It is that time of year again! To me YP are the most versatile, reliable, and hardy fish out there. They are also very good tasting, help clean up crayfish, snails, leeches, slugs etc, and very rapidly pellet train. It is also one of the only fish I know of that you can control population fairly easily by removing a portion or all of their eggs. But I digress,
I wanted to start the spawn tracker thread for 2023!
Please note your location, date, water temp or air temp if possible, and details about what side of the pond or how much sun exposure/shade in the area of the first eggs. Some idea on depth and what the momma used to lay the eggs on or around is also helpful. There are web pages that will tell you how many hours of daylight (photoperiod) you have in your area which is also an interesting possible trigger for laying eggs.
In 2020 it was a mild winter with early ice off. Snipe had the first eggs on March 7th quite early! Central Indiana it was March 13th
In 2021 it was member bcraley in Ohio and the date was around March 12 or 13, Fayetville, OH had them on the 16th of March. Ohio led the way in 2021. My pond around March 16 or 17. Dr. Luke in Iowa, March 20.
In 2022 I had several inches of ice yet on March 22, but Bill Cody had YP ribbons on March 17! JIMS SVT in Southern OH also had ribbons on the 17th. I finally spotted mine on March 24 in cold blustery conditions right after ice out.
2 things (that I understand) that must be present. #1-Water temp, #2-length of Day. If time of sun is right but water is too cool, it's delayed. If Temp is right but days are short-neeah--still seems to be a delay. #3-fish know something we don't and it changes every year-fish behavior seems to change as fish grow and like us, not all think alike. I know I said 2 things, but there's probably 50 things we may never fully have the answer to.. I think you guys know were I'm at.. haven't had time to go look yet, and 77 degs yesterday went to snow and 25 today. Probably single digits tonight but I will look tomorrow at the tumbleweeds.
We are in SW MI and every year is different. Last year we probably mistimed the first little bit of sap run due to unexpectedly early run due to an early warm up. Then we never got the cold snap to start it back up again. I think all told last year we tapped about 20-25 trees and had maybe 20 or so pints. (we are primitive, just plastic taps and drop hoses and a few old school metal taps, and some 2 gallon buckets)
This year, despite a very strange warm winter, very little ice, and an early thanksgiving snow event and a few other short lived snow storms, we did much better. We had to jump out early again to get the taps in and catch the 2 weeks of beautiful sunny days and cold nights. Sap ran well during that time. Then it stopped, tried to start, stopped again and then stopped for good. We collected over a longer time this year and also tapped some more trees down the road at my inlaws place. I bought him a set of 20 'classic' galvanized buckets with flip up lids. He loved helping out this year! Our total tree tap might have hit 50 'taps' although some trees have 2 or 3 taps in them.
With his sap and ours, an outdoor fireplace, and a commercial gas stove in the basement to help 'finish' it, we did really well this year. We finished up just now and I think at last count we were right about 145 pints. So even though we couldn't skate or ice fish, somehow we had a good sap run.
Now to find a market for it! The kids load it up in a tow behind bike cart and peddle it around the neighborhood... Is there a better way to get it to people who appreciate it?
We have a lot of local craft beer and brewing establishments and more popping up every day. There is a small corner bar that makes hard liquor (Michigan Moonshine is the name). Would a small batch brewery or distillery have use for maple syrup in a small run of whatever brew they are making? I know nothing about alcoholic beverages so not sure if this would go in bourbon or whiskey or rum or whatever but I'd sure love to help them out and sell what I have.
I know our batches have a different appearance and taste then others, some probably from early syrup vs late season syrup changing taste but some may be from the exact mix of trees being used (they are maples, but not all sugar maples).
I have to give the Amish family that I get my maple syrup from an order a year in advance for what I want the following year. They call me when it's ready.
Sounds like you have become a "regular" for that family business.
I bet they give you pretty good service?
It took an "in" from another Amish friend to get them to sell to an "Englishman". LOL He had to call them, and tell them that he gave me their phone number and to expect a call from Scott about some Maple Syrup. I will take them some deer snack sticks and venison summer sausage every year when I pick up the maple syrup. The first time I bought from them, I took some to them and they looked at me like I was a 2 headed snake. I gave them the grocery bag full of the stuff, they looked inside and looked at me with this quizzical look as if to say what is this? When they realized what it was and that I was giving it to them, not wanting to trade for syrup, things changed. LOL Yeah, when I go there, they have to take me back to the sugar shack so I can see how they are making it and they show off any new equipment that they've purchased the previous year. They collect the syrup in a roughly 1,000 gallon stainless steel tank on a wagon pulled by 4 of the biggest draft horses that I've ever seen.
We talk about how the year for them has been going, they ask about fish, etc. I am usually there about an hour or so.
Here are some photos of the egg strands I found in fairly shallow water yesterday on March 28th. It seemed as if the female perch had kind of weaved tunneled through the grass to help get the strands of eggs out and distributed.
Ponds around me last summer were as low as I've ever seen them be here in southern IA. I wonder if another pond I keep tabs on lost some of the bigger fish (BG, Crappie, HSB, LMB) seems as if it did maybe, but not total loss if any at all.
My YP have been spawning for 2 weeks now and IMO are now Apr 05 are done laying. YP spawn for me usually lasts 2 weeks. Cecil Baird at same latitude as me also had YP eggs back around Mar 21. Those eggs not laid will be absorbed by the females. I still see some very gravid females eating pellets. Not all females will drop their eggs. Not sure why.
One local 22ft deep pond I help manage had the YP just start laying eggs April 01 with surface water temp of 50F. Generally in my experience when water temps reach 54-55F the YP are done spawning. Anyone else see fresh YP eggs at 55F water temps?