Bass fishermen continue to struggle on our area lakes.

Even though this is prime time to catch big bass the fish just aren’t showing up like they did in years past. In the club tournament scene it only takes 12 to 15 pound, 5 bass limits to win and place where it used to take 18 to 20 pounds, if not more in April.

Hopefully the bass fishing will get better and it would if we had better length and creel limits. I travel all over the south chasing bass and our waters have the most lenient regulations on bass than any body of water I have fished.

This past weekend was no exception to the tough bass fishing. Concordia Bass Club hosted their April club event on Lake St. John. This is the lake where, in years past, it took 5 bass at 15 pounds or better to place and 20 plus to win.

Junior Book pulled it off with 5 bass weighing 13.88 pounds. Clyde Morace placed 2nd with 13.37 and James Mullins took 3rd place with 13.14 pounds. Brad Perkins landed the single largest fish of the day a nice 4.69-pound Lake St. John bass. Again, only a few years ago a 4-pound bass would not even come close to winning the big bass pot.

Our lakes are taking a beating thanks to Katrina. The hurricane really messed the waters up south of Baton Rouge so the majority of the clubs in this area are heading north to better fishing but finding our things aren’t that much better here.

Maybe one day the locals will help with better regulations and stand behind them. When the 15 to 19 slot limit was in effect on Lake Concordia many people were traveling to our lakes to spend their money and catch a big bass.

Not anymore. They now travel to waters with better regulations on length and creels which mean more bass and larger bass.

One thing for sure, the bream are biting. You can catch the numbers on Lake Concordia, just about anywhere on the lake. The majority will be bluegills and while the size is not that good, the numbers make up for that.

For larger bream and more chinquapin which are larger than the bluegill, try Lake St John and the Natchez State Park Lake. Again, you will catch more bluegill on crickets and red ear or chinquapin on red worms.

There is some nice bream bedding on the south end on Lake St. John on the right side of the lake where the lake splits. Fish the isolated shallow cypress trees with bulrush around them.

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