CADDO RIVER CLEANUP THIS FRIDAY, 7/26/13

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

Caddo River Rats canoe and tube rental is teaming up the the AGFC Stream Team to host a river trash collection this Friday on the two mile section of the river that ends at the rental company in Caddo Valley (just north of Arkadelphia). Meet at Caddo River Rats at 10:00 a.m. to take part in free tube or canoe, free parking, and free shuttle to the put-in at the Corps park on Lower Dam Pike. You may even get treated to a free barbecue lunch donated by a local BBQ joint. A map to the meeting spot and the launching spot can be found at

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The length of the cleanup and the general lack of much litter should make this job go very quickly. There is always water in this part of the Caddo since there is a minimum flow release required from Lake DeGray. There's lots of eddies to catch and places to ferry across the current.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

[Cowper]

Debo and I would be there to help if we hadn't already committed to run a safety boat for the White River Canoe Race that same day.

I'm really surprised by your "lack of litter" comment. The section from the take-out down was one of the most littered rivers I've ever seen when we floated it last year. We overloaded an pretty large airboat to the point that we dented the hull going over a rock the owner was pretty sure we would have normally cleared. Maybe what is happening is that the stretch is so short, that much of what gets loose in that two mile stretch is washed downstream when they have the larger releases. It was also clear that one problem was some folks arriving at the take out simply stood up and let their air mattress or inexpensive river tubes continue downriver. We pulled about 100 of them out of the river; I have the exact count somewhere...

I hope you get some more takers, give us a trip report. And let's get together for a clean up of the section from Arkadelphia down to the junction with the Ouachita later this summer!

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

About a dozen litter pickers got a very tasty lunch from "Fat Boy's" bar-b-que of Caddo Valley, the best I've had in a long time. The locals say his ribs and steaks are even better; I'm putting that place on my list of after paddling supper stops. It rained gently throughout the cleanup; there was a little thunder, but no lightning. The cloud cover and rain made the day a lot more comfortable than it would have been if the sun had been out.

As expected, there was very little trash along the river; I only had half a bag by the time we were a quarter mile from the take-out. Even the popular break spots on gravel bars were mostly free of litter. Now, that last quarter mile was a different story. Some big eddies with fallen trees in them had conveniently corralled an unbelievable number of drink cans. We filled every bag and still did not get all the cans. The manager of Caddo River Rats and his helper found a huge pile of submerged cans under the I-30 bridge, in a big eddy that was about 5 feet deep. Those two guys dove and retrieved double handfuls of cans on each dive until they were all gone. Outstanding! We recycled all the aluminum and the small amount of glass that was found.

We got to see a lot of fish since there was no one else on the river that morning. I drifted over one gar in 18" of water that thought he was camouflaged so perfectly he didn't have to flee. Schools of carp "big as my leg" scooted by in places.

Rowdy, the manager's nickname, said they will do another cleanup in September at the end of their rental season. Ben Thesing of the AGFC's Stream Team program coordinated the event with Caddo River Rats and supplied the bags and took care of the litter removal/recycling.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

[Cowper]

I call those spots (where cans collect) "honey holes".

Thanks for the report and the contact names. I bet one of them knows some private access points; maybe we can coordinate with them on the next clean-up and continue downriver a bit from the take out to get even more stuff.