For the first time in several years it is quite possible we may have winter like conditions in the Miss-Lou area.

The severe cold front last weekend dropped surface water temperatures to the mid 50s. The white perch and bass for the most part pulled out of the shallows and moved to deep water. We fished the local B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Club event last weekend on Lake Bruin.

As predicted, most of the fish including the winning weight came from deep water. I won the tournament boating 10 weigh fish and culling down to a five bass tournament limit weighing 14.69 pounds. The fish I caught were holding anywhere from 15 to 23 feet deep.

Lake Bruin is one of the few lakes in this area that offers deep water with good clarity that allows the fish to move deep and still be catchable.

Terrell Foster was right on my transom catching second place with five bass weighing 14.50 pounds. I am not real sure but if I had to guess I would say his fish hit a Rat-L-Trap and Davis Paca jigs. I used jigs and a small jigging spoon for the win.

John Bruce landed third place with 5 at 13.39 pounds. Foster landed the largest bass of the day at 3.59 pounds. Big bass have been hard to locate but that will soon change. The female bass and white perch are developing eggs and that makes the fish really fat and healthy.

Once the fish adjust to these colder water temperatures you can bet there will be both a good shallow bite and deep bite for both the white perch and bass.

I did hear several good reports from people that have boat houses (fish houses) on the Old Rivers at Vidalia and Deer Park. These boat houses are fully enclosed and the owners sink brush piles and fish inside the boat houses catching huge slab white perch and while staying warm.

Burshley Bayou, just north of Jonesville, was producing some nice limits of white perch before all this rain. Burshley is subject to getting very high muddy real quick after a heavy rain so you may want to wait until we have a few days of dry weather before trying the perch on the bayou.

Lakes Concordia and St. Johns water clarity is good and you can catch some nice bass but you have to slow down and fish a bit deeper than normal.

The bass on these two lakes have not been holding tight to cover yet. Try fishing out from whatever cover your targeting by working your lure all the way back to the boat.

Surface water temperatures could very well drop below 50 degrees behind the next cold front so slow your presentation down and you can still have a great day on the water regardless of how cold it is.

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