Page 6 - Crappie NOW - February 2019
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COMMERCIAL CRAPPIE!
the Tombigbee River channel.
The next impoundment down, Columbus Anglers fish a backwater off the Tennessee-
Lake spreads across 4,940 acres near the Tombigbee Waterway near Columbus,
eponymous town. Major tributaries include Miss.
Tibbee Creek, Catawba Creek, which
runs into Tibbee Creek, Stinson Creek
and the Buttahatchee River. Several old swamps, creating numerous backwaters
oxbow lakes created by the Tombigbee filled with lily pads, stumps, weed beds
River and cut-off channels also provide and other structure. Cypress trees grow
additional places to fish. in shallow waters. In the spring, crappie
“Year in and year out, the crappie catch move up to the banks, around the stumps
rates on the River Section have remained or near the grass. In these backwaters,
pretty steady,” Knight confirmed. “The many people fish live minnows under slip
River Section produces more 2-pounders corks around structure. Drop the minnow
than the rest of the Tenn-Tom system. as close to structure as possible.
Most of the biggest Tenn-Tom crappie “Below the Canal Section, the River
come out of Columbus Lake. It’s a very Section probably has the most crappie
fertile lake with a lot of nutrients coming habitat, for both spawning and the rest of
into the system.” the year,” Knight detailed. “Lakes in the
When the waterway flooded, it River Section have several large creeks
connected myriad channels and sloughs in and rivers flowing into them as well as
the River Section. Rising water inundated the old Tombigbee River. That creates a
lot more oxbows, backwaters and gravel
6 Crappie NOW February 2019
