Mike Riewe boasting, “Double the pleasure, double the fun!”
Scott Baker
Ancient, 400-year-old bald cypress trees stood in the water, watching over the swamp. All was still. Alligators and snakes hidden away, lurking somewhere beneath the floating cover of water hyacinth, sneaking toward their prey. Thickets of Spanish moss dangled from trees, fluttering in the breeze. So quiet. So eerie. So serene.
Stretching across the border of Texas and Louisiana, 26,800-acre Caddo Lake is a maze of sloughs, bayous, soggy islands, streams, and swampy wetlands. These tannin-tinged waters are home to thriving populations of largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, white bass, and yellow bass, in addition to 70 other species of fish—an angler’s smorgasbord for the RR Fishing Club!
Each morning of our three days of fishing, accompanied by our professional guides, we hopped into boats and maneuvered through a maze of overhanging cypress trees and stump-infested waters. The scenery grew more alien and primordial as we floated, the sounds of birds chirping, the boat’s engine purring, and water stretching farther than our eyes could see. Tall poles with metal tags marked the channels, the only avenues of safe passage through watery twists, turns, and configurations.
In this target-rich environment, there’s not much guesswork about where to find the fish. Bass, by nature, thrive in shallow waterways and are at home in vegetation and cover. As we eased our way through the narrow boat runs, we found the most effective fishing technique was a simple (and accurate) cast and retrieve.
Casting with weightless worms, we got as close as possible to a tree stump or slightly beyond. Letting the worm slowly sink a few feet, we gave it a couple of twitches, then quickly reeled it in for the next cast. Heading to the next tree, we repeated the process until we had a bite.
We also worked topwater lures, using the same principle—casting a line and getting the lure close to multiple trees. We attracted the bass, even on sunny days, in the deep shade of the cypress thicket, since they’re never in water so deep they can’t readily see a surface lure. Alternating between the two, we soon figured out which lure the fish preferred. It then became routine—cast, snag, retrieve, repeat—reeling in one bass after another, filling the live well to the brim.
Caddo Lake provided the perfect place to whet our appetite for all our water-based leisure pleasures: fishing, wildlife and bird watching, or just enjoying the gentle glide of the boat. With its quality fishing and beautiful scenery, Caddo Lake holds a special place in the RR Fishing Club’s tackle box, keeping us returning year after year.
Interested in dropping a line? The RR Fishing Club meets the second Wednesday of each month at the Wildhorse Grill Boardroom at 4 p.m. For any inquiries, contact [email protected] or Scott Baker at 214-334-7664.