Fishing for bass during the first three weeks of this month left many people wondering what made the fish disappeared.

Fluctuating water temperatures was the culprit. Establishing a consistent pattern that would produce bass for more than one day was impossible for most.

Of course inconsistent weather is normal in March. During the first two weeks of the month we experienced air temperatures in the low 80s followed by cold fronts that brought rain, sleet and snow.

Surface water temps would drop from the mid 60s to the mid 50s in less than two days then slowly warm back up. The change in water temps really messes the bass fishing up. To date February was more productive than March.

This should change real fast toward the end of this month. It is officially spring and with a few days of sunshine the shallows will be loaded with spawning bass.

On a more positive note the white perch and catfish have really turned on. I heard good reports on the white perch from Means Lake, Wallace Lake, Larto Lake and Lake St. John.

On Lake St. John, the pier owners are doing great with yo-yos baited with live shiners. The yo-yos set along the walkway leading out to the main platform of the piers are producing some real nice catfish.

The yo-yos hung along the ends of the piers over deeper water are producing some huge slabs. That is an indication that the catfish are shallow and the white perch are holding a few feet deeper.

If you don’t own a pier on the lake just hang a couple dozen yo-yos from the shallow cypress trees. Bait up with worms and shiners and you’ll catch some nice fish. Please be sure to take the yo-yos up when your day is done.

You can do the same thing on Lakes Bruin and Concordia. You won’t catch as many white perch on Concordia as you would on St. John but there is a good population of catfish in Concordia.

The Mississippi River has flooded all the barrow pits outside the protected levee system. The high river level makes it tough on those that live in the flood zone but this should really help the fishing on the old river bend lakes and barrow pits once the river starts to fall.

The river stage today at Natchez is 47.3 feet and rising. The forecast predicts a crest date of April 6 at 53.5 feet. That’s 5.6 feet above flood stage at Natchez. This is the first time in several years that we had this much water coming down river.

The crest date changes each day so who knows exactly how high the river will be this spring. We may all need a boat this year.

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