The Mississippi River is on a slight rise recently.

The long distance forecast predicted a fall for the entire month of June, but that did not hold up. It looks like it will be another week or so before the water level drops enough to allow us access to the Old River boat ramps.

I am still hearing good reports on the big river bream. Most fishermen are using small boats simply because the boat ramps are still several feet under water.

Try fishing along the banks of the flooded barrow pits and target the flooded green willow trees. The flooded gravel road pattern that produced a lot of bream this month is fading out. The water level dropped to 42.9 feet this week which left about two feet of water over most of the road beds.

The Mississippi River stage Friday at Natchez is 42.1 feet and rising. The slight rise will bring the stage up to about 44 feet. If the forecast holds up, we should see another fall coming down river by mid- week that will probably bring the water level down to 35 feet. Thirty-five feet is the best stage for locating and catching the bream and white bass from the Old Rivers.

Try fishing the island side of Deer Park, Old River at Vidalia, Lake Mary or Yucatan. All of these waters are live oxbow lakes still connected to the Mississippi River.

A sharp fall followed by a slow rise will help the fishing on the live oxbows. If the river falls out of the Old Rivers too fast the fishing is not near as good.

These waters are loaded with game fish and receive very little pressure from visiting anglers. Most travel to this area to fish the more popular landlocked lakes like Lakes Concordia and St. John. The bream spawn has ended on these lakes but you can still catch the bream.

Look for the post spawn bream in the protected oxbow lakes along the outside cypress trees in 5 to 7 feet of water. Fish right off the bottom with crickets or try casting a small spinner on an ultra light rig. The bass bite is fair on Lake Concordia. Try surface lures early and crankbaits once the sun heats the water up.

Surface water temperatures continue to rise. The average water temp is about 85 degrees. The warmer water creates a good early morning bite, but it won’t last long. Get on the water early for the best time to fish. You can see well enough to boat and cast around 5:30 a.m. Our lakes are crowded with fishing and pleasure boats, so please practice safe boating and wear your life jacket. This year started out on a bad note with several boat accidents that resulted in loss of life so please be careful on our waters.

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