LIMESTONE DRIFT KENTUCKY WATER, TOLD STRAIGHT
FIELD CARD Access & Rules · No. 15-3
Tailwater & navigation river · US 641 south of Marion, KY 70 east · the Dycusburg ramp · Crittenden County

Lake Barkley Tailwater

The only KDFWR ramp on the Crittenden County side, and the only one reached from Marion without crossing at Smithland. Single lane, no fee, retail flagged.

US 641 · KY 70 · DYCUSBURG Ramp at its KDFWR coordinate · KY 70 drawn unjoined
Boat rampDycusburgNo fee · single lane · retail, limited hoursUS 641 · MarionKY 70 · DycusburgN02 miSchematic · sites at KDFWR coordinates · hollow discs are other corridors · dam drawn, not surveyed
Three things to get right
What you hearWhat the current primary sources say
"Eight fish a day."No: 301 KAR 1:410 §5(12) sets no daily limit for rough fish here. Full text overleaf.
"Check the pool."There is no pool — a navigation river: stage 00065, discharge 00060, not 62614.
"Snag below the dam."Not from the dam to the U.S. 62 bridge, and not within 200 yards of any dam. Below the bridge: 1 Feb – 10 May, from the bank, never a sport fish.
What this road actually gets you
The east-bank corridor: US 641 south out of Marion, right on KY 70. Whether KY 70 crosses to the Livingston County side is status pending — drawn here as two unjoined segments; do not plan on driving between the banks.

Releases, the lock and barge traffic

Corps, 21 May 2026: “Water released from dams can rapidly raise river levels and create dangerous currents with little warning… Warning sirens, strobe lights and postage signage near dams and spillways should always be obeyed.” A commercial navigation channel the whole way to Smithland: the lock works 20 hours a day, 365 days a year, and barges “are moving faster than they appear” — up to 1,000 feet a minute, a quarter to half a mile to stop. No fishing at the mouth of the lock chamber, as designated by signs. Restricted-area boundary below the dam: status pending.

LIMESTONE DRIFT
LAKE BARKLEY TAILWATER · DYCUSBURG Access and limits
The site on this road, in KDFWR’s words
SiteCountyKDFWR record, in the agency's words
DycusburgCrittenden“US 641 S of Marion; right on KY 70 to Dycusburg”. Any light trailerable boat, paved, single lane, no fee, unpaved parking ≤25, no dock. Ramp and shoreline year-round 24 h; retail “Year Round - Limited Hours”. Restrooms, handicap facilities and camping None.
Limits — one figure is local, the rest is statewide
SpeciesSizeDaily limit
Sauger, walleye, hybrids14 in minimum6, singly or in combination
Rough fish, by snagging—no daily limit here (§5(12))
The snagging rule in full (301 KAR 1:410, eff. 7 Nov 2024). Season 1 Feb – 10 May (§5(1)). Prohibited dam to U.S. 62 bridge (§5(6)(c)) and within 200 yards of any dam (§5(6)(g)). Not from a boat or platform (§5(3)(b),(e)); not a sport fish (§5(3)(a)) — the §5(8) and §5(10) exceptions are Tennessee River only. One single or treble hook (§5(4)). No daily limit for rough fish (§5(12)): the surviving eight-fish aggregate is the Tennessee River below Kentucky Lake Dam; KDFWR’s summary still shows the superseded 2019 figure. Every snagged rough fish here must be retained, not released or culled, except invasive carp, shad or herring (§5(16)); stop at a paddlefish or shovelnose sturgeon limit or a trophy catfish (§5(17)). No fishing at the lock-chamber mouth, as signed (301 KAR 1:201 §3(20)). Trotlines, jug lines, set lines barred dam to Highway 62 bridge (§3(9)(b)). Striped, white bass and catfish: statewide, 301 KAR 1:201 §2 — status pending.
On this corridor. Crittenden County’s seat is Marion, from the county’s own site. Livingston County’s site is HTTP-only and could not be read, so its seat, phone and address are status pending. Fuel, bait and lodging in Marion and Dycusburg: status pending. A Kentucky licence governs this whole reach; the Ohio River reciprocity agreements only matter if you run out into the Ohio at Smithland. The rest of this water: one card each for Iuka, Dycusburg, Pinckneyville, Vicksburg, the Barkley Tailwater VPA (bank only) and the ramp at the dam.
No live stage source we can read. No active USGS continuous gauge on the Cumberland between Barkley Dam and the Ohio — 03438220 to 30 Sep 1997, 03438475 at Dycusburg 1988–1999, 03438500 at Smithland to 2014 — and NWS BARK2 returned no data. Nearest active: USGS 03399800, Ohio River at Smithland Dam; as a proxy here, status pending. Corps figure that does hold: a minimum tailwater elevation of 302 feet AMSL is required to facilitate navigation (Master Plan). USACE Lake Barkley, 200 Barkley Dam Overlook, Grand Rivers, KY 42045 · (270) 362-4236
Sources: USACE Nashville District — Lake Barkley Master Plan (Oct 2017), the Lake Barkley boating page, the LRD recreation page, DVIDS releases 140315 (2014 lock), 72480 (2011 spill gates), 563271 (21 Apr 2026 operations) and 565933 (21 May 2026 safety); KDFWR waterbody record wid=331, access records 1007, 138, 324, 325, 735 and 358, the 2026 Fishing Forecast and the reciprocity page; 301 KAR 1:201 (eff. 3 Sep 2026), 301 KAR 1:410 (eff. 7 Nov 2024), 301 KAR 3:160 (eff. 16 Oct 2025); USGS 03438220, 03438475, 03438500 and 03399800; Recreation.gov 232541; KYTC bulletin of 13 May 2022.
Conditions change. Verify access, releases and regulations before you travel. Revised September 2026.
QR code: https://limestonedrift.com/waterways/lake-barkley-tailwater/#ld-alertslimestonedrift.comAlerts and the water page
Water alerts. We email when the rules or the access on this reach actually change. limestonedrift.com/alerts/?w=lake-barkley-tailwater