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Fished Rhodhiss on Saturday. Had a great day; caught about 25 with 10 being 10-12 inches. Really quality fish for Rhodhiss. Brought home 10 for supper, and surprise!... 8 of the 10 were still full of eggs. Water temperature was 74 degrees.
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Well I will be a monkey's uncle! The mystery of the Spring of 2012 continues.....Nice catch. Scotty and I got on a good bunch of gills and boated a good mess of Bull Gills...Maybe we will get a shallow bite on Hiss yet....?
Nice and great pictures.
I was shocked when i started cleaning them. Woulda never believed they'd still have eggs in 74 degree water. All were caught on jigs, in tree tops at least 10' deep.
I have been catching a bunch on James that also have eggs in them and some look as though the eggs are being absorbed back into the fish. I don't know if they are going to spawn and I don't know if this is a normal occurance for some fish.
Agree with logs. Even catching a few females here with more eggs than you'd think would be absorbed. Not rite sure what's going on with some of these fishies.:rolleyes:
I caught a few crappie at the pond Saturday with eggs still in them.
I have a theory that the shallows warmed up quicker than usual... and well before the other things that usually trigger the spawn. If you read "Reason # 9 ~ Crappie Fishing 101 ~ For Newbies"
we talked about how there are three things necessary to trigger the spawn: (1) Water temperatures between 63 - 70 degrees; (2) length of daylight of at least 13 hours; and (3) a full or new
moon phase.
Because water temperatures warmed far quicker than normal (due to a warmer than usual winter) and well before the daylight hours reached 13 hours; the fish had no other choice than to
spawn deeper and later than normal to take advantage of the optimal conditions for spawning. Therefore, I believe the majority of fish postponed the spawn and waited (until now) for all of these
essential elements be be present... which caused the spawn to occur later than normal... and also caused the spawn to occur deeper than normal. The majority of fishermen are reading water
temperatures that are well in excess of 73 to even 75 degrees... but what they should realize is that the water temperatures at depths of 15 to 20 feet are likely (still) at optimum temperatures
(between 63 and 70 degrees) for the active spawning period to still be happening.
Accordingly, I believe, there is a much later than normal spawn and that it might be still occurring (even now) in deeper than normal water.
Thanks to all the reporters who are confirming that fact and thanks again for a very good thread topic.