Natural lakes in Texas worth seeking out
July is Lakes Appreciation Month, a designation that has been around for a decade or so but has gone excusably unnoticed by just about everyone except the North American Lake Management Society, the professional organization behind the idea.
Going unnoticed, misunderstood and certainly under appreciated are something Texas’ lakes — its real lakes, not the artificial pools of dam-trapped water most Texans think of when they hear the word “lake” — know a little about.
In a state awash in manmade reservoirs (7,000 or so, at last count), Texas’ natural lakes get lost in the flood. So, here in the middle of Lakes Appreciation Month, it seems fitting to offer an appreciation of these endemic waters — a rich, almost invariably achingly beautiful natural resource about which most Texas are unaware or painfully misinformed. The truth about Caddo
Ask most Texans if the state holds any natural freshwater lakes and, if they understand the question at all, they will smile and authoritatively say, “Yep, just one. Caddo Lake, the only natural lake in Texas.”
They are mistaken on both counts. Texas holds scores of naturally occurring freshwater lakes, many covering hundreds of acres and some thousands. And Caddo Lake — at least the Caddo Lake that exists today — is not a natural lake.
Texans can be forgiven their error when it comes to Caddo Lake. The belief that the wonderfully gorgeous body of water on Big Cypress Bayou in the northeast corner of the state is Texas’ only natural lake is one of those canards repeated so often most take it as fact.
Caddo was a natural lake. Most evidence points to it being created several hundred years ago by an almost unimaginably large log jam on the Red River in what is now Louisiana. That clot of fallen trees and other debris carried by the Red and its tributaries stretched to cover more than 100 miles.
The log jam, named The Great Raft by Europeans who first encountered it as early as the late 1700s, created a natural dam, backing water behind it. Water from a swelled Big Cypress Bayou, which drained into the Red River, spilled into the low, swampy basin and created a lake — Caddo Lake — that covered as much as 30,000 acres.
Caddo Lake existed as a wholly natural lake until 1873, when the last of the Great Raft was removed. With the “plug” in the Red River gone, Caddo Lake emptied. What had been a shallow lake reverted to a swampland of small pockets of water veined by bayous and narrow channels with stands of cypress and tupelo growing on exposed ground.
It remained that way until the early 1900s, when oil was discovered in the swamp that was Caddo Lake. But the swampy terrain made it near impossible to get drilling equipment into the area. The solution was to reflood the swamp, making it possible to use barges to float equipment to drill oil wells at locations in the swamp.
In 1914, an earthen dam was built near Morringsport on the Louisiana side of what was left of Caddo Lake, reflooding the swamp and creating the Caddo Lake of today. That lake, covering about 25,000 surface acres, is much smaller than the Caddo Lake created by the Great Raft; the lake’s original water level was as much as 10 feet higher than it is today.
Caddo Lake may not be a natural lake now, but it certainly looks like one. The lake — really, a reservoir now — is a magical place, a mix of open water interspersed with stands of cypress trees draped with Spanish moss, narrow channels through flooded cypress forest that opening into fairyland-like patches of open water covered with aquatic plants. It is stunningly beautiful, with its water rich in nutrients and filled with fish. Caddo Lake has the highest diversity of fish life of any Texas lake and produces excellent fishing.
That is true for many of the natural lakes in Texas. And there are swarms of them, despite what most Texans have been told and believe. Green no longer envied
The largest natural freshwater lake in Texas is one most people never have heard of. Green Lake covers about 10,000 acres, or more than 15 square miles. It sits in Calhoun County, just east of the Guadalupe River near when the river spills into its delta and meshes with San Antonio Bay.
Green Lake once was a tremendous natural resource, with its shallow waters filled with aquatic vegetation that drew clouds of wintering waterfowl and whose waters supported a thriving community of fish. The lake is still there. The fish and fowl pretty are much gone as man-made changes to hydrology have turned the once wonderful lake into a shallow, siltclouded and nearly lifeless pool.
Eagle Lake has fared better. This natural lake on the coastal prairie of Colorado County and not far from the Colorado River has shrunk from its original size and shape, and has been much manipulated by human hands. But it still covers more than 1,500 acres, supports a good fishery and still draws clouds of wintering waterfowl.
Like Eagle Lake, most of Texas’ natural lakes are in the eastern third of the state and associated with nearby river systems. The lakes are mostly what are known as oxbow lakes — bodies of water that once were part of river channels but left isolated when the river’s flow shifted and left the section isolated.
Scores of these oxbows speckle the flood plains of the Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, San Jacinto, Neches, Sabine and Sulphur rivers. The same goes for the lower Rio Grande Valley, where they are called resacas, the Spanish word for these water bodies once part of a living river that moved and left them isolated They range in size from a couple of acres to more than a thousand acres. Some sit miles from their birthing river. Others maintain tenuous connections to their mother stream via bayous or narrow channels.
Some of them are famous among the small cadre of anglers and waterfowlers who know their value. Smithers Lake and Maner Lake and Eagle Nest Lake along the lower Brazos are Houston-area examples. Others are known to fewer folks but treasured just as dearly, and for many of the same reasons.
These natural lakes can be magnificent places, still wild pieces of Texas’ natural world, their banks lined with cypress and tupelo or buttonbush, willow and green ash. They are gems that resonate with life above and below the surface. Wood ducks and wood storks, prothonotary warblers and pileated woodpeckers, anhingas and swallow-tailed kites light up the sky over them. Below the surface, in water a deep green or sometimes the tannin-stained color of strong tea live a stunning diversity of fish, natives whose ancestors have lived in these waters for eons.
Some of the most incredible crappie fishing I have enjoyed has occurred when fishing natural lakes. Same with bass fishing; the fish may not be as large as those found in reservoirs, but they are honest, strong fish whose ancestors never saw a hatchery. Goggle-eye perch with their fiery red eyes, and bluegill and red- ears bigger than your hand. Bowfins — “grinnel” to East Texans or “choupique” if you’re close to the Louisiana border — hit and fight like aquatic berserkers and will take a chunk out of an unwary finger with their needle-sharp teeth.
These are truly wild places and truly wild fish. Off the beaten paths
It is not that surprising that more Texans don’t know about the state’s natural lakes, so they have had no opportunity to appreciate them. Aside from Caddo Lake, which is not really a natural lake but might as well be, there is little easy, direct public access to the state’s natural lakes. Most are on private property and access is, rightfully, jealously guarded. Some of the natural lakes accessible via their connections to rivers are public waters, although they are usually far from any public boat ramp and getting to them is more work than most people are willing to do. Texas’ public lands do offer opportunities to access some isolated natural lakes. Brazos Bend State Park holds a half-dozen natural lakes. Natural lakes can be found on some state wildlife management areas and federally controlled national forests, national wildlife refuges and preserves.
These places often are not easy to find and can be a challenge to access for fishing or paddling. But it can be well worth the effort. You’ll bust the myth that Texas has only one natural lake, maybe have some memorable fishing and come to appreciate just how special these places are.
It would be a natural way to celebrate Lakes Appreciation Month.