Big blue cats are found in the deepest water on the lakes of the lower Tenn-Tom in Mississippi. Photo by Mike Marsh.

As the currents naturally carried his array of jugs down the channel, C. T. Burns watched carefully to assess how the assortment of two-liter soda bottles would disperse in the water.

"The key is to make sure they don’t all get in a single file," said the regular jugger for catfish on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. "No matter how you put them out, if the current gets its way, it can pull them together in a long row; that’s not good. You want a wide spread to let those baits attract fish in a broader area."

It was particularly interesting to watch the spread to gauge the effect that this stretch of the waterway -- the upper end of the 35-mile riprap-lined dugout canal, uniform in size but not in depth, that connects Pickwick and Bay Springs lakes -- would have on it.

"A jugger’s dream," Burns called it. "But it’s also very good for fishermen who prefer a rod and reel. The canal is loaded with good catfish. And it’s not that difficult to learn -- you simply play the bends."

In that respect, the entire Tenn-Tom as it cuts across the northeastern corner of the state from Pickwick south to the Alabama line east of Macon is a celebrated catfishing destination. Though better known for its bass fishing, it’s catfish that lure many anglers to its waters.

"Growing numbers," said Larry Pugh, the District 1 fisheries biologist for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. "It’s always had a good number of catfishermen, but in recent years that number has grown, due to an increased popularity in catfish tournaments.

"We’ve seen a few events on the river and nationally it continues to grow. They even practice catch and release. I think from that standpoint, catfishing is where bass fishing was in the early ’70s. I think that is one reason why we’re seeing catfish activity spreading from the tailraces and spillways to the rest of the waterway."

That’s not why Burns hits the Tenn-Tom, though. "No," he said, "I ain’t competing against anything other than the fish. And I usually win."

THE CANAL SECTION
Burns prefers fishing on the Canal Section of the waterway, the upper end above Aberdeen, where most of the channel is constructed. From Aberdeen down through Columbus and into Aliceville, the three southernmost lakes, the artificial channel interacts with the old Tombigbee River channel.

"Living in Tupelo, I can fish any part of it without more than an hour’s drive, but I like coming up here to the Canal Section for jugging," he said. "We don’t catch the monsters up here that we occasionally hear about from Aberdeen on down, but we catch good numbers of quality fish, mostly blues and channels. We get the occasional flathead, but mostly it’s the blues and channels.

"The Canal is ideal for jugging, and as I get older, I prefer jugging more and more, because it is so easy: You bait up, pitch them out -- and they do all the work."

Well . . . there’s more to it than that. Like knowing where to fish.