Bella Vista City Guide

When the Bella Vista Property Owners Association surveyed members about the amenities, lakes were among the top three, above the golf courses. Members use the lakes for fishing, swimming and boating. Lake Bella Vista, visible to everyone entering Bella Vista from the south, does not belong to the POA. It is actually part of the Bentonville Parks system. Cooper Communities donated the lake and the land around it to a group of volunteers who built some of the first walking trails in the area. When the volunteers couldn't keep the area up, they contacted Bentonville for help. e Bella Vista POA owns seven man- made lakes ranging from the 45 acre Lake Rayburn on the east side to the 477 acre Loch Lomond in the Highlands. Loch Lomond is the newest lake and the only lake with a marina. During the warm weather months, fishing and pontoon boats can be rented at the Marina along with kayaks. Members can and do swim in all seven lakes, but only Lake Avalon has a sandy beach area. All the lakes are private, although members can bring guests with a guest pass. e smaller lakes, Norwood, Rayburn and Brittany, are no wake lakes, but still popular with anglers. e larger lakes, primarily Loch Lomond and Windsor, are popular with water skiers and people pulling tubes. Lakes and Parks Superintendent Rick Echols tries to make sure each lake is unique. Lake Brittany is the only Bella Vista Lake with a trout fishery. e trout are stocked several times each winter. All of the lakes are stocked although not all receive the same types of fish. When Echols took over as fish biologist for the POA, he started a program to raise his own fish and save on the costs of stocking. Each year, he begins at Lake Avalon where there is a heated fishing dock. One corner of the dock has become a fish hatchery. When the "fry" reach a certain size, they are moved to a POA pond. Since 2016 Echols has been using ponds on POA golf courses. Each pond is first drained and refilled before the fry are added. Although he's has had some success, there are issues with the golf course ponds. He was most successful that first year, Echols said recently, but while the fish were healthy, there were some permitting issues that delayed the stocking process and resulted in some fish being lost. e only other year that didn't include a flood was 2018, he said. When the golf courses flood, the fry are usually lost. Flood waters bring in larger fish that will eat the fry and they also wash the fry out of the pond where they probably perish in Little Sugar Creek. is year, Echols plans to use new aquaculture ponds made just for fish raising. e three ponds are under construction near the Loch Lomond Dam. ree small ponds gives him the flexibility to raise more than one species of fish. Bass, blue gill and channel catfish are in all the lakes, he said. But there are other species stocked in some of the lakes, including blue catfish, hybrid striped bass and saugeye, a hybrid that crosses walleye and sauger. Echols believes raising his own fish results in significant savings for the POA, especially for the "specialty fish." State Game and Fish stock most of the big lakes in the state and private lakes that are stocked by individuals are usually very small. Bella Vista is unique with the need to stock larger, unusual species. so raising those species is definitely cost effective, he said. He hopes to use the new aquaculture ponds this spring, Echols said. The lakes of Bella Vista | By Lynn Atkins, Special to Bella Vista City Guide The picnic area near the dam at Lake Norwood is a popular lunch spot when the weather is warm. Photo courtesy of Lynn Atkins 16 | 2023 Bella Vista City Guide

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