For the first time since late fall of last year the Mississippi River level has dropped below 40 feet.

The launch ramps at Deer Park, Old River Vidalia, Lake Mary and Yucatan are now accessible.

We no longer have to launch from the gravel and dirt roads leading to the boat ramps.

Good fishing reports are coming from all of the Old Rivers and the live oxbow lakes.

These old river bends are still connected to the Mississippi River as long as the stage at Natchez is above 14 to 15 feet.

The cooler river water is still coming in the upper end of the Old Rivers.

While surface water temperatures top out around 95 degrees by midday on the landlocked lakes, the water temperature on the Old Rivers is around 85 to 88 degrees.

That’s what makes the fish more active on the live oxbow lakes versus the dead oxbows.

If you plan to launch from the Old River at Vidalia to get to the Mississippi River be careful boating through the chute on the south end.

Last year a dam, a road bed, was built across the chute. The dam is located about half way down the chute.

At 44 feet there was 9 feet of water over the road bed while the chute itself was 27 to 28 feet deep. Now with the river stage around 39 feet, there is about 4 to 5 feet of water over the dam.

Once the river drops to about 36 or 37 feet this dam will create a very dangerous obstruction to those that access the Mississippi River via Old River Vidalia.

You could tear your gear case off your motor and potentially have a bad boating accident.

There are no signs posted warning boaters of this new dam so be careful when running through the chute. Hopefully someone will take note of this and post a sign before we have an accident.

I heard there is a culvert in the dam. If this is true the Old River will not be landlocked at 34 feet. I will find out once the river level drops low enough to visually see the dam.

It is a good thing for fishing. Even with a culvert in the dam it will slow the water level down from falling too fast. If there is no culvert the Old River at Vidalia will be landlocked around 33 to 34 feet, and it will be like a whole new lake for us to fish.

At that level the green willows will still be flooded and that’s where you’ll find the bass, bream and sac-a-lait.

I heard some very good reports from fishermen and ladies this week. The big slab sac-a-lait are holding along the outside edge of the flooded green willows suspended in water depths of 12 to 18 feet.

Anytime we have a high water year the fishing is excellent on the Old Rivers. With a record flood this year you can bet the Old Rivers will produce lots of game fish this summer and on into the fall.

For bass on the Old Rivers look for running water. You can find the running water by watching for the blue and white herons. These birds fish for a living, so if you see them grouped up you can bet there’s a ditch nearby.

The ditches leading from the barrow pits to the Old River were moving this week and that’s where you’ll find fish.

A huge assortment of lures will work for the bass. Try Bandit crank baits, red shad plastic worms and spinner baits around the thick cover and jigs off the points.

The sac-a-lait will readily take live shiners and small tube jigs. The bream and red ear fishermen and ladies are using red worms and crickets.

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