Popularly known as the Tenn.-Tom, the 234-mile Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway links the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers.
Popularly known as the Tenn.-Tom, the 234-mile Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway links the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers in parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama for commercial traffic.
Legendary for big catfish, the Tennessee River runs 652 miles, including through a portion of northeastern Mississippi, and flows into the Ohio River. The Tombigbee River flows 200 miles through northeastern Mississippi and Alabama, eventually merging with the Alabama River north of Mobile. The Tombigbee and Alabama merge into the Mobile River, which flows into Mobile Bay.
Ten lakes along the Tenn.-Tom combine for a total surface area of about 44,000 acres. Some of the best catfish action occurs around Columbus. Both blue and flathead catfish can weigh more than 100 pounds. The Mississippi state record blue weighed 104 pounds. Giant blues prefer oily fish such as shad and commonly hunt in open water.
Fishing for big flatheads takes patience. It might take a while to get a bite. When it bites, wait to set the hook. A flathead typically takes the bait with three tugs. It won’t completely take it until about the third pull. That’s when we set the hook.
Known for its blue cats, Aberdeen Lake stretches across 4,121 acres north of Columbus. Aberdeen Dam divides Aberdeen Lake from Columbus Lake, which covers 4,940 acres. Major tributaries include Tibbee Creek, Catawba Creek, Stinson Creek, and the Buttahatchee River. The tributary mouths often offer excellent fishing.
From Columbus southward, anglers generally catch more flatheads than blue cats. The state record flathead weighed 89.5 pounds. Joey Pounders, a professional catfish angler from Caledonia, set the former Mississippi state record for flatheads with a 77-pounder he caught near the mouth of Luxapalilia Creek just outside Columbus.
“Anywhere below Luxapalilia Creek is a good place to fish for big flatheads,” Pounders said. “Probably 50% of the catfish I’ve caught on the Tenn.-Tom have been from 10 miles above the Lux to 10 miles below it. Fishing for big flatheads takes patience. It might take a while to get a bite. When it bites, wait to set the hook. A flathead typically takes the bait with three tugs. It won’t completely take it until about the third pull. That’s when we set the hook.”
Flatheads prefer to hunker down in woody cover during daylight where these voracious predators devour anything they can swallow. At night, they frequently prowl the shallows. Eating almost exclusively fish. Prowling flatheads like to enter washed out banks, submerged treetops along eroded shorelines, stump fields or other cover that might hold prey.
When looking for flatheads, use electronics to scan for holes or channel drops with access to both deep and shallow water. Logjams along a river bend create excellent cover where flatheads can ambush their favorite prey, bluegills, other sunfish, and small catfish. When fishing for big fish, use big baits.
“When fishing for big fish, we use baits small catfish can’t handle,” Pounders explained. “A 5-pound flathead can eat a 9-inch shad. When targeting flatheads, fresh bait is the key. We normally use live shad about six to eight inches long.”
Catching giant catfish takes patience, but on any day anywhere on this system, an angler might catch a whiskered river monster. Anytime a bait hits the water it could result in the fish of a lifetime.
