4. NORTH EAST REGION
Caddo Lake WMA and Caddo Lake State Park: Marion and Harrison Counties
The Caddo Lake Wildlife Management Area manages 8,005 acres in Marion and Harrison counties and contains a permanently flooded bald cypress swamp and seasonally flooded bottomland hardwoods. Islands in the lake make up most of the land mass. The rest of the WMA is uplands forested with pine, oak and hickory trees. A diverse population of odes are found here. I have only searched the area once and found large numbers of skimmers. I think if one searched at different times during the year, a good variety could be found. The same also applies to the state park as well.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=104
https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/caddo-lake
Gus Engeling WMA: Anderson County
Gus Engeling WMA (10,958-acre) is located in northwest Anderson County, 21 miles northwest of Palestine. The GEWMA's primary purpose is to function as a wildlife research and demonstration area for the Post Oak Savannah Ecoregion. The area is comprised of 2,000 acres of hardwood bottomland floodplain and almost 500 acres of natural watercourses, 350 acres of wetlands: marshes and swamps and nearly 300 acres of sphagnum moss bogs. This area has become a very popular destination for ode enthusiasts. There is a large variety of odes due to the diversity of habitats. Daily On-site registration is required of all public users. General public access to the area is during daylight hours through designated legal entry points only and by APH or LPU Permits. I set up a Place on iNaturalist for this site. It lists all species of organisms that have been observed and submitted to iNat.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=142632
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=10
Lake Murvaul Park: Panola County
There is a small park called Rosie Jones Park located uplake at the north end of FM 1971 bridge crossing. Take FM 1971 south from Texas 315 near Clayton. There are some open areas and a wooded area between the lake and the road. This is a good place to find Bayou Clubtails.
32.046274 -94.475993 degrees
https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/murvaul/access.phtml
Neches River access and Roadside Park at TX 31: Henderson County
This is an out and back paddle trail with put-in and take-out at the same location.
From Athens: Travel east from Hwy 175 on SH31 for 23.2 miles to Neches River Bridge (River Park, north side). I stopped here once several years ago and found several River Cruisers. There are paths along the river that access the river.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/paddlingtrails/inland/chandler_upperneches/
Old Sabine Bottom WMA: Smith County
The Old Sabine Bottom WMA has 5,158 acres located north of Tyler in Smith County. The area is five miles northeast of Lindale. The WMA is bounded on the west by FM 1804 and meanders between the Old Sabine River Channel and the Sabine River. The Area has mostly bottomland hardwood habitat containing large stands of hardwoods such as oak, elm and ash, and a diverse mixture of understory vegetation. Based on iNat observations, very few odes have been documented at this site.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=142662
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=34