Am looking to retire here in about 5 years. I would like some information about living here.
Am looking to retire here in about 5 years. I would like some information about living here.
Oh shoot anther yankee. Need to learn to root for the hogs. Are you a replacement for the coaching staff at UofA Good state to live have a lot of fishing lakes to fish. Glad to have you.
What are you looking for in a community? Type of fishing you like? Big town or little town?
It's a lot like Wi. only warm. Hot Springs Village is a gated retirement community that is popular in central Ar. Lots of good fishing within two hours.
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Have you narrowed down what part of the state you want to live in?
I would like to be somewhere in the north west corner of the state.
I live in Bella Vista which is in NW Arkansas. If you're looking for more of a rural setting, this area may not be for you as there are around 500,000 people living in this corner of the state. In that case you may want to look at something like the Mountain Home area. Here's a link describing Bella Vista, if you have any questions you can shoot me a PM. http://beautifulbellavista.com/
Mt Home would be great area. Several good lakes there that aren't too overcrowded. Me myself, I'd prefer Russellville area. More my style of topography and fishing style. Only bad thing about Mt Home is it's "car sick city" just to get there.
Bella vista has some of the best lakes in the state of AR! Plus you can get A LOT of house for the money up there.
but you're only about 15 minutes away from rural no matter where you're at and still be close to the amenities/convenience of a bigger city. The OP needs to give us what he's looking for (type of fishing and or hunting he likes, what wife likes, etc.) to know the best area for sure.Originally Posted by Quillback
You are right WPS, you can certainly live the rural lifestyle if you want in this area. But I have seen a lot of comments where people feel like this area is a bustling metropolis and just too busy for them.
NWA is a busy place but it also has a lot going for it as far as entertainment. I would look at the Hot Springs area myself. Nice town, close to numerous good fishing lakes, and beautiful scenery.
Hi guys, thanks for the input. I have been to mt home and it looked very inviting, a lot like northern wi. Bull Shoals and Norfolk looked nice, I am a multi specie guy who needs walleye fishing.
Heber Springs
Quillback, thanks for the link. Something like this may be what I am looking for. How is the hunting around there?
I can't help you much with walleye fishing but I think that will definitely put you in the northern part of the state. Beaver Lake in NWA has some but not sure how it ranks with the north central lakes. As for hunting, there's plenty of public deer/turkey/small game areas around but of course, people that have private land tend to do better. The best duck hunting is in the eastern part of the state (east of Little Rock) but you can kill birds anywhere along the Arkansas River.
Check out the Ark game and fish website, lots of good info on there too:
www.agfc.com
Look at Hot springs Village and Bella Vista. I'm still working and need to be in The Hot Springs area so we live in the Village and plan to retire in a few years. Suffice it so say we aren't going anywhere. Lots of Packers fans here, I think you'll feel at home. Hot Springs is a vacation destination town, lots to do here even though it's a small town (35,000). Bella Vista is on the north end of the booming NW Arkansas area, with lots of growth fueled by Wal Mart HQ being next door in Bentonville. It's much more like big city living than Hot Springs. I consider it a miniature version of Dallas/Fort Worth (where I escaped from 4 years ago).
Lots of lakes in the HS area, 10 smaller lakes here in the Village, and Hot Springs is center of the Diamond Lakes Region, Lakes Ouchita, Hamilton Catherine, Greeson, and DeGray. Lots of walleye in Ouachita and DeGray with little pressure on the wall eyes. Lake Nimrod (you may have seen it on MLF last year) is about 30 miles north of me, with Dardanelle another 25 miles or so past that. Plenty of lakes in the area.
I started kayak fishing last year and love it. Lots of rivers, tailwaters, and small secluded lakes to fish in. If you can't tell, I love this area.
You might also look at the Mountain Home area, and the area around Lake Dardanelle. I personally think Russellville sucks, but that's just me. I do know that we were able to get a lot more house for our money here in the village than we could in town in Hot Springs.
i know two people who left here because they didn't like it. One wanted to be closer to salt water fishing and moved back to a South Carolina. The other was a disabled vet and decided to move closer to the VA hospital in Little Rock.
Last edited by Warhawk; 02-18-2017 at 11:23 PM.
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You can hunt deer right hear in Bella Vista (Bow only). Quite a bit of land that is owned by the POA and is not suitable for building (ravines and such), I have a ravine that runs behind my house and also runs behind my neighbors house, he gets a deer every year right behind his house. I don't want to make it sound that it is easy or that we are over run with deer, but they are there ad can be hunted.
There is walleye fishing in Beaver and Table Rock. I don't think you'll see the numbers that you see up north, but the minimum size length is 18", so when you get a keeper or two you have some nice walleye. I can get from my house in Bella Vista to the Eagle Rock COE launch on Table Rock in about an hour. Eagle Rock is located on the White river channel and in that area is some of the best walleye fishing on TR. If you do move down here, or over in the Bull Shoals area, be sure and join Ozarkanglers.com/forums, there are several walleye chasers on the forum that are very helpful in getting people started pursuing those toothy critters.
They have started stocking walleye fingerlings in several of the Bella Vista lakes, I doubt it will amount to much, but who knows?
Thanks again for the info. I still have a couple of years to go. Wife and I drove through last year and it looked nice. We liked the clear water and rolling hills.
Well by the time you get down here, those walleye fingerlings might grow enough to be keepers.
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