When I fished the Fall Brawl, at Watts Bar last Oct, I helped clean the weigh in catch. The females, as I remember, had small egg sacs already developing. Some sacs you could have hid with a penny, but others were already twice that big. So ... no, it isn't "a bit early' (for them to have eggs). Since spawning time can come as early as late March to early April in TN ... and that's only 6-8weeks off, I would suspect that the eggs sacs should be near 1/2 to 3/4 of their eventual size, by this time. I just hope that the weather and water levels cooperate to make some good spawns this Spring ... not only for the great state of Tenn, but for my home state of KY, as well. My local watering holes have suffered thru major flooding events in about 3 of the last 4 years, during the majority of the spawning periods. That could come around to haunt us, in the next couple of years.
Good luck on your boat "dealings" ..........cp