Best Ozark Lake To Build A Retirement House?

[Guest]

Tenkiller in Oklahoma has 6-7lb smallmouths caught every year.

Talk about living in the sticks.

It's close to nothing, but still gets crowded on weekends & holidays. I fish there most often vs table rock. Tenkiller is 60 miles where TR is 110 miles from my house. It's one of the few lakes in OK that's an ozarks type lake.

[Feathers and Fins]

Holiday Island... Beaver lake is a short drive you can fish the river or tablerock without ever having to trailer any further than the marina. Its not to rural either.

[kirbydog]

The important point here and one that I've thought about for myself- as you get older you want to actually be on the lake because some day you may be too old to drive but not too old to walk down to your boathouse/slip and get in your boat and fish

Nothing like walking down your back-yard and stepping in your boat for convenience. Cause some day, God willing you'll be 85 or 90 years old and

trailering won't be an option anymore.

[Jerry Rapp]

LOZ would be your best choice then. Above Hurricane Deck. I would pick Table Rock if you can get a house with a dock? Do they allow new docks on Table Rock?

[rps]

Holiday Island... Beaver lake is a short drive you can fish the river or tablerock without ever having to trailer any further than the marina. Its not to rural either.

F & F got it in one.

At H. I. you are minutes from a town that lives on tourism. That means restaurants and attractions. However there is no Branson style traffic. We are one hour from an airport that lands jets. Drs. Kresse and Bell provide great local medical care and the fancy heart/cancer/joint doctors are an hour away by car in Walmart town (Bentonville) and 15 minutes by life flight. Houses are cheap, taxes are low, and $10,000 goes a very long way in this part of Arkansas. Nancy and I researched your question in 2000. We looked at Austin (too expensive) Grove and Jay, Oklahoma (nothing to do) Hot Springs, AR on Lake Hamilton or Ouachita (definite contender but jobs didn't materialize) as well as Bull Shoals and Mountain Home (too far from civilization). In July 2002 I landed a job teaching in Eureka Springs. Both of us were here by 2003. We have never regretted the choice.

BTW, my slip at H. I. marina costs me $750 per year and I paid $1200 to buy the lift in that slip. I don't worry about maintenance or lake rises or lake falls, If I walk across the street and look down the bluff, I can see the marina. Check my posts for bass and walleye pictures.

I should get commissions for this kind of sales, right?

[Brian Sloss]

If you are too old (not healthy enough) to drive a car, then it probably is not a good idea to be running a motor boat either.

[Mitch f]

RPS, I know Hot Springs pretty well, has great potential...glad you mentioned it.

Gavin, don't tempt me!!

TrophyFsher, is Tenkiller a highland type reservoir?

[jdmidwest]

Buy some land and build a house near a lake. Then build a dam and make your own private lake. Chances are, for what you spend on lakefront property, you can build somewhere more private and enjoy life better. Hook up the boat and drive it to the bigger lakes just minutes away or more. Or step out and fish your own privately managed honey hole.

[grizwilson]

If you are too old (not healthy enough) to drive a car, then it probably is not a good idea to be running a motor boat either.

That's when they put me in the canoe naked in December and launch me at Greer.... for some local outfitter to find....

[Flysmallie]

I'm pretty partial to this one. If I could wake up here everyday I would be pretty freaking happy.

But if it had to be one in the Ozarks I would have to choose Pomme de Terre. I know most wont get that, but it's a special place for me.