Beaver Lake Tailwaters

[scott11t]

I don't know if its just me, but this tail water can be frustrating. I fished it a lot last spring. I had a couple great days but often days with no luck at all. I fish a lot near the Parker Bend area. I have most of my luck with woolly boogers and the occasional midge pretty much year round.

I just wanted to give others as well as myself a chance to share what works for them on this part of the white river...(if you willing to disclose this information)

 

[r reese]

Lots of fishing and trying different flyes tell you get them to hit. Soft hackle pheasant tail, woolys and zebra midges. I dont catch alot of fish in beaver tailwater but fish it alot.

 

[scott11t]

Do you think its the fish population that makes it so hard to fish? or is it that the fish are finicky...

I know there was talk once about adding a hatchery nearby. Is that idea in the trash can?

 

[r reese]

It is fished hard and the fish are spooky

 

[coug]

Nice to see posts about this place, I left Fayetteville about 10 years ago but used to fish this tailwater all of the time. Scuds, wooly buggers, and I found if they were rising I would use 18 or 20 midge emergers. There was a very good fly shop in Fayetteville that may have the best info.

 

[scott11t]

It's been hard for me to find people who have fly fished the river. Mclellan's fly shop I think is the one your are talking about. They are a good source of information.
I actually went last week. Started fishing with a olive wooly. I had a few hits but I couldn't get one to commit. I tried something new that resulted in a couple fish. I tied a couple floating egg patterns on dry fly hook. I got two hard hits with it. I guess it looks like power bait that I see floating down the river from all the bait chuckers...

 

[ja501]

I have never fished it but would love to try it. Are there places to wade? Have you tried tying some flies that are just a little different than main stream productions? Sometimes just a little difference is all it takes.

JA

 

[jcw355]

The only time I fished there that water was really clear. I caught a couple on an olive wooly bugger but those conditions would require smaller and probably longer tippet.

 

[scott11t]

I have never fished it but would love to try it. Are there places to wade? Have you tried tying some flies that are just a little different than main stream productions? Sometimes just a little difference is all it takes.

JA

There are places to wade when the generators aren't running. Near the dam and also down around Parkers bend are the easiest places to wade. I've tried a few off the wall flies that have yeilded a fish or two but nothing consistant. Most successfull for me is throwing olive wooly downstream and stripping back up. Beatiful river...catching fish is often a challenge (for me anyway)

---------- Post added at 10:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 AM ----------

The only time I fished there that water was really clear. I caught a couple on an olive wooly bugger but those conditions would require smaller and probably longer tippet.

Olive wooly seems to be the way to go...Nymphing is hard to do without 7x tippet.

 

[ja501]

I'm heading up to NW AR next week for work. I'll have to pack my gear and give the fishing a shot. Thanks for the info.

 

[markg52]

Back 15-20 years ago it was very common to have 60+ fish days below Beaver on Olive Woolies or Sow Bugs. Now days it seems like 15-20 is a really good day. I generally fish a Davy's Whitetail, Ruby Midge, Y2K, or trial and error until I find a pattern they like. It might even be the old Olive Woolie or Sow Bug. Sometimes you can do pretty well skating a soft hackle trough the run down below the bathhouse and switch to midge/nymph/streamer where it pools out. My last trip up there I fished by the boat ramp up by the dam and did pretty well on Davy's Whitetails. First time I had fished that far up in many years. I normally fish the old "C&R" section or down at Parker. FYI, I don't fish Beaver as hard as I used to, ie, daylight to dark. There are some good fish in Beaver, just not the numbers there used to be, in my opinion anyway.

 

[scott11t]

Well let us know how it goes!