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Snow Crappie...
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Not exactly ... fish are cold blooded and therefore have to react accordingly. Water temps dictate what they do & when they do it. They instinctively know that eggs/fry would have little chance of survival in water temps below a certain range, and their metabolism is controlled by the water temps ... so egg development and maturation of the eggs are also controlled by the water temps.Originally Posted by electric chicken
So whos going after crappie tomorrow? This is tough yall, last week this time i was laying them in the boat. Today, watching the show fall on the boat! What a tease....Im strongly considering going out tomorrow. I know crazy right. But, fish have to eat! They should be hungry, getting ready to go into spawn mode soon. Regardless of whats happing above water, crappies internal clock is ticking, saying hey i need to eat, i need to lay all these eggs out soon or im going to bust.
Right???
They will continue to eat, just like they have all Winter .... it's just that they won't have to eat as much or as often, if the water temps stay low. Their slower metabolism, due to the cold water, will see to that. Warming trends will increase their metabolism, and speed up the egg maturation. But, cold spells that interrupt the warming trends can delay the process. Once the water temps get within a certain range & stay there for a period of time .... then it starts !!
Water level fluctuations, major fronts, and cold spells can mess with or completely devastate a spawning attempt. But the fish will keep attempting to spawn, until the water temps are so high that survival of the fry is unlikely ... at which point the fish will give up the attempt to spawn and reabsorb the eggs. They instinctively know that it's better to consume the protein, for their own survival, than it is to eject it & lose the nutritional value of it.
... cp
