[Champ le monstre du lac]

What's the best lake in Arkansas? Nice clear and clean water ideal for swimming? Any state park or recreational area like this to reccommend?

[ArkansasSlim]

That's a tough question because we have so many lakes. I'm sure any reply to your post will have a favorite, but Lake Ouachita, west of Hot Springs, has the reputation of being one of the cleanest with most all of the source coming out of the Ouachita Mountains and no large towns in it's watershed.

[jim9251]

Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas. Now for bass fishing, Lake Chicot in south Arkansas.

[nmnita]

I have to agree with the first two posts: living in NWA of course Beaver Lake comes to mind and it has about everything anyone could want recreationally, but Lake Ouachito has a great reputation. There are many others as well. We are lucky to have a large selection of clean, swimable lakes with lots of good facitlities.

[Robert_J]

Originally Posted by jim9251

Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas. Now for bass fishing, Lake Chicot in south Arkansas.

I drove by Lake Chicot yesterday and it looked better than ever. On the other hand, it's not my favorite lake to swim in. Some of the larger pools of water on the creeks in north central AR are perfect. Spring fed clear and COLD for a hot summer day.

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by Robert_J

Some of the larger pools of water on the creeks in north central AR are perfect. Spring fed clear and COLD for a hot summer day.

I've been to Falling Water Falls....beautiful! My son was about 10 and he spent hours chasing a fish around in the pool with a net...finally caught him and was so proud. (let him go, of course!) Good times. The best thing about FWF is that they are right next to a road!

Unfortunately, during the middle of the summer, many of the creeks dry up....some more than others, of course. It was summer when we were at Falling Water, but it was early summer, late May, early June.

Guess you just have to know which ones keep running the longest into the summer!

[thewizard16]

Bull Shoals and Norfork are both very nice in north central Arkansas- both are very large lakes; one is more open feeling, the other snakes on for what feels like forever so both your bases are covered. Lake Catherine is one of the prettiest lakes/state parks I've been to, but it's not terribly large, just very scenic. There are so many nice lakes in Arkansas (almost all of which have nice state or Corps of engineers parks at them) it'd be hard to pick just one or two.

[Marat]

This is an impossible question to answer. There are so many great lakes like the others have said. Each can be just a bit different than others but which is better is a personal preference. I grew up by Bull Shoals Lake and loved it for its size and the ability to find areas where you seemed to be the only one on the lake. Other lakes closer to population centers will have many more amenities nearby so if that is important, you'll want to try one of those.

An easier question might be if there are any lakes to stay away from.

[grmasterb]

Canoeing on Spring River around Hardy is a good time.

Any love for Greers Ferry?

[Robert_J]

Also, some people only go fishing in lakes so that's what is best for them.

I already mentioned Lake Chicot. It is the largest natural lake in the state and the largest oxbow lake in the country. Just like Like Chicot was part of the Mississippi River, Lake Wallace (south of Dermott) was part of Bayou Bartholomew. I've been swimming more in Lake Wallace and the bayou more than Chicot as that was closer to where I grew up. But Lake Wallace is known more for its fishing.