Big Black River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Mississippi

About the Big Black River

The Big Black runs about three hundred miles from near Houston in the hill country of northeast Mississippi southwest across the state to the Mississippi River below Vicksburg. It is a classic Deep South river: narrow, deep, tea-colored, full of sandbars and log jams, with steep clay banks and hardwoods leaning over the water. It has no reservoirs on it, which makes it one of the longer free-flowing rivers in the region and gives it a natural rise-and-fall rhythm.

Catfish are the main event. Flathead catfish live in the log jams and the deep outside bends and grow very large, blue catfish have expanded up from the Mississippi into the lower reaches, and channel catfish are everywhere and easy to find. Largemouth and spotted bass hold on the laydowns and the sandbar drops, crappie stack around the deeper timber in spring and winter, bluegill are abundant in the sloughs, and gar cruise the flats. Most fishing here is done from small boats, and the sandbars make good camps for overnight float trips.

The Bovina gauge reads the lower river near Vicksburg. This is a flashy river with a big drainage: heavy rain anywhere in the basin puts it up several feet within a day, colors it brown and floods the sandbars, and that rise is the classic flathead condition on the bank cover. As it drops the sandbars reappear, the water clears to tea and fish concentrate in the bends and the log jams. Backwater from a high Mississippi River can also raise the lower reaches independently of local rain.

Vicksburg, Edwards, Bovina and Canton give access along the corridor. Log jams and shifting bars mean careful navigation and a shallow-draft boat.

Access

Bovina: lower river access near the gauge east of Vicksburg.
Edwards and Bogue Chitto Creek: middle-river landings.
Canton and Way: upper-middle access off the Natchez Trace corridor.
Pickens and Durant: upper river access in the hill country.
Grand Gulf and the Mississippi confluence: the bottom end.
County road bridges: informal launches along much of the corridor.
Sandbars throughout the river serve as camps on overnight floats.

Seasons

Spring: high muddy water and the strongest flathead and crappie fishing.
Summer: falling clear water, sandbars exposed, catfish at night and bass on the laydowns.
Fall: low clear water, excellent bass fishing and comfortable camping on the bars.
Winter: cold and clear, big blue catfish in the deep bends and crappie in the timber.