With the pleasure boaters out in full force, the fishermen and ladies are watching the Mississippi River stage with hopes of a fishable level on not so crowded waters this month.

According to the long distance forecast, we could see a level of 37 feet in Natchez by June 22. At that level you can catch plenty of white bass, bream and largemouth bass.

Just watch for running water and you will find the fish. The stage in Natchez today is around 50 feet, and that’s still two feet above flood stage.

At 50 feet there are no boat ramps visible. You can launch a small boat off the gravel roads leading to the flooded boat ramps but there’s no way to launch a big bass rig.

Try the bream in the flooded backwaters with crickets in four to six feet of water near and over the top of the flooded gravel roads.

The white bass are stacking up anywhere the gravel roads intersect or make sharp turns. For now the bass fishermen will have to be content fishing the landlocked lakes — Concordia, St. John or Bruin.

The bass in the small lake at the Natchez State Park are not being pressured much so that would be another place to go for bass.

The largemouth bass in early to mid June like to smash surface lures early, late and on cloudy days. The shad are holding near the surface early, so get up before the sun rises and be on the water with your surface lures and you’ll catch the bass.

The gnats are bad this year. I have bite marks on my neck, arms and ears right now. After asking around I was told the very best gnat repellent is vanilla extract. Use the real thing not the imitation. Just put a small amount on your hands and rub the vanilla extract on any exposed skin.

The gnats are really bad, and when they bite they leave their itchy mark for a week or longer.

If you’re looking for a fishing tournament Concordia Bass Club will be on Lake St. John this coming Saturday June 13th launching out of Spokane Landing.

If the weather is nice for fishing, meaning cloudy, rain and/or wind, there will be some heavy weights caught. If we catch one of those “pretty” days with no wind and no clouds it may be tough.

You can fish with Concordia Bass Club as a guest or come join the club next Saturday morning.

The Miss-Lou Bass Club will hold its June event on Black River Lake June 14th. For more information on these and all local fishing events visit www.fishingwitheddie.com.

Hopefully the river forecast will hold up and we’ll get to fish the Old Rivers, barrow pits and backwater lakes soon.

The fish in those waters are not educated to the sting of a hook. 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.