Arkansas Game & Fish Commission staff in northwest Arkansas spent two weeks in December and the first of the year to take advantage of low water and tackle a huge fish attractor project, adding 119 new fish habitat sites to 57-year-old Beaver Lake.
Thanks to funding from Bass Pro Shops, Toyota, and the National Fish Habitat Partnership, AG&F has been able to use a specially modified habitat barge outfitted with a winch-assisted dump bed and twin engines to move large trees and branches to areas of the lake where woody cover is scarce.
“We’ve also received a second barge from a Bass Pro Shops grant that is identical to the first one we received through the Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership,” AG&F regional fisheries biologist Jon Stein said. “This barge has placed more than 100 habitat sites using at least 800 trees on Beaver Lake, Lake Fayetteville, Lake Elmdale and Lake Bob Kidd.”
The first week of the Beaver Lake project focused on the Hickory Creek and Monte Ne areas, where anglers will find 55 new habitat sites. Twenty of these sites were made from lumber fashioned into “porcupine cribs.” The remaining 35 sites were created using large hardwood trees removed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Monte Ne.
The second week of the project took place in the Indian Creek arm and around Dam Site Island where 64 fish habitat sites were created using more than 180 large cedars. These and hardwoods were removed from surrounding banks. Cedar removal helped with a larger effort to control this species that has encroached on many habitats during decades of fire suppression on the landscape.
GPS waypoints have been added to the Fish Attractors page of the AG&F website.
It’s real close to time for staking out your walleye in the White River. You can actually catch a walleye all year long in Beaver Lake and the White River. If you go close enough to Table Rock Lake they will be running up to the White River, as far as they can and lay their eggs in March and April, then some go back to Table Rock.
Spoonbill and walleye go to the top of the White River to spawn.
If you need help finding fish, call us at Custom Adventures Guide Service. We can hook you up with the right guide. (479) 244-5259.