Kentucky

Fishing in Kentucky

Fishing in Kentucky becomes as exciting as ever because the state parks of Kentucky offer tremendous variety of species and settings for fishing. It offers the anglers fishing to content of their hearts with largemouth and smallmouth bass, striped bass, trout, crappie, bluegill, catfish and many more.

Kentucky State Resort Parks

Pine Mountain: Situated within forested mountains of southeastern Kentucky near the City of Pineville, this state resort park presents beautiful setting of Clear Creek which flows next to the park with a rich variety of fishes, including smallmouth bass, spotted (Kentucky) bass, rock bass and redbreast sunfish. In addition to these, the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife stocks rainbow trout in Clear Creek. You can float fish nearby Cumberland River for smallmouth, spotted, and rock bass, redbreast sunfish and channel catfish. Cannon Creek Lake is just 5.5 miles south of the park, where you can catch rainbow, smallmouth and largemouth bass, redbreast sunfish, crappie, bluegill and channel catfish.

Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park: Within this picturesque park, lies 47-acre Lake Pennyrile which offers you prime fishing of largely abundant bluegill and redear sunfish, so also, largemouth bass. From April to June the season is the best. Additionally, you can catch crppie, longear sunfish, channel catfish, and warmouth.

Lake Barkley State Resort Park: This is the largest state park in Kentucky, with 3,700 acres premises along the Little River arm of Lake Barkley. This lake is famous for excellent largemouth bass fishing and also white and black crappie, bluegill and channel catfish. White and smallmouth bass, sauger and blue catfish are good too. The nearby Kentucky Lake too gives similar fishing opportunities, and also for smallmouth bass and redear sunfish too. If you are fond of stream fishing, you can catch both rainbow trout and rock bass at Casey Creek which is within 15 miles of the park.

Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park: This park is located at the northern end of one of the kentucky’s greatest fishing spots, Kentucky Lake. You can get some of the best fishing in Kentucky here of white, spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass, black and white crappie, blue and channel catfish, redear sunfish, bluegill and sauger. If you launch a boat from the Kentucky Dam Marina boat ramp, you will be just a short distance from fishing many embayments like Sledd Creek, Pisgah Bay, and Little and Big Bear Creeks. You will find quick access to Lake Barkley through the adjoining canal, wherein you will get good fishing of white bass and catfish. Just some miles from the Park, you can launch a boat to fish in the Lower Tennessee River below Kentucky Lake Dam or fish along the shore. You will find here excellent blue catfish, striped and white bass, sauger and a lot of sunfish species.

General Butler State Resort Park: This Park is situated in a beautiful setting, overlooking the Ohio River valley. Within it is located the General Butler State Park Lake, which is famous for largemouth bass, bluegill, white crappie and channel catfish. Also in the vicinity, additional fishing spots are the Lock and Dam #1 tailwater on the Kentucky River and the Markland Lock and Dam tailwater on the Ohio River. Below these dams, you will get abundant channel and blue catfish, sauger, hybrid striped bas, walleye, black bass species, freshwater drum and panfish species.

KenLake State Resort Park: This Park is in the middle of a greatest fishing area, the Kentucky Lake, which gives you one of the most excellent fishing in Kentucky of white, spotted (Kentucky), largemouth and smallmouth bass, black and white crappie, channel and blue catfish, bluegill, redear sunfish and sauger. North of the Park, there is Jonathan Creek and on the south, there is Blood River, where you will get the best crappie fishing. In several bays on either side of the lake, you can enjoy prime largemouth bass fishing. You can also get some great catfish along the main river channel. Lake Barkley is just 10 miles east of the Park and offers great fishing as described earlier.

Big Bone Lick State Park: This Park contains the Big Bone Creek which is stocked in April and May, with rainbow, by the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The lower section of the Creek also offer largemouth and spotted (Kentucky) bass and panfish. The backwater area of the Creek offers good fishing of largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie and channel catfish. There is a 7.5-acre lake in the Park which offers fishing of largemouth bass, channel catfish and bluegill. If you are planning for an overnight fishing trip, there is a campground too just next to the lake.

Barren River Lake State Resort Park: This Park is along the bank of 10,000-acre Barren River Lake and in the center of Kentucky’s best fishing spot of largemouth, smallmouth, white, spotted, and hybrid striped bass, bluegill, channel and flathead catfish, and black and white crappie. Some great fishing also occurs in the tailwater below Barren River Lake Dam, especially during spring and early summer, of crappie, hybrid striped bass, bluegill, white bass, and channel and flathead catfish. Peter Creek is located within less than 10 miles from the Park, where you can fish for rainbow trout.

There are numerous other lake parks which offer great fishing for a variety of species; they are Buckhorn Lake, Carter Caves, Greenbo, Natural Bridge, Kincaid Lake, Rough River Lake, Dewey Lake, Cumberland Falls and Lake, and Dale Hollow Lake.

If you get a chance for fishing in Kentucky, please don’t miss it, you will enjoy it thoroughly!