FLW Beaver Lake Day 2: A Tale of Two Lakes

FLW Beaver Lake Day 2: A Tale of Two Lakes
by Luigi De Rose

Spanning picturesque views of the Ozark mountains, Beaver Lake is part of the White River system in northwest Arkansas.  The lake is approximately 50 miles (80km) in length covering 31 700 acres (128 km2) with about 483 miles (777 km) of shoreline.  Being a typical highland reservoir, it's water is deep, rocky and clear and usually full of fish.

Spring time is a game of chance between the water level, water clarity and water temperature. Finding the perfect blend of all three, means good fishing. Spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass all swim here. Each typically have their preferred  habitat sometimes these habitats overlap many times they don't.  Fishing for one type of bass over the other is always a gamble.  

After launching, anglers have to make two difficult decisions. The first, is what type of bass to catch and where. Many feel the lake can be divided into two halves: the clear, lower lake near the dam and the stained to darker water of the upper reaches of Beaver.  The upper tributaries do warm quicker and can hold more cover along the shoreline or flats, but fishing can be feast or famine

Closer to the dam, deep structure and long points are the primary areas to start. Schools of bass can be found but tricking them into biting in gin clear water  is not easy. Mix in suspended bait along with uncooperative weather can really doom a tournament game plan.

The FLW Beaver Lake tournament will be decided by consistency. Chad Brauer, stated his frustration while being interviewed by FLW outdoors. "This lake always gives me problems. I can catch them on day one but not the next or I have a poor day one and catch them the second day." His curse continued to follow him here. On day 1, Bauer nailed a respectable limit of 13-04 to snag fifth place but dropped when he brought only 2 bass for 5 pounds and fell to 27th place on Day 2.  Slow and steady might be the name of the game on Beaver.