Cooler weather and lower water levels continue to be a big plus for catching fish from our area lakes.

The Old Rivers have, at last, began to produce some nice size white perch. The Mississippi River controls the water level on the Old Rivers and this year the river has been up and down many times.

This week the level is down and falling. The river stage today at Natchez is 24.2 feet and falling.

I heard many good reports on the bass and white perch. The Old Rivers at Deer and Vidalia are producing some nice fish and the water level and temperature is perfect.

Look for the big slab white perch to be holding on the dead willow stumps and logs as well as the manmade brush piles.

You don’t have to fish very deep to catch the perch. The best catches are coming from 6 to 8 feet of water and the best bait is live shiners. Good jig fishermen should be able to catch the same fish on artificial lures like a tube or hair jig fished on a 1/32nd ounce jig head.

There are several patterns going at the Old Rivers that will produce some nice limits of black bass. With a river stage in the low 20’s there’s still plenty of cover to hold the fish in the shallow flats.

Try slow rolling white and chartreuse spinnerbaits around the standing timber and logs in the flats in 3 to 6 feet of water. This shallow bite is usually best early and late.

Another pattern that produces larger bass from the Old Rivers involves crankbaits and heavy jigs along the bluff banks, points and near the run-outs. Try Bandit 100 and 200 series crankbaits and Bagley DB2’s in shad or crawfish patterns.

When you pick up a few nice bass on the running baits turn around and go back through the same area with a bottom lure like a Davis Paca jig with either a Zoom or NetBait trailer.

These fish, the fish on the points and bluff banks will be in depths anywhere from 6 to 15 feet. Shad travel the open waters of the Old Rivers in huge schools.

When a school of shad approach an ambush place like structure on a point you can load up on bass in the 3 to 6 pound range. You just have to be in the right area at the right time with the right lure so move around a lot if you’re not getting bit.

Surface water temps continue to slowly fall. The average water temperature is about 70 degrees this weekend. That’s a lot better than what the temps were last month but better things will happen once we get a couple cold fronts and lower the tempos into the 60’s.

This past week the mid morning to noon bite has been tough. There has been very little wind and very clear skies. Later in the afternoon the winds have picked up and clouds moved in. That’s when the fish turn on.

This weather pattern may end by mid week this coming week as rain is in the forecast. October offers some of the best fishing on our area lakes.

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