The good fishing on the Old Rivers continues. About two weeks ago, the Mississippi River dropped to a favorable stage for fishing the Old Rivers at Deer Park, Lake Mary, Vidalia and Yucatan.

We could not have asked for a better river level. Before, the fall predictions were for a good season on the Old Rivers and that proved to be true.

Reports on limits of white perch, white bass, bream and largemouth bass became numerous.

The river stayed at higher level than normal for a longer period of time.

The fish spawned while the water was still really high and back in the woods. As the water began to drop, the fish pulled out of the flooded willow trees and back toward the main lake.

When the river stage hit 35 feet on the Natchez gauge, the fish turned on. At that level, the best depth for the white perch was 10 to 12 feet deep. As the water continued to fall, the most productive depth changed to 6 to 8 feet.

Today’s stage at Natchez is 27 feet even. The best thing that could happen did happen — a really slow fall. If the river had dropped really fast the fishing would not have been this good.

The forecast predicts a level of 26.4 on Monday, 26.2 on Tuesday and a slight rise to 26.3 on Wednesday. While the bass fishermen prefer a lower stage simply because more cover is exposed, the white perch and bream fishing is at its best right now.

Hopefully the stage will stay between 26 and 30 feet for the rest of this month. Boat traffic is thick on the Old Rivers so the visible cover is really getting pounded. If you have the time, you can find submerged cover and have it all to yourself by using your sonar unit.

Just troll around offshore and watch for brush piles and logs. Another thing you can do to load up on the white perch once the visible cover is fished out is drift fish with multiple poles over the top of the huge schools of shad.

While some white perch relate to the cover, others travel in groups chasing the schools of threadfin shad.

The fish holding offshore receive far less pressure and this is where you’ll find the big slab white perch. Drift fishing excels during the lower river stages like anywhere below 24 feet.

The lack of fish holding cover pulls the fish offshore where they suspend and feed on the shad. A good sonar unit and the knowledge to interpret what the unit is showing you is the way to go during the lower river stages.

The largemouth bass fishing on the Old Rivers is starting kick off even through the water is still a bit high for the bass. Just target the mouth of the drains and points for bass.

Try crankbaits, jigs and soft plastics and you can catch the big Old River bass.

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