The hottest, most miserable month of the year for fishing is behind us. August is a great time to regroup.

In other words, I don’t fish much in August. I sell my boat, get another one ordered, sort through and cull out lures that I will never use.

I wade though 10,000 assorted bags and boxes of tackle clean and grease my rods and reels. It’s time to get ready for some serious fishing.

There are many factors that make the month of September a good one for fishing. Labor Day is approaching, and boat traffic on our area lakes and rivers will soon diminish.

Labor Day is the un-official ending of the summer season for most recreational boaters. There will still be a few ski boats and water scooters out and about on weekends but not many.

Water temps will slowly begin to drop. The shad will move up, the water column and the game fish will follow.

Late summer is a transition period. The bass and crappie change from their normal and sometimes very unpredictable summer feeding habits. The fish will begin to feed more and feed more often.

For the bass fishermen, it’s time to kick the trolling motor up a speed or two and cover some water. Use fast moving lures like Rat-L-Traps, shallow diving crank-baits and spinner-baits.

You can catch more bass in September by covering water than just sitting on the points all day. By mid-September there is always a group of fish feeding somewhere on the lake your fishing. You just have to locate them.

The Mississippi River stage is 15.7 feet and rising very fast. The rise coming down river will certainly help the fish activity on the Old Rivers.

Normally a rise would turn the fish off, but when the river stage drops to 15 and jumps to 17, it really turns the fish on. Some of my most productive days on the Old Rivers were at 17 feet and rising. By Tuesday, the forecast is 19.4 feet at Natchez.

The rising river will improve the crappie fishing on the Old Rivers. The crappie fishermen and women were loading up with big slabs when the river level was at 28 feet down to about 20 feet.

Once the level fell below 20, the crappie seem to disappear. They should reappear during the next week or so.

Entry forms for The Casting for Cash Isle of Capri Natchez $35,000 Big Bass Tournament are now available at Sports Center in Natchez and Bryan’s Marine in Vidalia. Contact me for more information.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at

fishingwitheddie@highstream.net

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