Lake Webster spawn

[danno76]

I am trying to plan a trip to Webster this spring and was wondering when the spring spawn was typically over?

[Ifishtolive]

Now days it seems as the spawn is not typical anymore! But usually mid April it seems to wind up. But on some years like last year the muskies may come in and a huge coldfront may push them back out and they absorb their eggs and do not spawn. Here in Indiana I saw a lot less of all species up shallow last year. I normally do well sight fishing for large panfish but last year they just were not there. The best thing to do is watch the weather and during warming trends look for a large cold front that will last a long period, that probably would not be a good time to come. I was out with Mike last May, the third week, and the water was still warming, we saw alot of fish but they were really lazy! Good Luck!!

Buddy Ellenburg

Take a kid fishing they'll have a lifetime of memories!

[Mike Hulbert]

Indiana spawn is just as screwed up as Indiana weather...it can happen in early april, mid april or sometimes late april...it all depends on what kind of weather Mother Nature throws at us. Generally speaking, spawn is typically done and over with by the last weekend of April. Some still might be spawning, but like I said for the most part the majority of the fish will have been spawned out by late April.

[todd williams]

caught one last year on sechrist in musky classic, mid may, and she poured eggs out.

[Mike Hulbert]

It is not uncommon to catch fish that still are full of eggs in May, especially if we have a cold front during the spring spawn like we have had the past two seasons. Also, remember that not every female will drop her eggs. Some of these fish will never spawn or even come up shallow to spawn.

[todd williams]

i guess that is just the musky way. these fish don't go along with our common sense. i wonder why they would go to the trouble of producing eggs and then not drop them at all. i can see the weather really messing them up' but to not go through with the spawn is weird. then again why would a fish expend all the energy to follow baits and not eat them consistently. again a lot of energy spent for no reason. mike, is the spawn thing a stocked fish thing, or does this happen in naturally occurring muskies too? todd

[Ifishtolive]

This occurs with all fish for unknown reasons if conditions are not just right the fish won't spawn. That's why you will here from the DNR on some years about low year classes of some species because of adverse conditions during the spawn. We even saw that in our pond last year, there were hardly any fry this fall, and some of the fish in july and august still had eggs in them. The high water conditions this year were also a big factor because the normal areas were not there and cooler water temps make for bad spawning conditions. Even the bluegills and bass were not up spawing normal last year!
Hopefully this year will be-Normal???