White River at Beaver Lake Report

Last week, I went to Arkansas to fish the White below Beaver Lake. The river is absolutely loaded with trout that pretty much take any fly I offered. The scenery is beautiful and Prices are low. There are lots of lodging options and lots of camping. One thing I noticed was the lack of people. Arkansas has a really low population and that makes for great fishing. I kept limits of rainbows twice while I was there. Highly recommended.

Nice post and fish. Good job.

So, I've been wondering. Is the White more of a "boat-n-fish" or is it like South Fork, Colorado where you can just pull over and wade?

This is how it works: In the morning, it is a knee deep wading river. Depending on generating schedules, between 1pm and 7 pm it becomes a drift boat, canoe, kayak river. My routine was to fish the morning set wading and relax in the afternoon. The evening bite was fished on the nearby Kings River, which is a trophy smallmouth stream.

The White River below the Beaver Lake Dam is a good canoe/kayak river. You can get out and fish the rocky shoals or just float on down.
There is good wading access at in the park below the dam and at Parkers Bottom. You will need waders as the water is super cold coming from the bottom of Beaver Lake through their hydro-electric dam. During the summer, they generate electricity to power everyone's air conditioner. My son and I were there in late July during the heat wave. The water was so cold it hurt being in the river ankle deep for more than 5 minutes.

Here is the generation history which can help in guessing when they will start generating for the next day.
https://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/pages/data/tabular/htm/beaver.htm

I wanted to thank the OP for sharing this area. As others have shared, it's a tailwater...water flowing from the bottom of the dam keeps it cold enough for trout. In many tailwaters, the farther you drive from the dam after they begin to release, the longer you have to wade until the water begins to rise. The releases are more frequent during times when power is needed to heat or cool houses, so Spring and Fall usually have less generation releases. Of course, water levels in the various reservoirs due to rain or the lack of rain can cause releases to balance the system. Wading can be dangerous if there are no loud alarms to warn you, which is the case the further you fish from the dam. It's always a good idea on a tailwater to pick out a nearby rock or log in your fishing field of vision to give you a read if the water begins to rise. Most dam have cell numbers you can call to get the release schedule, but it's usually updated with only a little notice.

Appreciate the info. Me and the wife are thinking about a stint in October and, with absolutely no experience in Arkansas, and two close calls nearly drowning now gearing into a slight phobia of open water, I'm a little cautious around randomly flooding waterways. If the water is predictable enough I might just look into renting a boat during high flow.

It is very predictable and controlled. The sirens are loud and the access to and from the river is very easy to navigate. There is an entire industry based on the schedule of the release of water. Excellent recreation management. Not like here in Texas. Also, an annual license for non resident is about the same cost as a resident here in Texas.

Spider Creek Resort, just downstream from Parker Bottoms (IIRC?) has wading right in front of it. It has perfectly nice cabins, and a fly shop! I recommend. In fact, we're going soon.

I am going to attempt this lake(river) next week pending i can find a camping site.I just might wade ,float and hit Kings river also.

Mateo did you wade fish on the White behind Beaver lake? Man if that is like MO.its cold

Mateo is a great guy, and tells the truth ... most of the time!

I just enlarged that photo! Tasty stockers! Yum yum.

There are no trout in the white river stay home lol. I might’ve caught 1 or 2 fish over 26 inches out of there 😆. Best trout stream in the us even though not natural. I highly recommend it to anybody. You need to go with me in a month Mateo big brown time. I’ve caught fish over 30” up there and on a real good night expect ten or so over 20” a lot going 22-26”. Special place for sure. Good trip bud.

Say Robert! Hey, I know you night fish for large browns. I know you do this at Bull Shoals. (At least I think you do.) Have you also done it at the Beaver Dam tailwater? Over Thanksgiving I'm going to be staying at Spider Creek Resort just down from the dam. I might want to go out at night a little bit. Do you have any tips? Thanks a lot, Robert!

Jonbo check your pm