Lakes Concordia, St. John and Bruin and most of the other well known waters have received a ton of fishing pressure over the past month or so.

One good thing about this area is we have some great fishing waters that are not well known by visiting anglers.

To escape the crowds, break out your small boat and head to the barrow pits along the Mississippi River levee.

The river stage at Natchez is holding around 37 feet with a slow fall coming downriver that should hit Natchez today.

That’s a perfect stage for fishing the barrow pits and I wouldn’t rule out the Old Rivers at Vidalia and Deer Park.

The stage is a bit high for fishing the Old Rivers, but you can access some fish-filled backwaters via the Old Rivers.

The big slab crappie and bass spawn a bit later in these waters, so think shallow. The majority of cover consists of willow trees and laydowns.

For bass it’s hard to beat a spinnerbait when fishing the thick cover in the backwaters. The crappie should be in extremely shallow water. Try fishing in one to two feet of water with black/chartreuse tube jigs for big slab crappie in the barrow pits and backwaters.

The Natchez State Park Lake is producing some nice bass this spring and that’s where you need to go if you’re looking for a trophy bass.

The man-made lake is made up of two major creek arms. Just idle up either of the creeks and fish the flats, the shallow water, near the creek channels.

With all the rain I seriously doubt you can sight fish for the big bass, but once the water clarity gets a bit better you can sight fish for bass at the park. Some good lure choices include big 7- to 8-inch plastic lizards or any one of the many creature style lures like the Zoom brush hawg. Big three-quarter-ounce Rat-L-Traps are good lures to use when searching for bass at the Natchez State Park.

Just crank and wind the Trap in 4 to 7 feet of water and red is one of the best colors to use.

Things continue to be quiet on Lake Concordia.

The lake is producing some nice fish but the big bass are hard to locate and catch.

With surface water temps in the mid-70s, the top water bite should be good. Ry Heddon Zara Spooks, black buzz baits and, for smaller bass, Rebel Pop R’s are good to use.

Lake St. John is in great shape. Like the bass in the Natchez State Park Lake, the bass in St. John tend to spawn later than the bass in Concordia.

Try either end of the lake and fish the shallow bulrush and cypress trees.

You can catch some nice bass along the mid-lake areas as well. Target the seawalls and shallow cypress trees in the mid-lake areas of Lake St John.

Our lakes are crowded with fishing boats and the pleasure boaters are coming out as the water continues to warm up.

Please practice safe boating and help us make this an accident free boating and fishing season.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by e-mail at fishingwitheddie@highstream.net.