NW AR at the beginning of April

[07Rapala]

I'll be passing through NW Arkansas in early April to do some mountain biking. I think I'll have a couple mornings free to do some fishing, and I'm not sure where I would start. Beaver Lake is right there and some of the creeks there look like they have some smallmouth. I'm mostly a canoe or shore fisherman, so hitting the creek makes sense and it looks like there are some places to rent a kayak.

I'm from WI, I really don't know what to expect in AR in early April. Will the fish be pretty close to spawning? Where are some good places to hit-up? Any input would help. I plan to bring a pretty limited kit of 1-2 rods and a very small box of tackle, so any help narrowing down my tackle selection would be helpful