are often a sign of things to come in the crappie hanky panky dept.
so tell me your version pretty please with all the scientific data about how far away the spawn is when this occurs in the fish.
hear lots of versions of what it means to be in this actual development stage and for sure from my wanderings don't adhere to the "scientific" findings .
every year on some fishing forums folks say it is mostly water temp. driven , but this can't totally be the case as it varies dramatically in these parts on similar lakes within 20 miles of each other.
2 spots I know of have a white crappie run in February and I get told every year the water is too cold and they are just chasing bait, and every year folks complain on those 2 lakes about the poor spawn and the small fish , because they missed the first run of the big fish ...
and then as well, why would fish in a rather shallow water body go to short water after the fish in a deep water lake too ....
and currently our area waters are very cold , low 50 range on a warm day
so do tell ...