Beaver Lake Tailwater (White River) 3/08/2005

I fished below Beaver Lake Tuesday. I have never fished it before so it was a bit of a trial and error thing. I arrived at 6:00am and they were running water. I spent an hour or so driving around to all of the different access. About 7:00am went to the River View Cafe/gas station. It is just south of the turn off for the Dam on Hwy 62. They serve up a great breakfast at a supper low price. Also the regulars are a hoot. Anyways I went back down to the river around 8:30 and they were still running water! So I broke out my camera and hiking boots and did a short hike up the river along the paths. It is a very nice looking river with awesome bluff formations. Along the way I found some large cat tracks. I will assume them to be from a large bobcat, but not sure. I took some picks using my multi tool as a guage. I hope they come out right. Around 10:00am they were still running water. So I rigged up and tried tossing some streamers in the back eddies to no avail. A little while longer I ran into a local that worked for American Airlines in Bentonville. We talked fishing, while staring at the ragging water, hoping it would start droping. He finally broke down and went to fish anyways. I left and went to the boat ramp just below the dam. There looked to be a shallow shelf I thought I might be able to pick up some fish on. When I arrived the sounded the horn. I thought great they're turning on another generator. Then to my dismay they strated droping the water. Not fast but very slowly. While I was watching the water drop I met two other retired locals from Bella Vista. We talked fishing for about a half an hour while the water dropped. By the way Bella Vista has seven 18 hole golf courses and two 9 hole courses. One of them began fishing and on his first cast his spool popped off the reel and flew into the water. After a long laugh I grasiously waded out and netted it for him. At least I caught something for the day. Finally around noon the water was down and I went to the C&R area. I fished some midges just below the access in a area called the cuts, I think. I picked up 5 rainbows in an hour and a half. Unfortuneately I had to leave at 2:00pm, but I think I could have picked up more if I had all day. It it was a good trip for not ever having fished there before and only a limited time to fish. Once the flows get back to normal I will have to plan a trip down there. Also just a note but Bentonville is only 45mins away and has many amenities. However I would not stay in Bentonville as hotel prices are a bit on the high side due to WalMart being there.