Lakes in Louisiana

1. Caddo Lake

Caddo Lake, located an hour's drive from Shreveport, is divided between Texas and Louisiana. This lovely freshwater lake contains the world’s biggest Cypress forest.

The boat traffic is much livelier on the Louisiana side where the waters are deeper, at times up to 20 feet.

The Texas side is much shallower, with areas that are less than five feet. The lake has a number of huge Cypress trees covered in Spanish moss, as well as many narrow waterways and canals (both marked and unmarked) and small green islands.

It is lovely to explore in a kayak or in a flat-bottomed boat. The lake is home to more than 71 species of fish and is very popular among anglers who come for trophy largemouth bass, catfish, white bass, and many others.

2. Lake Pontchartrain

Lake Pontchartrain is a 630-square mile estuary in southeastern Louisiana. Its average depth is about 12 feet, but there are deeper shipping channels that are constantly dredged to ensure safe navigation.

The lake was formed some 2,600 to 4,000 years ago when the Mississippi River Delta’s alluvial deposits created its eastern and southern shorelines.

The lake is linked to the Gulf of Mexico through the Rigolets strait and Chef Menteur Pass through the Lake Borgne.

It is one of the biggest wetlands on the North American Gulf Coast. The wetlands cover over 125,000 acres and include cypress swamps and bottomland hardwoods as well as mixed herbaceous wetlands and marshes.

Once a popular retreat for wealthy New Orleanians, the area is today full of artists and young professionals seeking escape from urban life in the beautiful Victorian mansions with spectacular water views of the lake.

There is a 24-mile-long causeway that crosses Lake Pontchartrain and brings travelers from New Orleans to a world of tranquility and long trails through woods and wetlands.

The lake’s north shore is full of luxurious accommodation, quaint B&B's, famous restaurants, and galleries.

3. Lake Martin

Lake Martin is one of Louisiana's major swamplands and a designated wildlife preserve. Located just outside of Breaux Bridge in St. Martin Parish, the swamplands are intersected with several hiking and biking trails that offer an opportunity to see animals such as egrets, herons, herons, ibis, alligators, bullfrogs, cottonmouths, and nutrias.

Lake Martin can be easily accessed by car and explored on foot, in a canoe, or by kayak.

The lake is part of the Cypress Island Nature Preserve and is owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy.

The organization is in charge of keeping the preserve’s ecosystem healthy and clean, and it manages a visitor's center and a wooden boardwalk that stretches a good way over the swamp at the south end of the lake.

The lake is a natural rookery where a huge number of shore birds and migratory songbirds nest every year.

A large number of alligators also live in the lake and can be observed from Rookery Road along the edge of the water.

4. Caney Lakes Recreation Area

Caney Lakes Recreation Area is located north of Minden in northwestern Louisiana. The area has two lakes – Upper and Lower Caney, which together cover 350 acres.

Lower Caney is bigger, more popular and much more visited. The area forms a part of the Kisatchie National Forest, which offers plenty of opportunities for hiking, bicycling, camping, picnicking, swimming, fishing, boating, water skiing, and hunting.

The area is surrounded by green wooded hills, and the shoreline, which is easily accessible,, is intersected by a number of hiking trails.

The most popular is the Sugar Cane National Recreation Trail, which winds around Lower Caney.

There are still working cotton plantations around the lakes. The lake occasionally becomes overgrown with the imported and invasive Giant Salvinia fern, which tends to choke the lakes and reduce their water level.

5. Cross Lake

Cross Lake is the 8,575-acre freshwater reservoir near Shreveport in Northwest Louisiana that supplies water to Shreveport. Forests of ancient cypress trees and wetlands surround the lake in some areas, but many areas are heavily developed with private residences.

The lake was created in 1926 after the construction of Cross Lake Dam and its Spillway, which took over Cross Bayou.

It is very popular with fishermen for its excellent bass fishing opportunities.

There are frequent local and national fishing tournaments on the lake.

The fishing rule in the area requires fishermen to release any bass they catch that measures between 14 to 17 inches.

The most common fish in the lake are bass, catfish, blue gill, white perch, and red ear sunfish.

No fishing is permitted less than 100 feet from a boat dock.

Boating on the lake is great, and swimming is also allowed, though it is risky since there are alligators in its waters. The lake borders Ford Park and Richard Fleming Park.

6. False River

False River is a 3,200-acre lake near New Roads about 35 miles from Baton Rouge. This oxbow lake was formed in the early 1700s from the Mississippi River.

The lake’s average depth is 21 feet, and its maximum depth is 65 feet. Its shoreline is heavily developed with private residences, camps, and various businesses.

Visitors come to the lake for hunting, angling, water sports, and rest and relaxation.

The lake’s fish population and its diversity are seriously affected by sedimentation, poor water quality, various fish diseases, and overgrown vegetation.

There are efforts underway to improve the lake’s water quality and invasive plant proliferation, and the lake’s fish stock is carefully monitored.

7. Henderson Lake

Henderson Lake, located close to Rocky Branch and Loch Lomond, is a gateway to the Atchafalaya Basin. A combination of open water and picturesque cypress swamps, the lake is home to over 300 different kinds of diving waterfowl and other birds.

It is wonderful for slow paddling, and you can see many small private cottages and houseboats on one bank and ancient cypress trunks on the other.

While paddling, you can see large flocks of cormorants, sometimes 40 or 50, as well as Osprey nests high up on cypress trees.

The trees are magnificent and covered in bright green Spanish moss.

The launch site is paved and has large graveled parking area and Pat's Restaurant.

8. Prien Lake

Overlooking the Indian Bay, the Prien Lake Park is an outdoor haven with gorgeous gardens, lovely fountains, streams, and of course, access to the serene Prien Lake.

Enjoy the lake’s refreshing breeze while exploring 29 acres worth of recreational space where visitors can maximize the use of several walking trails, public pavilions, picnic areas, and even playgrounds for kids.

For those who want to enjoy the lake’s waters, canoes and kayaks are available for rent while several boat launches are spectacular for fishing with flounders, croakers, redfish, black drums, and specks up for grabs.

3700 West Prien Lake Road, Lake Charles, Louisiana 70601

9. Lac des Allemands

Located about 25 miles from New Orleans, Lac des Allemands is a natural 12,000-acre lake fed by many surrounding Barataria Basin bayous, including Bayou Chevreuil and Grand Bayou.

The basin is full of bayous, drainage canals, access canals, and navigation channels.

The main channels are the Barataria Waterway and the Intracoastal Waterway. Lac Des Allemands is a very shallow lake, reaching a maximum depth of 10 feet, but it is on average only five feet deep.

It is 5.5 miles long and 6.5 miles wide. Lac Des Allemands, with its canals, bayous, cypress swamps, and fallen trees, are ideal for fish, and the lake has been justifiably named the Catfish Capital of the World.

There are numerous fishing camps on the lake's shoreline. Besides fish in the lake, cypress-lined bayous provide home to raccoons, otters, egrets, frogs, great blue herons, alligators, and bold eagles.

10. Lake Bistineau

Lake Bistineau, a narrow reservoir covering 15,550 acres, is located in northwestern Louisiana and is connected to the Red River and eventually to the Mississippi.

Bistineau was created in 1800, after a huge log jam in the Red River flooded several thousand acres of land. The lake started to drain after the area was successfully dredged.

The lake as we know it today was created after a permanent dam was built across Loggy Bayou. Clyde Connell, an abstract impressionist painter who lived in a cottage by Lake Bistineau, has immortalized the lake.

With an average depth of seven feet, the lake occasionally suffers from proliferation of giant salvinia ferns that tends to choke up the waterways.

Lake Bistineau State Park was established in 1938 and provides visitors an opportunity for boating, fishing, hiking, and biking, and it has numerous playgrounds, two boat launches, and a number of camping cabins.