Page 5 - Crappie NOW - February 2019
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COMMERCIAL CRAPPIE!
occasionally produces some 3-pound
crappie, but not many.” Ronnie Capps fights a crappie while
The Tenn-Tom begins in Yellow Creek, his partner, Steve Coleman watches.
which flows into Pickwick Lake near where Both professional crappie anglers from
the Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama Tiptonville, Tenn., fish a backwater off the
boundaries converge. The 29-mile-long Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway near
Divide Cut connects Yellow Creek to Bay Columbus, Miss.
Springs Lake, which covers about 6,700
acres near Tishomingo, Miss. The best
crappie fishing in the northern section of Fulton Lock near Fulton, Miss., creates
the waterway occurs in Bay Springs Lake. the largest lake in the Canal Section at
“Bay Springs Lake is deep and clear 1,643 acres. The Amory Lock creates a
with some standing timber and good 914-acre lake near Amory, Miss.
crappie numbers,” Knight advised. “On “Several lakes in the Canal Section
Bay Springs Lake, the crappie harvested contain decent crappie numbers, but the
probably average about 11 to 12 inches area doesn’t have as much habitat as
long. It’s common to catch crappie some other places in the system,” Knight
weighing between one pound and 1.75 said. “Few major creeks flow into this
pounds. Crappie move up shallow in section.”
March and stay there through mid-May. The best crappie action in the Tenn-
In the summer and fall, the fish move out Tom system occurs in the lakes of
to the deep brush piles, timber and a few the River Section. South of the Canal
old roadbeds.” Section, Aberdeen Lake stretches across
Below Bay Springs Lake, locks create 4,121 acres north of Columbus, Miss. The
five smaller pools in the Canal Section. riverine lake runs about 13.5 miles along
5 Crappie NOW February 2019
