Just got back from Hot Springs. Took the boat and spent a day on Ouachita and about 10 min. on Hamilton. Ouachita was great. It is a corp of engineers lake, so it was well taken care of. All the coves were marked. Shallow water markers were everywhere if the water got below about 20 feet. Most of the lake was about 100' so there weren't many shallow areas.

Hamilton is highly developed, but none of the water hazards are marked. We hit a shallow spot right in the middle of the lake within about 10 minutes and ruined my prop. It's a nice lake, but I don't if I'll take my boat back to it, but I would go back to Ouachita in a heart-beat.

If you take your boat to Hamilton, look at Google satellite, and you can see shallow spots in several areas of the lake. Just be careful. And hitting your prop on Hamilton, is gonna tear something up, because it is a rocky bottom.

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Posted by SmackoverHawg

Member since Oct 2011

27382 posts

Posted on 7/7/14 at 8:53 pm to sparkinator

quote:
Hamilton is highly developed, but none of the water hazards are marked. We hit a shallow spot right in the middle of the lake within about 10 minutes and ruined my prop. It's a nice lake, but I don't if I'll take my boat back to it, but I would go back to Ouachita in a heart-beat. If you take your boat to Hamilton, look at Google satellite, and you can see shallow spots in several areas of the lake. Just be careful. And hitting your prop on Hamilton, is gonna tear something up, because it is a rocky bottom.

True. And even if you're keeping a look out, you're on them quick. Gotta know where to stay away from. Hamilton's fine if you're there during the week and want to be close to downtain. If you want outdoors, Ouachita is the choice. They have nice campgrounds and cabins. Houseboats to rent. Hiking trails and better fishing than the other two. And if you stay on the Hot Springs side, it's really not that far from town. Hamilton is busy as shite on the weekends. On Ouachita, you can always find a place to get away. Just don't get lost.

We go to Hamilton because we have a place there, but before that, we always went to Ouachita.