A fast rise came down the Mississippi River this week and shut the fishing down on the Old Rivers. The good news is the rise is over.

If the forecast is accurate the river level is going to fall as fast as it rose. The stage at Natchez today is 36.9 feet and steady. A level that high is very unusual for the season. Normally the river level would be around 14 to 15 feet.

The fall should reach Natchez on Tuesday. By Wednesday we should see a river stage around 35 feet. At 35 feet the bream in the Old Rivers are easy to locate and catch. There will be a lot of green willow trees in the water and that’s where you’ll find the big bream.

When the gauge at Natchez hits 28 feet the white perch bite should kick off again. Hopefully the fall will slow down and hang around that level for a few days. There were a lot of white perch caught from the Old Rivers this year but most were small.

Maybe the big slabs will show up on this round. The bass fishing was just getting right when this rise came downriver and shut the fishing off.

If the forecast holds up and the river falls as fast as predicted the bass should be stacked up on the points at Deer Park and Marango Bend. During the higher stages like from 35 feet down to about 28 big deep diving crankbaits work well on the bass.

Try Bagley DB3’s and 3 inch Bandits. As the waterfalls and the level drops below 28 feet switch to medium diving lures like a Bagley DB2 or a Bandit 200 series in shad patterns. Once the river stage drops below 20 feet you can change lures again.

Try small shallow diving crankbait like a Bandit 100 series. If you have the patience to fish slow and would rather catch big bass than numbers of smaller fish stick with bottom lures.

The Davis Paca Jig trailer with a Netbait chunk or a Zoom Pro Chunk will catch big fish from the Old Rivers. Soft plastic lures like Zoom’s Brush Hawg, NetBaits Action Cat or anyone of the many ribbon and curl tail worms will work as well.

While waiting on the river to fall you can catch some fish from the landlocked lakes.

Lake Concordia produced numbers of small bass this week.

Try fishing the scattered cypress trees in 3 to 5 feet of water with small shallow diving crankbaits and small soft plastic lures.

Target the cypress trees in 3 to 5 feet of water. The big bass have been hard to locate but that will change when water temperatures get a bit cooler.

Big fish are more active when the water temps drop below 70 degrees. Right now the average water surface temperature is about 78 degrees.

As we move into October good things will happen on our area lakes and rivers.

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