NWA outdoor briefs

Submitted/TERRY STANFILL
Egrets spar in the shallows of SWEPCO Lake at Eagle Watch in Gentry on July 17.
Submitted/TERRY STANFILL Egrets spar in the shallows of SWEPCO Lake at Eagle Watch in Gentry on July 17.

Lake closed through Friday

Swepco Lake is closed to all boats and fishing through Friday. Maintenance is taking place on overhead high-voltage transmission lines that cross the lake.

The public boat ramp and fishing pier, two miles west of Gentry on Cripps Road, will be closed to all traffic through Friday. Closure dates are weather permitting.

Southwestern Electric Power Co. operates the Flint Creek Power Plant on the lake shore. Water from 500-acre Swepco Lake is used in the electricity-generating process.

Project protects stream bank

The second phase of a bank stabilization project at the White River below Beaver Dam will take place from daylight to 2 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays until Oct. 15. Power generation won't take place during work hours.

Anglers and boaters can expect to see heavy machinery at work in the stream about one-half mile below Beaver Dam. A section of bank 200 feet long is being stabilized with stacked boulders in front of existing log cribs.

Facing downstream, work is on the right bank across the river from camp area C.

Paddlefish prompts study

Beaver Lake has yielded two state record paddlefish in five years. That's prompted Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologists to take a closer look paddlefish in the reservoir.

Currently, biologists are drafting a Beaver Lake Fisheries Management Plan that will address any changes needed in managing paddlefish and other fish at the lake, said Jon Stein, district fisheries supervisor. Potential changes may include adjusting the paddlefish snagging season and stocking rates.

The most recent state record is a 118-pound, 9 ounce paddlefish caught at Beaver on Aug. 27 by James Johnson of Minnesota. A 105-pound paddlefish was caught in 2015 by Jessie Wilkes of Springdale.

The new Beaver Lake Fisheries Management Plan will be available in a few months, Stein said.

Sequoyah tops for catfish

Lake Sequoyah in southeast Fayetteville is a great lake to fish for channel catfish and crappie, a study by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission revealed.

Biologists sampled the lake in June collecting fish in baited hoop nets. Some 175 channel catfish were caught and released after they were measured, said Jon Stein, district fisheries supervisor with Game and Fish.

"The most impressive thing about the fishery," Stein said, "is the average size of catfish was over 20 inches and 3 ¼ pounds. Channel catfish ranged from 10.5 inches to 27.5 inches long, with the largest being over 9 pounds."

Angler reports and a Game and Fish study in 2018 shows the lake has a healthy population of crappie.

A total of 949 white and black crappie were collected in over several days in trap nets. White Crappie are the most dominant species. Fish collected ranged from 2.5 inches long to 14.5 inches. The study showed Lake Sequoyah as good natural reproduction of crappie.

Part of greenway closed

A section of the Razorback Greenway that runs under North Walton Boulevard and Interstate 49 in north Bentonville is closed because of construction on the Bella Vista bypass.

The section is expected to reopen in the fall of 2021.

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