Hey, Tortuga Tex, Tell Me More!
What can you tell us about Caddo Lake?
Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in Texas - but it was actually formed by a giant,
natural logjam many years ago. Caddo Indian legend attributes the formation of
the lake to an earthquake. At one point, people cleared the logjam, but the lake
went away. Soon after, it was artificially dammed -- in the early 1900's when oil
was found -- and by 1914 the people knew that the dam was important for controlling
floods. Caddo Lake has had a dam ever since. Caddo Lake State Park had been around
since The park's original improvements were made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
in the 1930s
How big is Caddo Lake?
Caddo Lake covers 25,400 acres (almost 40 square miles)
What makes Caddo Lake so special?
Caddo Lake is a swamp! And we love it! A swamp is a shallow lake with trees,
like cypress trees, growing in it. Caddo Lake is a sprawling maze of bayous and
sloughs covering 32,000 acres of cypress swamp. The average depth of the lake is
8'-10 ' with the deep water in the bayou averaging about 27.' An angler's delight,
the lake contains 71 species of fish.
It is especially good for crappie, large-mouth and white bass, and chain pickerel.
Naturalists can enjoy stately cypress trees, American lotus, and lily pads, waterfowl,
alligators, turtles, frogs, snakes, raccoons, minks, nutrias, beavers, squirrels,
armadillos, and white-tailed deer.
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