Miss Lou anglers will soon have a new place to fish. Okhissa Lake in Franklin County will soon be open. This 1000-acre lake spans 3 miles north to south with 39 miles of shoreline.

After several construction delays the gates were closed on the Okhissa Dam on November 9th, 2004 with plans to open the lake in the fall of 2007.

The exact date the lake will open is still unknown. The level now is at 281.1 feet with full pool at 291.5 feet.

Prior to the construction of the dam several stock ponds were dug t give the fish a chance to grow. The ponds were stocked with bass, bluegill, black crappie, white crappie, sunfish and channel catfish.

The forages bass will consist mostly of fathead minnows and threadfin shad. Porter Creek will run down the center of the manmade reservoir.

Porter Creek along with numerous smaller feeder creeks and gullies will offer some great deepwater fishing. This lake will fish and look much like the small lake at the Natchez State Park. I’ll forward the opening date once it’s released.

Summer is loosing its grip. The nights are longer and cooler. Water temperatures are no longer in the 90’s.

As the water cools off the baitfish will moved from the mid-lake areas and head toward the shore. On Lake St. John keep an eye out for the shad between the piers.

When the shad move up the big hard pulling hybrid striped bass will be holding between the piers in 5 to 6 feet of water.

The best way to catch the stripers is to fan cast a Rat-L-Trap in bream and shad patterns between the piers and in the flats on wither end of the lake.

To fins the shad just watch for the blue and gray herons. These fish eaters will follow the shad to the shallows.

If you see the herons sitting on the docks or wading the shallows you can bet the shad are up.

The Mississippi River is at a very good stage for fishing the Old River bend lakes. The stage at Natchez today is 22.1 feet and falling.

It is a slow fall and that’s a good thing. By Wednesday the forecast calls for a level of 19.6 feet. With the falling river and lower water temperatures expect the bass and crappie to be in shallow water.

Eddie roberts writes a weekly fishing colum for the Democrat. He can be reached at fishingwitheddie@cox.net