The Mississippi River is on a very slow fall at Natchez. Saturday’s stage was around 43.9 feet. Most fishermen and ladies are waiting for a level of approximately 38 feet to start fishing for the Old Rivers, the live oxbow lakes.

They do this for two reasons. Right now all the launch ramps are still under water so launching is a bit difficult but not impossible. The other reason is for most things the river is still too high and they are waiting on a lower stage of about 38 feet which pulls the fish out of the acres and acres of flooded green willows.

The lower level does make the fish easier to locate. If you are waiting on a lower level, you have missed out on a couple of weeks of great bream, catfish, bass and white perch fishing.

Several experience Old River fishermen and ladies are quietly loading their freezers with fillets. They pretty much have the Old Rivers all to their self. I have fished it several times since the boating ban was lifted.

The first trip was made to check the damage to the camps and it really looked bad. Elevated trailers were turned on their sides. Trash and other debris is everywhere. That was a sad looking mess.

The following trips were somewhat productive. We boated some nice largemouth and white bass fishing the flooded barrow pits. As of this morning, the ramps were still not accessible. You can launch off the gravel roads leading to the boat ramps. Just look for the ruts where others are launching and be careful.

We have several motors in for repair that were damaged on the Old Rivers. Cables that held floating docks in place will wrap around your prop creating several hundred if not thousands of dollars in damage to gear houses and props. Huge logs floating just under the surface create another hazard.

If you’re careful, it’s alright to boat on the Old Rivers and backwaters. I would just stir clear of the camps. Another thing that really worries me that could cause a bad accident on the Old River at Vidalia is located in the chute that leads out to the Mississippi River.

Last year, a dam was built across the chute. Many people launch on the Old River to access the Mississippi River. About half way up the chute which, of course, is located on the south end, there is a dam underwater. Currently, with a level of 43 feet, there is 8 feet of water over this dam. When boating through the chute my sonar read 25 to 28 feet, jumped to 8 feet then back down to 28 feet.

The danger will occur when the river drops about 6 or 7 more feet. That will leave about 1 to 2 feet of water over this dam and could cause a very bad accident and/or damage to your motor.

As of today, there is no warning sign posted anywhere. Hopefully the LDWF or whoever would be in charge of such will post a sign to help avoid an accident. The Old River veterans know the dam is there but many other boaters do not. So please be careful when running this chute.

The surface water temperature on the landlocked lakes averages about 95 degrees by midday. Needless to say, that makes daytime fishing on those waters very tough.

The Old Rivers surface water temperatures top out by midday at about 88 degrees. Good fishing is just around the corner on the Old Rivers. If you know where to go and what to throw you can catch the fish right now.