Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

Discover Adventure on M-65.

Built for commerce. Made for adventure. From Kentucky Lake down to the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the broader Marine Highway M-65 corridor are a four-state playground for boating, fishing, hunting, and paddling, with vibrant waterfront towns in between.

Start Your Journey Explore Interactive Map
Cruise vessel underway on the Tenn-Tom
Kingfisher Bay Marina at dawn, boats in the covered slips

Cruise the heart of America's Great Loop.

Marine Highway M-65 carries the inland leg of the 6,000-mile Great Loop: down the Tennessee River, through the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and down the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers to Mobile Bay. It is one of the route's most scenic stretches, a favorite for Loopers and weekend cruisers alike.

  • Slack-water lakes and rivers with a 9-foot navigation channel
  • Free recreational lockage at every lock on the route
  • Active Looper community with seasonal events and meetups
Marinas & Fuel Along the Route America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association
Bass boats locking through together, waiting in a lock chamber on a clear morning

Navigating the locks.

Twenty-five locks carry boats up and down M-65, ten of them on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Locking through is one of the unique experiences of cruising the corridor, and easier than most boaters expect. Recreational vessels are always welcome.

Follow the lockmaster’s instructions and consult current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers guidance before your trip.

View Lock Schedules & Status

Fishing and wide-open spaces.

From Kentucky Lake to Mobile Bay, and from Knoxville to Birmingham, every stretch of M-65 produces fish, and every stretch hosts tournaments. Pick a water:

Two anglers casting from a bass boat along a wooded shoreline

Tennessee River

  • Kentucky LakeKentucky · Tennessee
    Where
    The Tennessee River's last lake before Paducah, bordering nine Tennessee counties
    Size
    About 160,300 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and redear, blue catfish, sauger

    Tennessee's tourism department calls it the largest man-made lake by surface area in the eastern United States.

    TWRA: Kentucky Reservoir
  • Pickwick LakeTennessee · Mississippi · Alabama
    Where
    Where the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway begins; Hardin County, Tennessee, to the Muscle Shoals area
    Size
    About 43,100 acres
    Known for
    Smallmouth bass, largemouth and spotted bass, crappie, sauger, blue and channel catfish

    Several line-class world-record smallmouth have come from Pickwick, according to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

    Outdoor Alabama: Pickwick Reservoir
  • Wilson LakeAlabama
    Where
    Florence and Muscle Shoals, up to Wheeler Dam
    Size
    About 15,500 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth and smallmouth bass, catfish; hybrid and striped bass and winter sauger below Wheeler Dam

    Alabama's state-record smallmouth bass came from Wilson Lake.

    Outdoor Alabama: Wilson Reservoir
  • Wheeler LakeAlabama
    Where
    Sixty miles from Guntersville Dam to Wheeler Dam, past Huntsville and Decatur
    Size
    About 67,100 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, catfish

    A 111-pound blue catfish caught here in 1996 once held the world record.

    Outdoor Alabama: Wheeler Reservoir
  • Lake GuntersvilleAlabama
    Where
    Seventy-five miles between Bridgeport and Guntersville
    Size
    About 67,900 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth bass, crappie, bream, sauger, catfish

    Host of the 2014 Bassmaster Classic.

    Outdoor Alabama: Lake Guntersville
  • Nickajack LakeTennessee
    Where
    Chattanooga to the dam at New Hope
    Size
    About 10,400 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish, white bass

    The Chickamauga Dam tailwater produces smallmouth action all year, according to TWRA.

    TWRA: Nickajack Reservoir
  • Chickamauga LakeTennessee
    Where
    Chattanooga and Dayton; Rhea, Meigs, Bradley and Polk counties
    Size
    About 36,200 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, striped bass, walleye and sauger, catfish

    Tennessee's state-record largemouth bass, 15 pounds 3 ounces, was caught here in 2015.

    TWRA: Chickamauga Reservoir
  • Watts Bar LakeTennessee
    Where
    Spring City, Rockwood, Harriman, Kingston and Lenoir City
    Size
    About 39,000 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, striped bass, catfish
    TWRA: Watts Bar Reservoir
  • Fort Loudoun LakeTennessee
    Where
    Knoxville, where the Holston and French Broad rivers form the Tennessee
    Size
    About 14,600 acres
    Known for
    Largemouth and smallmouth bass, white bass, crappie, sauger, catfish

    Many high-profile tournaments have been held in the Knoxville area, according to TWRA.

    TWRA: Fort Loudoun Reservoir

Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

Tombigbee River

Black Warrior River

Mobile River, Delta and Bay

  • Mobile-Tensaw DeltaAlabama
    Where
    North of Mobile Bay, where the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers meet
    Size
    About 20,300 acres of water
    Known for
    Largemouth bass, bream, crappie; redfish, speckled trout and flounder in fall at the lower river mouths

    One of the largest river deltas in the United States, according to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

    Outdoor Alabama: Mobile Delta
  • Mobile BayAlabama
    Where
    Mobile and Baldwin counties
    Size
    413 square miles
    Known for
    Speckled trout, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, black drum

    The sixth largest estuary in the continental United States.

    Outdoor Alabama: saltwater fishing

See Marinas, Ramps & Parks on the Map

Lake sizes and species: Tennessee Valley Authority; Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency; Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks; Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sizes are at normal or full pool and rounded where agencies differ.

Pick your wide-open space.

Great blue heron standing at the water's edge

Birding & Wildlife

Public lands and waterways offer opportunities for birding and wildlife watching.

What to look for

Wildlife & nature.

From the Kentucky lakes to the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, M-65 runs through open lakes, quiet backwaters, bottomland forest and prairie country. Each draws its own wildlife: eagles and pelicans over open water in winter, songbirds along wooded shorelines in spring, wading birds and alligators in the southern backwaters.

Wildlife to look for

Bald eagle perched on a branch

Bald eagle

Where to look
Lock tailwaters and open lake water
Season
Year-round; most in winter

A white head and tail, often perched in tall trees near a dam. In 1992 the Corps released more than 30 young eagles along the Tenn-Tom to help them return.

Photo: Peter Pearsall/USFWS

A pair of wood ducks perched on a branch

Wood duck

Where to look
Flooded timber and cypress sloughs
Season
Year-round

A small, brightly patterned duck that nests in tree cavities and nest boxes and feeds on acorns in flooded woods.

Bright yellow prothonotary warbler

Prothonotary warbler

Where to look
Wooded shorelines over water
Season
Spring–summer

A gold-yellow songbird with blue-gray wings that nests in cavities over the water.

Osprey in flight against a blue sky

Osprey

Where to look
Over open lakes; nests on tall platforms and dead trees
Season
Spring–summer

A fish hawk that hovers, then dives feet-first into the water.

Three wood storks standing on a bare branch

Wood stork

Where to look
Roosting in shoreline trees, especially across the river below Demopolis Lock
Season
Late summer

You may see these tall white wading birds with dark, bare heads, visiting from farther south after nesting season.

American alligator resting on a rock at the water's edge

American alligator

Where to look
Quiet backwaters and sunny banks, from the Mississippi lakes south to the Delta
Season
Warm months

Look for alligators sunning on banks and logs. Admire them from a distance, and never feed them.

Through the year

Seasons are general guides, not guarantees.

  1. Winter

    Bald eagles at their most numerous. Ducks, loons and American white pelicans on the open lakes.

  2. Spring

    Songbirds return to the wooded shorelines. Ospreys build their nests.

  3. Summer

    Prothonotary warblers and kites along the rivers. Buttonbush blooms in the backwaters. Hummingbirds at Land Between the Lakes' Woodlands Nature Station, April through October.

  4. Late summer & fall

    Wood storks roost below the southern dams. Monarchs migrate through Land Between the Lakes, mid-September to mid-October. Cypress needles turn rust, and the ducks come back.

Where to go, north to south

  1. Kentucky Lake & Lake Barkley

    Land Between the Lakes

    Eagles in winter, hummingbirds and monarchs in season, and a nature station.

  2. Pickwick to Bay Springs

    Divide Section Wildlife Management Area

    Forest and open land on both sides of the waterway. Open to hunting in season.

  3. Columbus Lake

    Plymouth Bluff Center

    Nature trails between cypress sloughs above the lake.

  4. Aliceville Lake

    Tom Bevill Visitor Center

    Wildlife exhibits, a lakeside boardwalk and winter eagles.

  5. Demopolis

    Spillway Falls Park

    Late-summer wood storks, a river overlook and a native prairie plot.

  6. Mobile–Tensaw Delta

    5 Rivers Delta Resource Center

    The gateway to the Delta's marshes and swamps.

Download the free Merlin Bird ID app and its regional pack before you lose signal on the water. Check eBird for recent sightings, and use iNaturalist to identify any plant or animal you find.

Native plants & habitats

Along M-65, the plant life follows the water: cypress and tupelo in the sloughs, oak and ash forest on the floodplain, and, from Aberdeen to Demopolis, what remains of the Black Belt prairie.

Bald cypress trees standing in still water

Cypress sloughs and backwaters

Where
Old river channels and sloughs beside the lakes, such as Plymouth Bluff on Columbus Lake and the lower Tombigbee.
Native plants
Bald cypress, water tupelo, buttonbush, lizard's-tail.
Supports
Wood ducks, prothonotary warblers, wading birds.
When
Summer for buttonbush's round white blooms; fall, when cypress needles turn rust.

Photo: USFWS

White-tailed deer in open woods

Bottomland hardwood forest

Where
Floodplain woods on the wildlife management areas and Corps parks along the waterway.
Native plants
Willow oak, cherrybark oak, sweetgum, green ash.
Supports
White-tailed deer, wild turkey, and wood ducks feeding on acorns when the woods flood in winter.
When
Fall color; winter flooding.
Black Belt prairie grasses and wildflowers

Black Belt prairie

Where
From about Aberdeen to Demopolis, the waterway crosses the Black Belt, a band of dark soil over chalk that formed on an ancient sea floor. Less than one percent of the original prairie remains. From the water, watch for the white chalk bluffs at Epes and Demopolis. Walk restored prairie on the University of West Alabama trails near Livingston.
Native plants
Little bluestem, Indiangrass, purple prairie clover, gray-headed coneflower.
Supports
Grassland birds such as dickcissels and grasshopper sparrows, and more than a hundred kinds of native bees.
When
Wildflowers from late spring into summer; grasses in fall.

Black Belt prairie. Photo: NPS Photo

Gulf fritillary butterfly on yellow wildflowers

Shoreline and wetland edge

Native plants
Pickerelweed, broadleaf arrowhead, bur-marigold.

Gulf fritillary butterfly

Native plants feed the birds and pollinators you came to see. Plant native at home, and leave wild plants where they grow.

Safety & etiquette

  • Give wildlife room. Never feed alligators or any other wild animal. Living with alligators
  • Stay well back from eagle and osprey nests. Photograph from a distance.
  • Check refuge rules before you go. Some refuge waters close to boats seasonally to protect wildlife.
  • Know the hunting seasons. Wildlife management areas are open to hunting; check season dates and wear blaze orange during hunting season.
  • Clean, drain, dry. Hydrilla, water hyacinth and other invasive plants hitch rides on boats and trailers. Clean, drain and dry your boat before moving to new water. Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers

ABA Code of Birding Ethics

Exterior of the Agnes Zaiontz Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum

Touch the history of America's waterway.

Agnes Zaiontz Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum

Operated by TTWDA, the museum celebrates the heritage of one of the largest civil works projects in American history: waterway construction, lock operations, and the integration of water, rail, and highway transportation. Group tours available by appointment.

Visit
318 7th Street North, Columbus, MS 39701
Hours
Monday–Thursday 9–4, Friday 9–2
Admission
Free
Plan Your Visit

Find your next adventure.

Marinas, boat ramps, campgrounds, and communities, all on one interactive map, updated from TTWDA's central database.

Open the Recreation Map Events Along the Corridor