If you fished this weekend the choice of lakes was very slim.

Heavy rainfall from hurricane Gustav raised the water to record levels on the area lakes. Lakes Concordia, St. John and Lake Bruin remain closed to boat traffic. The water is over many of the piers and waves created by boat traffic will tear the platforms loose.

When the lakes reopen be careful. There will be a lot of floating debris in the form of pier trees, pier platforms and logs that can cause major damage to your boat and motor. Hopefully the water will start to fall by mid week and things will get back to normal that is if we miss this next hurricane.

There were several boats on the Old Rivers at Vidalia and Deer Park Friday and Saturday morning. Before the storm the Mississippi River was falling but, of course, it is rising now.

That’s a good thing for the Old River fishermen and ladies. The storm raised the water level back to a good stage for the white perch and bream. The river stage at Nathcez Saturday was 26.5 feet and rising. The forecast predicts a level of 28.8 feet on Monday, 29.9 feet on Tuesday and Wednesday. By Thursday the river should start to fall real slow.

Again, this all depends on Hurricane Ike’s path. Hopefully it will stay out of the Gulf.

The fresh water in the Old Rivers has cooled the water temperatures down. With cooler water and higher levels I would think the white perch, bass and bream would be shallow. Target the flooded green willows in 3 to 5 feet of water.

For white perch try tube jigs. Many colors will work with combinations of pink, charteause and orange being the most productive.

Live bait like minnows and crickets are hard to come by. Most of the local baitshops lost most of the bait when the power went off. The suppliers will run this coming Wednesday and Thursday.

We do have some goldfish for the catfishermen and plenty of red worms and cold worms in stock.

Artificial lures will catch the bream as well as crickets if you present the lure the right way. Try a small 1/32 ounce black and yellow beatle spin cast on an ultralight spinning or spincast rig and let the lure fall to the bottom before starting a very slow retrieve.

The bass fishing should be good around the runouts on the Old Rivers. All the rain raised the barrow pits so high they are now flowing through the ditches and drains into the Old Rivers. For big bass try Davis Paca Jigs with a Zoom or Netbait trailer. For numbers go with soft plastics like a Zoom Brush Hawg or NetBait Action Cat.

Crankbaits on the points should produce some nice size Old River Bass as well.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at fishingwitheddie@bellsouth.net.