I fish at 60-64* water temps, can spawn up to 70*+.
Spawning depth depends on water clarity, anywhere from 1'-20', but sunlight needs to reach the eggs.
Females usually do reabsorb eggs every year. They lay eggs in several nests, protected by the males, and almost never lay all of their eggs in a spawning season. If water drops or rises, the females could run again and lay eggs in a better spot based on conditions. Each female produces hundreds of thousands of eggs.
Crappies mature to spawn in 1-2 years, depending on growth rate of their location.
Males stay on the bed and do fan out a nest similar to a blue gill, but don't stay on the bed as tight as a bluegill. They may be tight on the bed, or 3-4' away from their bed under better cover keeping an eye on their eggs and watching for willing females to come in. In clear water lakes I've seen several males bunched on cover/wood structure, but run out to protect their nest when a predator or jig gets over their actual bed.
Females run in and find a bed guarded by a male, lays her eggs, and heads back out to deeper water, although hanging out at a similar depth as the male/nest, holding 2-4' deep even if in 15'+ of water. Females usually retreat to cover out in deeper water from the males, but fairly close 20'-50 yards. The female may be there for an hour or just a few minutes.
Spawning does happen in waves, but not all of the crappie are ready at the exact same time, or even the same week. Some could be on the banks spawning, and others be 10' deep having already spawned, or not ready yet.
From what I have seen the spawning colors fade a couple-few days after the males leave the nest.
