Fishing Report For Beaver Lake Locals (Lake Ft Smith & Lake Fayetteville)

[J-Doc]

I'm going to try and post this from my phone. Without it crashing or locking up....

For those of us that venture to other lakes besife s Beaver and live locally, this is for you if you're interested.

Lake Ft Smith

Water temp: 83-85 as sun rises during day

Water clarity: 2-3ft max.

I've never fished this lake before. Found that it was better to fish old Shepard of the Hills side of the lake rather than south portion (before the two lakes merged). I spent a few hours in the south side with no bites and graphed very few fish.

The north side however is full of fish. Can't explain why. Shallower and must be where the food source is. I saw small bait balls bit nothing like Beaver Lake.

Found the depth and side of the lake where the fish were at. I trolled about 6-8 passes on a "heavily marked" waypoint path and only got one crappie on a no. 7 Flicker Shad. Fish were between 15-23ft.

I had planned on fishing other waters so I headed back north. Burned a lot of gas on I540! Lol

Lake Fayetteville

Water temp: 85-86

Visibility: good luck.......greener than a Leprechaun's pair of ........toes ;-p

This lake is in terrible shape. I think its been fished out compared to years before. Lady at bait shop said its been fished heavy by "locals" who keep more than allowed and probably anything they catch. She said last spring about 3 "locals" loaded down 3 boats with over 130-150 whites. I looked all over the place on the graph and I maybe graphed 30-40 fish in the entire lake?? I went to usual spots that hold fish too. Checked deep, mid lake, shallow, coves, holes, etc. Very little activity. I even trolled the entire south shore line in varying depths. Very few fish on graph. A lot different than a few years ago when I used to fish it .orr frequently.

Here are a couple of photos.

This is Lake Ft Smith on the south lake looking north. Great scenery! Beautiful lake!!

This is Lake Fayetteville (green as St Patty's Day)

[GENTLE]

I used to fish Lake Fort Smith a lot, and have caught some giant sacks of bass out of it. But this year has been WAY OFF, not sure what's going on with it, but the people I've talked to that fish it, say the same thing.