As the days get longer and warmer the fish in our area lakes will develop habits that will make them more predictable.

In June, the largemouth bass will feed more at night, in the early morning hours and late in the evening.

The only exception is on those heavy overcast days. Surface water temperatures are approaching 80 degrees this week. Surface lures are the best way to go to catch some really big bass.

Be on the water early, before the sun gets up, and you’ll catch the tail end of the night bite.

The best lure choices are buzz baits, poppers, chuggers, walking lures, and if you’re fishing matted vegetation, frog style lures.

The lakes that offer a lot of moss or lily pads are the best places to fish in June. Bass like moss. Moss and thick lily pads offer shade, a ton of baitfish and crawfish and the bass can stay in the moss beds all summer.

During the early morning hours the bass tend to hold near the edges of the moss beds, and you can pick these active fish off with surface lures.

Once the sun comes up, the bass will usually move further back in the moss and hold under the thickest part of the matted vegetation. That’s when the frog style lures that are designed to scoot over and through the thick stuff come into play.

The Spro Bronze Eye frog is one of the best for this type situation. You can also drag weightless Texas rigged soft plastics over the thick stuff.

If there is no moss in the lake, your fishing targets are the cypress trees and/or piers that offer the most shade. Again, the best lures early and late are surface plugs. During the day try pitching and flipping soft plastics and jigs.

Many people think of the jig as a cold water lure, and that’s all wrong. Just add a trailer that gives the jig more action, and you can catch some really big bass on jigs all summer. The jig is much easier to present in thick cover, and while you may not get as many strikes as you do with other lures, the strikes triggered by the jig are usually from larger fish.

The Mississippi River is falling. The level at Natchez is still well above flood stage at 54.2 but we could see the level drop below the 48 feet mark in the next week or so.

The falling river will create run-outs, and that’s where you’ll find a lot of white bass, some crappie and a few largemouth bass.

Just watch for the blue and white herons. If you see the fish-eating birds stacked up in one area you’ll find running water. The flooded gravel roads leading to the camps, launch ramps and farms are still producing some nice size bream and white bass.

Just locate a gravel road with 4 to 5 feet of water over it and you’ll find the fish.

Have a great, safe weekend on the water.

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