Lake Brittany in eastern Bella Vista has become known for its trout. According to the Bella Vista Property Owners Association website, "Lake Brittany is unique in that it houses the association's first trout fishery. Trout stocking began in December 2007 to create a winter fishery, providing members with enjoyable cold-weather fishing while the warm-water species lay dormant."
While that is the first POA trout fishery, there was a prior one in Bella Vista. When E.L. Keith bought the Bella Vista Summer Resort from the Linebarger Brothers in 1952, he replicated his success with the trout farm he had established years before at Lake Keith in Cave Springs.
Historian Gilbert Fite, in his book "From Vision to Reality," wrote, "Keith was partial to fishing as a healthy outdoor sport. He had profited from raising and selling trout at Cave Springs, so he set out to duplicate that success in Bella Vista. In the valley below the Big Spring northeast of the (Lake Bella Vista) dam, he constructed a small trout hatchery, raceways, and a fishing pond. Advertised as a 'fishing park,' this was one of Keith's most successful ventures in Bella Vista."
That valley, with the stream coming out of the Big Spring, was where the Linebargers had installed hydraulic rams to provide water to all of the resort. But Keith dammed up the stream, created large ponds, began raising trout to stock in one of the ponds, stocked catfish in another, and opened the area to the public for fishing.
Keith wrote in his book, "The Autobiography of E.L. Keith," "I liked the trout business and Bella Vista had a good big spring that flowed approximately 1.5 million gallons of water per day. So I decided to build some raceways, a small hatchery and a fish out on Bella Vista resort. The trout business was good for me and later for Cooper Communities. I made a beautiful fishing park, a trout fish out lake and a channel catfish lake in the park ... In 1953, I built a restaurant, a grocery store, and a motel over on Highway 71 at the resort (at the west end of the Lake Bella Vista dam) ... We served a buffet dinner with a Rainbow trout on it, if you wanted it, all with a drink for $1.25 per plate."
The rule at Keith's Trout Farm was that you could picnic and try your luck at fishing for free, having to pay only for the fish you were lucky enough to catch.
Under the bluff that stood out over the Big Spring, Keith hauled away large rocks and put in concrete picnic tables. Visitors enjoyed picnicking there and checking out the names written above their heads on the underside of the bluff. Those names go back a long way. When the Linebarger Brothers owned the resort, prior to selling it to Keith, they published a newspaper called "Bella Vista Breezes." The July 29, 1940, issue of that paper, states that "The Big Spring served as a meeting place of residents of this vicinity long before the first idea of the building of the Ozarks' largest resort was ever born. Names, with dates going as far back as 1836 ... have been found inscribed on the rocky walls above the spring."
When Keith sold the resort to John Cooper Sr. in 1963, Cooper decided to continue operating the trout farm but did so by purchasing the fish elsewhere.
The October 1966 "Village Vista" stated, "Not being native to Ozark waters, the (rainbow) trout must be bought from commercial hatcheries, fed a special high-protein diet, and looked after constantly before they reach fishing size. Because of the high cost of providing this activity, there is a charge of $1 a pound for trout caught out of the trout pool, which includes cleaning of the fish. This nominal charge does not nearly pay the cost of furnishing the fish and (Cooper) picks up the tab for the difference. The Company does this, says George Billingsley, vice president in charge of sales, who exercises over-all supervision over the trout farm, because it believes that the popularity of the attraction with visitors to Bella Vista makes it worth the money it costs."
At that time, Ed Swanson was the general manager of the trout farm. His assistant and caretaker was Herbert (Shorty) Bair. In the April 1967 "Village Vista" Swanson was still listed as the manager, but by June 1968, Bruce Stratton had become the manager. He wrote a column for the "Vista" called "Down at the Trout Farm." His first column appeared in the June 1968 "Village Vista," and it mentioned having three ponds at the Trout Farm, one for rainbow trout, one for catfish (called the lower pond) and the third one for other fish. His March 1970 column in the "Vista" said they had one pond that was stocked with channel cat, bass, trout, bream and Israeli carp. Fishing licenses were not required. The ponds were drained, cleaned out and refilled with clean spring water at the beginning of the season each year.
By March 1971, the Trout Farm was charging $1.50 per pound for the trout, according to the "Village Vista," which also stated, "A free pool will also be in operation with a fish limit." The hours were 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Attendants on duty would clean the trout at no extra charge.
Stratton's last column appeared in the Oct. 15, 1975, "Village Vista," in which he announced that he was retiring to his home in Neosho, Mo., and Cooper had turned the Trout Farm over to a lessee, effective Oct. 1, Barron Collier, who at the time was also in charge of the former Keith trout hatchery at Cave Springs. Collier hired Leon and Truda Durham to manage the trout farm year-round for him.
The Sept. 7, 1976, "Weekly Vista" reported that "The fishery ... covers approximately five acres of land with three 'pools' available for public fishing, two of which are stocked with trout. The third 'pool' is supplied with catfish, brim (a breed of perch) and bass."
The Durhams were still managing the trout farm then, working for Barron Collier, with the fish being supplied by Emerson Trout Hatchery in Ava, Mo. Truda Durham stated, "The pools are maintained at 58 degrees year-round (due to the natural spring water) ... You pay only if you catch and then the price is $1.60 a pound."
Eventually, the Durhams left the trout farm, and Brad and Joy Johnson took over the lease from Barron Collier in late 1990. They owned the buildings and equipment but leased the land from Cooper. The "Weekly Vista" of April 8, 1992, stated that there was a small house on the property in which the Johnsons lived. They were purchasing their stock from a fish farm but hoped to have their fish population replenish itself through breeding. A later undated article in the Bentonville "Daily Record" reported that the Johnsons were in their third year by then. They had two ponds, one for trout and one for catfish. The cost to the public was $3.50 per pound for trout and $3 for catfish. The trout farm was also known as a site for weddings and private parties. The area was said to be able to accommodate 200-300 people.
It is not known how long the Johnsons stayed, but the "Weekly Vista" of Sept. 13, 2000, announced that Cooper had sold the trout farm acreage to a couple who planned to build a home there but not operate the trout farm. They built their house and lived there for approximately 15 years, but decided in 2019 to sell the property. The plans of the new owners for the property are unknown.
For nearly 50 years, though, visitors enjoyed the fishing and the beauty of the trout farm, thanks to the initial vision of E.L. Keith. As Bruce Stratton wrote in his July 1968 column in the "Vista," "Every morning, when I open up the Bella Vista Trout Farm, with the trees all around the lake, the mowed meadow and the tidy hillsides, (to me) it is indeed a place of beauty, and the birds even seem to sing a little louder here."
