156 
forest 
AND STREAM 
April, 1919 
BYGONE DAYS ON CADDO LAKE 
REMINISCENCES OF FISHING AND SHOOTING TRIPS ON FLAT-WATER IN 
EASTERN TEXAS WHICH WILL STIR THE MEMORY OF MANY A SPORTSMAN 
it/^ADDO LAKE” is a household 
I phrase familiar to me since I 
' was a very small boy, the mere 
piention of the two words would make 
ifiy boyish heart quicken its throbs long 
before I could be trusted to handle a gun, 
for as small as I was I had already heard 
many recitals about the fine shooting and 
fishing to be had there. 
As to when and how Caddo Lake was 
formed, none of the oldest among us 
could ever say, neither could we arrive at 
a conclusion from the legend left us by 
the Caddo Tribe of Indians, after whom 
the lake took its name. But we do know 
the lake has been used as a water way 
for boats for about a hundred years, as 
during the early settlement of eastern 
Texas the waters of Caddo were at the 
head of navigation and instrumental in 
furnishing all of eastern Texas with its 
much needed supplies. Were I to guess 
at its age, I should say it was several 
hundred years old. 
The most plausible theory we have by 
which to figure as to how the lake was 
formed, is that where the lake is situated, 
was originally a network of cypress 
bayous converging close to the point of 
outflow into Red river. The rise and 
fall of Red river pressing against and 
holding back the waters of the numerous 
bayous caused a collection of debris and 
a network of floating logs to form a dam 
that was strengthened and so perfected 
by age as to hold empounded the big body 
of water we have always known as Lake 
Caddo. This lake is situated in eastern 
Texas, close to the Louisiana line and in 
fact a portion of the lake is in the state 
of Louisiana. It is something like forty 
miles in length and attains a width of 
nine miles at its widest point. While as 
I have said the lake is composed of many 
deep channels and you cross and re-cross 
them almost any direction you choose to 
go, yet there are thousands of acres of 
By J. A. PHILLIPS 
a depth of three to eight feet, many 
cypress trees, the kind that are very 
large at the trunk and very short in 
height are to be found all over this flat 
water, and since these trees are usually 
in clusters and well draped with long 
festoons of Spanish moss, it makes an 
ideal spot for fishing. The waters of 
Caddo are usually clear, but there are 
times when we have continued rain and 
the farms along its borders are freshly 
ploughed, that the water is colored and 
unfit for the desires of the angler. 
D uring the winter and spring 
months the waters of Caddo were 
usually flooded, but along in the fol- 
lowing summer of each year the waters 
become low and islands would spring up 
in what is known as flat-water, maintain- 
ing all over the lake. Some were small 
and some embraced hundreds of acres, all 
soon to be covered with a rank growth of 
grass, which was of two varieties, wild 
rye and what was known as crow-foot 
grass, both most excellent duck food. Sit- 
uated as Caddo is, it was the home of 
wild-fowl and geographically so placed as 
to get the ducks that took the Mississippi 
flight of migration; I know of no place 
in America that has furnished better 
wild-fowl shooting than Caddo, and the 
same can be said of its fishing. The 
above description given of Caddo was as 
I saw it fifty years ago when I was first 
trusted with a gun and permitted to 
visit its shores for shooting and fishing; 
since that time many changes have been 
made. About thirty years past a num- 
ber of men possessed with innate curios- 
ity or a desire to grab some land, made 
a united effort and succeeded in getting 
an appropriation by which the dam that 
old mother nature was kind enough to 
make, was blown out, and as a conse- 
quence all the water in the lake went 
with it. The result brought about by re- 
moving the dam was not what was ex- 
pected and it was not very long ere the 
promoters of the scheme felt the shock of 
many invectives that were openly flaunt- 
ed at their heads, so in short an effort 
was begun to repair the folly that had 
been imposed on the public and work set 
about to build another dam. Several years 
passed, however, before anything could 
be done and during this time a thicket of 
small cypress trees sprang into life over 
all the islands that once furnished us 
such fine crops of duck grass each year. 
These cypresses continued to grow after 
water was again forced over the land by 
the building of the new dam and are to- 
day young trees forty feet high and very 
full of life. It of course goes without 
saying, Caddo was practically without 
any food to offer the passing flocks of 
wild-fowl and is to-day a shadow of her 
former self as a wild-fowl resort and a 
monument to the folly of a few men. 
The writer wishes it understood there 
were no sportsmen in any way connected 
with the miserable undertaking. 
Of course the fishing was hurt too but 
after the new dam was built the lake soon 
recovered and it was not long before the 
angler could find sport equal to the days 
of the long ago. The fishes most com- 
monly found in Caddo, are the large- 
mouth bass, crappie, warmouth and all 
the smaller members of the sunfish fam- 
ily, also may be taken the white-bass 
(Roccns Chrysops) and his smaller 
brother, the yellow bass (Morone inter- 
rupta). These fish are frequently found 
during March and April in large schools 
and furnish fine sport for the fly-flsher- 
man. Of course the cat family has a rep- 
resentative or two and also the buffalo 
sucker and the gaspergou (fresh-water 
drum) are plentiful. Small hickory shad, 
locally called shiners, furnish most of the 
bait used. The style of fishing on Caddo 
has changed little from the way it was 
practiced away back yonder, a cane pole 
anywhere from ten to fifteen feet in 
length, line almost as long, with hook, 
float and lead sinker completes the re- 
quirement; the fisherman must have a 
good boat and a willing son of Ham as 
boatman, the boatman baits the hook, 
lands the fish handles the boat and gen- 
erally does the laughing. 
W HEN the writer lived in Marshall, 
Texas, during years that are gone 
by, he too fished with the old cane 
pole and the same rigging as mentioned 
on the many trips made to Caddo, but 
being a bit progressive the long cane was 
put aside for an eight-strip bamboo bait 
rod, a Meek reel and fifty yards of the 
best silk line. Of course I did not get 
any greater number of fish with the 
“dude tackle” as it was promptly called, 
but I’m sure my friends of the angle 
will join me in saying my sport was en- 
hanced a great deal more by using it. 
A view of the flat-water, Caddo has many thousand acres just like this 
