July is a busy month on our area lakes.

Pleasure boat traffic is at its peak. The people that still think summer time is the best time to go fishing will be out in full force.

With so many boats on the water the chances of an accident are greater this month than any other time of year so practice safe boating. Wear your life jacket and drive your boat with caution.

The fishermen can avoid the traffic by getting on the water early, fish until noon and head for the air conditioner.

Be assured, you will not miss out on anything but not fishing during the heat of the day.

Surface water temps top out by mid-day in the low 90s.

Without a doubt the best time to be on the water catching fish is early, late and at night.

Night fishing for bass will be good on Lakes Concordia, St. John and Bruin this month.

There are several patterns you can use to catch bass in the dark.

Try big bladed spinnerbaits cast to the shallow cypress trees and seawalls. Adding a big curly tail plastic grub to the spinnerbait will increase the vibration of the lure and give the bass something to key in on.

Try the lighted piers. The lights attract baitfish and the bass will be around. Most lights are off the ends of the piers over fairly deep water.

No matter the depth when fishing the lights fish shallow. Oddly enough crankbaits work well in this situation.

Try a shallow diving lure like the Bandit 100 series in dark colors. The bass will suspend just out of the lights and feed on the baitfish.

You can escape the pleasure boat crowd by fishing one of the Old River lakes still connected to the Mississippi River.

The bite depends on the river stage and this week the level looks good.

The river stage at Natchez Saturday was 25.6 feet. The Old Rivers at Deer park, Vidalia and Yucatan remain influenced by the Mississippi River to a level of about 14 feet on the Natchez gauge.

Try the bream in the flooded green willows along the island side of the Old Rivers.

If you’re catching a lot of small fish just go deeper. The big bream will hang under the smaller fish.

The crappie reports have not been that good this year. When the water heats up the crappie on the Old Rivers tend to move offshore and suspend over deep water.

Try drift fishing with multiple poles rigged with various colored jigs and live shiners.

The bass fishing is fair on the Old Rivers and it will get better as the river level continues to fall. Try big deep diving crankbaits along the bluff banks and points for Old River bass.

Have a great safe Fourth of July.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by e-mail at fishingwitheddie@highsteam.net.