Page 4 - Crappie NOW - February 2019

Story & photos by John N. Felsher

Tenn-Tom River Does More Than Float Barges

uilt to shave off about 800 miles of
boat travel from Middle America to
B the Gulf of Mexico, the Tennessee-
Tombigbee Waterway created abundant
fishing habitat as a bonus when it opened
in 1985.
More popularly known as the Tenn-
Tom, the 234-mile system largely follows a
straightened version of the old Tombigbee
River as it creates a commercial water link
from the Tennessee River, and thus the
Ohio River, to the Gulf of Mexico. Along
the way, 10 lock and dam structures divide
the waterway into a chain of lakes with a
total surface area of 44,000 acres. The
channel also connects myriad waterways,
ancient oxbow lakes, creeks and smaller
tributaries.
More known for its numbers, the entire
Tenn-Tom produces many crappie in the
9- to 12-inch range and some bigger ones.
On a good day, two anglers might catch
50 to 100 crappie with many in the 1- to
1.5-pound range. Anglers must release
anything measuring less than nine inches
in length.
“Some crappie were already in the
creeks and the Tombigbee River before
the waterway was built,” explained Trevor
Knight, a Mississippi Department of
Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks biologist in Steve Coleman, a professional crappie
Tupelo. “When the waterway was built, angler from Tiptonville, Tenn., shows off a
it created a lot more fish habitat. That crappie he caught while fishing a backwater
helped the crappie population expand. off the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
People catch some 17- and 18-inchers, near Columbus, Miss.
but they are not common. The system

4 Crappie NOW February 2019