Beaver Lake, AR / Brush Piles

Hey yall, I'm a college student in Arkansas (Texas native though), and I'm looking to drop some brush on Beaver Lake in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I've never made or dropped brush before, but I feel like its a fairy simple concept. Ill be making my piles out of a 5-gallon bucket, some quickcrete, and 2x4's. I want to make 3-4 and drop them fairly soon so they can get a healthy population by the springtime. Im really looking for advice on where to drop brush. I know that you want to attract bait, have them relatively close to deep water, and most importantly, drop them vertically haha. But in all seriousness, if you have experience with making brush, dropping brush, or have some info on the Beaver Lake slabs you'd be interested in sharing, I would really appreciate it. Thanks guys (and gals), happy hunting.

Only been to Beaver Lake once and we were racing boats back then. Long winding lake with lots of deep clear water so fish will be hanging a little deeper than in slightly stained water. I'd look in the upper reaches for water that is not crystal clear. If that's not an option, then drop stuff in 20-25 FOW. And if you can get natural brush/timber off the bank, I'd use that and sink with those 5 gal buckets of crete. Couple buckets will sink a fairly large tree top. Green stuff sinks easier but I don't like a lot of leaves as they catch silt and will compact/sink the limbs.
Good luck.

Very deep and clear lake, not a whole lot of clear water in the white river chain. My guess is the fish will be in 8-20’ even in the spawn. The steeper the shoreline the better, and I’d hazard to say it’ll be May before there is really a shallow bite.

Fished a few tournaments on that lake. Northern half is SUPER clear...can easily see your jig 15' down in a lot of places. Southern half has more water color to it, so I'd build your brush down on that end in 5-15'.

I dropped a few brush piles a couple years back that should still be there if you want to give them a try. PM me and I'll give you the details

I fish beaver about every year when I go up to my family reunion. ( I'm from NW Arkansas) That clear water will present some challenges. Possum Kingdom Lake west of Fort worth is very clear for a Texas Lake and will have similar issues. While not as clear as beaver, I could see sand bass someone had filleted and dropped by the Courtesy Dock at the cliffs resort in 30 feet of water this past spring.

Here's what works in clear water at PK:

1. Shade - if you make a brush pile, put a piece of plywood or something else to make shade in the pile. Shade trumps cover in clear water.

2. Try night fishing - Last year was the first time I could regularly go out and come back with a full ice chest of crappie at PK. Night fishing docks with mercury lights close to the water was the key. Green lights draw lots of sand bass and stripers but the crappie avoid it, as they will end up being dinner.

3. Go with very very natural colors. I caught some crappie up at Indian creek trolling for stripers using Rapala jointed Fat free shad in this color.



At Possum Kingdom there are too many trees to troll, so I fished primarily with a white Giltmore Fuzzy Bug during the day and Tipped with a minnow at night.



This spring your could spider rig 4-6 poles with fuzzy bugs in 1/16 oz and catch some up the creeks.

The hwy 12 bridge might have crappie on it. I have not fished that bridge but typically fish the bridges here in Texas. I can't see why that bridge would not hold crappie.

Good luck fishing Beaver. The bi-catch is nice up there as well with Walleyes, Smallmouth and a Generous 10 a day largemouth limit.

Here's tip: Fish some of the streams and rivers. Scenery is awesome and you can fish all day and never see a soul. Even my pretty wife can catch em.



The rivers up there are full of Goggle eyes better known as Kings River Crappie. It's a fine eating fish.



PM me if you want tips on fishing the streams and rivers. I have decades of experience on those waters.

Great Report, Thanks!