LIMESTONE DRIFT KENTUCKY WATER, TOLD STRAIGHT
FIELD CARD Access & Flow · No. 01
Rivers · Mercer to Anderson County

Upper Salt River

Five public accesses, four floats, two low-head dams, and one 30-mile gap that catches people out. Harrodsburg down to the Taylorsville headwaters.

ACCESS & HAZARD SCHEMATIC Two panels, each to its own scale · the gap between them is not
30.5 RIVER MILES no public access between these two reaches TAYLORSVILLE LAKE Lawrenceburg Harrodsburg LOWER REACH · 11.3 MI UPPER REACH · 3.1 MI N
Ramp
Carry-in
Ford
Low-head dam
Read the gauge before you load the truck
ConditionGauge htFlowWhat it changes
Lowunder 3.7 ftunder 130 cfsDragging between pools. Wade and pick off the deeper bends instead of floating.
Good3.7 – 4.5 ft130 – 400 cfsKDFWR's published window. Floatable, and the smallmouth are on current.
Highover 4.5 ftover 400 cfsPushy and stained. Both low-head dams get materially more dangerous.
Gauge: USGS 03295400, Salt River at Glensboro — the reference gauge for this whole reach. It is one gauge across 44.9 river miles with tributary inflow in between, so a reading accurate at Glensboro is an inference everywhere else. Check it the morning you go, not the night before.

Two low-head dams, both just below a put-in

One sits directly downstream of the Salt River Ramp 3 launch at Harrodsburg. The second is half a mile below the Four Roses Distillery access — that is minutes, not miles, of reaction time. Low-head dams are the ones that look like nothing from upstream and recirculate anything that goes over them, life jacket included. Portage; do not scout them from the water.

LIMESTONE DRIFT
UPPER SALT RIVER Accesses, floats, limits
The five accesses
AccessWhereLaunch & parkingTo next
Dry Branch Road 2.5 mi S of Harrodsburg · US-68 W, then Dry Branch Rd Carry-in. Limited parking, no amenities. 3.1 mi
Salt River Ramp 3 Salt River Park, W edge of Harrodsburg Concrete ramp. Tables, pavilion. 30.5 mi
Four Roses Distillery 6 mi S of Lawrenceburg · KY-749 Gravel ramp. Roadside parking only. 3.8 mi
Rice Road Ford 3.5 mi SW of Lawrenceburg · US-62 W Ford, no ramp. Bank access at the ford only — private land either side. 7.5 mi
Drydock Road 4.5 mi W of Lawrenceburg · KY-44 W Carry-in. Limited parking, no amenities. Lake headwater
Four floats, and one that isn't
SegmentMilesPlan on
Dry Branch → Ramp 33.1Half day. Shortest float on the reach.
Four Roses → Rice Road3.8Half day. Launch below the dam, not above it.
Rice Road → Drydock7.5Full day at fishing pace.
Four Roses → Drydock11.3Long day. Skips the Rice Road take-out.
Ramp 3 → Four Roses30.5Not a day float. Overnight at minimum, and there is no public egress in between.
Statewide limits apply here
SpeciesSizeDaily creel
Largemouth & smallmouth bass12 in minimum6 — black bass combined
Kentucky (spotted) bassNo size limitcounts toward the same 6
Crappie, black & whiteNo size limit20
Redear sunfishNo size limit20
No special regulations are published for this reach. KDFWR's 2018 sampling found largemouth, smallmouth, bluegill and white crappie — smallmouth on the current and rock, largemouth in the slow water behind it.
What this card does not mark. No holes, ledges, laydowns or seams — that comes from time on the water, and we don't print what we haven't fished. Access, hazards, flow and regulations are public record, and those we give you straight.
What thirty-seven years of gauge record say. The Upper Salt is inside the 130–400 cfs window on 41% of February days and 7% of September days — below it on 76–88% of days from June through October. The median spell lasts two days; the longest in the whole record was fifteen. Go the day it comes up.
Sources: KDFWR Upper Salt River access and river-level guidance; USGS gauge 03295400 (Glensboro); 301 KAR 1:201 statewide limits.
Conditions change. Verify flow, access and regulations before you travel. Revised September 2026.
limestonedrift.com
Water alerts. We email only when the water actually changes on this river — not on a schedule. limestonedrift.com/alerts