It looks like we got hit with not one but two dry cold fronts this week.

The weaker front last night was not as severe as the cold front that passed earlier this week. That was a cold one. We went from 75 degrees last weekend to a 26-degree temperature. Conditions for the bass and perch to start moving shallow were only about three degrees of water temperature away.

We need 57-to-58 degree water to get the fish moving. Some areas of our lakes stopped out at 54-55 degrees, but this cold front stopped that real fast.

Cold nights hammered the water temperature back down thus delaying the move to shallow water. The fish really would not be moving up to actually spawn. They would be moving shallow to find a suitable bedding area and start making nests or beds. That is why a lot of smaller fish were being caught. The smaller male fish is the next builder and protector of the fry.

Once the males come in and do their thing the larger females will cruise the shallows looking for the male bass that built the best bed in the best location and that is where she will do her thing and leave.

When the big females first start moving to thin water they are very skittish depending on water clarity. Of course, without all the pretty green coontail moss beds that filter the water out, water clarity is nowhere near what it used to be.

Man anglers head to the flats on either end of the Mississippi Rover landlocked oxbows, but that is certainly not where all the fish spawn. Check those little subtle wind protected pockets and any ditches that the wind has not beat.

Those waters will warm up first and will usually be located on the northwest shoreline.

Look for the warmest water temperature you can find and locate suitable cover with sunny areas near the cover and you will find some spawning fish once they do move up.

There are some huge slab white perch coming from the Saline/Larto Complex and the Old Rivers. The Old Rivers remain at a very unseasonable low level that many of us have never witnessed before.

The river prediction at Natchez for today is 44.0 feet. That is up from last week’s stage of 21-feet but there is a fall coming down river that will hit Natchez Monday. By Wednesday the river is supposed to be right back down to 22-feet.

Deer park is getting very little fishing traffic and that would be the place to go locally for bass and perch. The Old River called Yucatan across the levee from Lake Bruin is producing some huge bass and perch.

The Old River at Vidalia may not offer as many numbers but the size will be there.

Blow the dust off your boat and get ready.

Good things are about to happen in the fishing scene.

 

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