I've recently moved to fishing brush piles in 11 to 18 feet of water in the second week of May. It's the first time I've chased the fish to deeper water after the spawn. But fully half of the fish I clean still have eggs. While not full of eggs there are still appreciable amounts of eggs in the fish. Are these residual eggs after the spawn? When are the females completely devoid of eggs? They don't look much different than the fish I cleaned in November.

did it ever even start? It has been a weird spawn this year

Well what has been a predictable pattern the previous four years did not happen this year. In late February and early March they usually show up in the brush around my dock and then move up on the bank till late April. There were a few fish up on the bank in early March, then nothing. Overall the crappie fishing this spring around my place was bad. Much worse than the previous four years.

But they've been biting pretty well out in deeper water for a couple of weeks now.

The eggs you are finding now are being reabsorbed. A lot of crappie don’t spawn completely. By June these eggs will be gone. Spawn is over for the most part here in dfw

And here in NE Texas, also.

It’s over when the fat ladies say it’s over.