Crappie Eggs?

Caught a limit (25 in Florida) on Saturday and Sunday. A few slabs, but mostly very fat 11 & 12 inch fish. A little better then half were females and they were all loaded with eggs. Obviously, they have not spawned. Caught them 7-10 feet deep in 12-14 foot deep water. I was fishing in a 6,000 to 7,000 acre lake that lost all vegetation in 2004 due to 3 hurricanes. There is no grass or weeds for them to spawn in. Many are hoping they will spawn on wood, but nobody knows if they will. The eggs were very mushy and did not have the membrane around them that usually holds the egg sack together. There were a few of the red veins in them, but not many. Do you folks have any experience with eggs in this condition? Some of the locals think there will not be a spawn, that the fish will just expel their eggs. This is the time for the normal spawn. Any thoughts?

I would think that they would try and spawn ... anywhere they can. Mud, gravel, or sand banks with sparse vegetation is their "preferred" spawning habitat (we are talking Black Crappie here, right?) From your description, it sounds like they are, in fact, in the prespawn stage ... and looking for suitable bedding areas.
There's lakes I fish, here in KY, that have both White & Black Crappie ... but no vegetation growing. The Black Crappie spawn on/around the wood cover, that is in abundance in these lakes. So, yes ... they can & will use whatever cover or bottom composition is available, given good water quality/temps/conditions.

The Crappie will not "expel" the eggs, just to get rid of them. If conditions prevail, that prevents them from spawning, they'll keep their eggs and consume the nutrients for their own nourishment. But, instincts will tell them to try and spawn, even in marginal conditions. Even the survival of only a few of their offspring, is better than no survival of ALL of them.

If the grasses died out in 2004, and haven't returned (in 2yrs) ... has there been any attempt to transplant any aquatic vegetation to this lake ? Has there been any re-emergence of "any" type of vegetation ? If not ... sounds like you need to get busy and start planting some "condo's" (if it is legal) !!
....luck2ya ...... cp :cool:

Lake Greeson here in southwest central Arkansas has no aquatic vegetation whatsoever and both black and white crappie do well. There really isn't much wood cover either since the COE doesn't let the lake come up high enough until the spawn is over for flood control reasons. Local fisherman put some cover in the lakes but most of it is too deep for crappie to spawn around.

Each species has "preferred" spawning (and living in general) conditions but they apparently are very adaptable to a wide range of conditions since their range is from Florida to Canada and east coast to west coast and they flourish in everything from small shallow ditches to rivers to deep reservoirs.

When Lake Greeson is down in late summer and fall the areas where the crappie spawn are exposed and it's amazing how little cover is available so I don't think lack of cover is a reason for them not to spawn.

As Pappy mentioned if conditions don't get "right" the females will hold their eggs and reabsorb them through the summer. Unstable lake levels and up and down weather seems to be the primary reason for crappie to end up with a lot of unused eggs after the spawn is over.

Good info, thanks to both of you.

i dont think the lack of vegetation is gonna prevent your fish from spawning. when the water temp gets right they gonna lay out.