Lake Ouachita

Lake Ouachita is a reservoir created by the damming of the Ouachita River by Blakely Mountain Dam.

Blakely Mountain Dam was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1948 to 1953 for hydroelectric power, recreation, water supply and wildlife conservation. The dam is 231 feet (70 m) tall, 1,100 feet (340 m) long at the crest, and is capable of 75 megawatts.

The lake is located near Hot Springs, Arkansas. Lake Ouachita is the largest lake completely in Arkansas, as the larger Bull Shoals Lake extends into Missouri.

Lake Ouachita has over 690 miles (1,110 km) of shoreline and over 66,324 acres (26,840 ha) of water. It is completely surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest.

Lake Ouachita is located near two other lakes, Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine. These three lakes, DeGray Lake to the near south, and the thermal springs of Hot Springs National Park make Hot Springs a popular tourist getaway.

Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Bream, Crappie, Catfish, Walleye and world class Trophy Striped Bass await the angler. Lake Ouachita has rare jellyfish (non-stinging) and sponges found in very few freshwater lakes. Scuba divers from all over the world enjoy the underwater experience as well as the special spear fishing season.

The original purpose of Lake Ouachita was flood control and hydroelectricity. One feature by the Corps of Engineers is the Geo-Float Trail, a marked trail which can be followed with a brochure which details prominent geological features along the route. Lake Ouachita features one of the largest crystal veins in the world.

Arkansas angler and fishing expert Billy Murray:

Lake Ouachita is the largest lake we have in the state. It is a wilderness lake. It has no homes on it. It is there for flood control, and the lake fluctuates greatly up and down depending on rain and drought. It has multiple species available in the lake, the main ones being bass, striper, walleye and crappie. Each one of these species has a different niche in the water. They don’t co-habitat; they have their own area of the lake they live in. The lake is able to generate more of these fish because of the extensive amount of water fluctuation it has.

It is probably the premier striper fishing lake in the state. It has a tremendous population with many fish caught being over 30 pounds. And it is one of the few lakes in Arkansas you can go out and target walleye and catch them. Walleye is normally a northern species found in the northern part of the country. The bass population is good, too. You have largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, which are catch and release only, and then there is Kentucky spotted bass. The length limit on the largemouth and spotted bass is 13 inches, which gives these fish a chance to get to maturity before they can be taken out of the lake.

The river system that feeds Lake Ouachita has got more lakes on it than any other river system in our state. You have Lake Ouachita, Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine, all on the same river, which is the Ouachita River. So it is a very diverse fishery in that it has huge amounts of big open water, which is not only good for outdoor recreation such as fishing, but it is also a big recreation lake for swimming, skiing, scuba diving; it is a multi use reservoir. And it has somewhere around 1300 miles of shoreline. So it’s a huge body of water. The one thing that makes it so unique is it has huge tributaries that go off of the main body of the lake. It’s serpentine shaped with creeks that go 6 or 7 miles off the main body of the lake. And it has all of the things in it that promote a good fishery, which is grass, standing timber, big open water areas, and lots of long huge shallow flats. Each one of these types of areas is what promotes different species of fish. The big open areas are the striper areas; the long creeks off of the lake are where most of the bass fishing is done. And most of the walleye fishing is done on the ledges and humps that are out in the main body of the lake.