Waterway Intel
Every water, and what is actually happening on it
Pool levels, dam work, access, and the structural facts that decide where fish can be. Updated when conditions change, not on a content calendar.
Where they are
28 waters, each dot a linkApproximate positions: a lake's dot is a gauge on the lake, usually near the dam, and a tailwater's dot a gauge in the reach below it; the water's own page has the ramps. Filled dots are lakes, hollow dots rivers and creeks. Hover or tap a dot for the name, click it for the page. Positions from USGS gauge records; outlines and water shapes from the U.S. Census Bureau.
All waters
28 watersRough River Lake
Held at 490 ft while the Corps rebuilds the dam. Five feet under summer pool, six to eight years.
Elkhorn Creek
Eight access points, published mileages, Class II gorge. Flow-driven, not pool-driven.
Nolin River Lake
Six thousand acres on Central time, sorted by the road you drive in on. Summer pool 515, winter 492 — a 23-foot drawdown from 15 September — eight KDFWR launches on four roads, two of them handed to marinas since 2025, and the 10-inch crappie, 15-inch black bass and 14-inch walleye rules.
Barren River Lake
Ten thousand acres on Central time, sorted by the road you drive in on. Summer pool 552, winter 528 — a 24-foot drawdown from 15 September — fourteen KDFWR launches on four roads, the 10-inch crappie, 15-inch black bass, catfish and walleye rules.
Lake Cumberland
The Corps' biggest reservoir east of the Mississippi, 101 miles long. Winter pool 700, summer 723 by mid-May, sixty-two launches sorted by the road you drive in on, and no USGS gauge to read.
Cumberland River tailwater
Seventy-five miles of trout water below Wolf Creek Dam, sorted by the road you drive in on. The generation schedule that decides everything, fifteen KDFWR sites plus Hatchery Creek, and the slot, the 20-inch brown and the no-chumming rule.
Kentucky Lake
TVA's biggest reservoir, 184 miles long, and no USGS gauge that reads it. Summer 359, winter 354, forty-three launches sorted by the road you drive in on, and the bridge where a Kentucky licence stops covering the bank.
Lake Barkley
The Corps' westernmost Cumberland River lake, 57,900 acres at summer pool with no USGS gauge that reads it. Summer 359, winter 354, thirty-nine launches sorted by the road you drive in on, and a reciprocal agreement with Tennessee that does not cover it.
Dale Hollow Lake
The Kentucky arms of the Corps' Obey River lake — 6,614 of 27,700 acres — where the world-record smallmouth came from. Five launches on three roads out of Burkesville and Albany, the 16–21 slot, and the one arm where a Kentucky licence carries into Tennessee.
Taylorsville Lake
Four ramps, a 15-inch largemouth minimum, and a two-foot drawdown on a published date. The closest Corps lake to Louisville.
Upper Salt River
Five access points, four float legs and one thirty-mile gap. Two low-head dams sit just below a put-in.
Cave Run Lake
Kentucky's muskie lake inside the Daniel Boone National Forest. Two-stage drawdown from 15 September, seventeen launches, and the 40-inch rule.
Ohio River at Louisville
The McAlpine pool and the head of the Cannelton pool from Carrollton to the Salt River, sorted by the road you drive in on. Three pool elevations, two stage gauges, the federal mile no fishing boat may enter, fourteen KDFWR launches on both banks, and the 14-inch sauger rule.
Green River Lake
The Louisville District's largest project, sorted by the road you drive in on. Summer pool 675, winter 668, the two-stage drawdown from 15 September, seventeen KDFWR sites on four roads, the 14-inch walleye and 40-inch muskie rules.
Lake Barkley Tailwater
The Cumberland River from Barkley Dam down to the Ohio at Smithland, sorted by the road you drive in on. A working navigation channel with a 110-by-800-foot lock, five KDFWR access sites, the 14-inch sauger rule, and a snagging rule most anglers are still quoting from the superseded version.
Herrington Lake
A Kentucky Utilities lake, not a Corps lake: no published pool schedule and no free public ramp. Ten KDFWR access sites, every one a fee ramp, sorted by the road you drive in on, with the USGS gauge that reads the level and the statewide limits that apply.
Green River Lake Tailwater
The Green River below Green River Lake Dam. One KDFWR ramp, a rod-in-hand single-hook zone from the dam to an unpublished point, and no current USGS discharge reading for this reach.
Nolin River Lake Tailwater
The Nolin River below Nolin River Lake Dam. One KDFWR ramp, a stocked trout reach under statewide limits, and an 11.1-mile float into Mammoth Cave National Park with no live discharge reading to plan it by.
Herrington Lake Tailwater
The Dix River below Dix Dam. No road in — KDFWR's one access record is a bank entry reached by boat from the Kentucky River, closest ramp at High Bridge. Two miles of artificial-bait-only trout water below a Kentucky Utilities dam with no release schedule we found, and two USGS gauges.
Hazel Creek
A wild-trout freestone on the roadless north shore of Fontana Lake. Boat across, walk up the old railroad grade, camp under the park's bear rules. Park regulations, not a state's, and a licence from either North Carolina or Tennessee.
Little River
Trout up top at Elkmont and Tremont, smallmouth down low toward the Sinks, and a GIS-derived point near Townsend where the park's rules stop and Tennessee's own smallmouth rule starts. Three roads in, an active USGS gauge, and a licence from either Tennessee or North Carolina.
Caney Fork River Tailwater
Three access corridors from the dam to the Cumberland: a 250 cfs seasonal minimum flow that can spike to 18,000 cfs with no siren, and this water's own five-fish trout slot, not the statewide seven.
Clinch River Tailwater
A TVA tailwater run on TVA's generation schedule, read on the Norris Lake Levels page or by phone, with no live USGS gauge. Seven TWRA access sites in three corridors from the dam to the Hwy 61 bridge at Clinton, a weir to know about, and a 14–20 inch slot on all trout.
New River, Bluestone Dam to the Gorge
Fifty-three free-flowing miles below a Corps dam, graded by the Park Service as two rivers: Class I–III from Hinton to Thurmond, a Class III–V Lower Gorge below it. The 12-mile black-bass catch-and-release reach, the 14–22 slot everywhere else, two USGS gauges, and every access the Park Service names.
J. Percy Priest Lake
The Corps' lake fifteen minutes from downtown Nashville. Summer pool 490, winter target 483, a 2026 proposal to move the drawdown start from 5 October to as late as 12 November, no active USGS series found (the Corps' own record is the live level), eight confirmed launch sites on three roads, and TWRA's 30-fish, 10-inch crappie rule.
Old Hickory Lake
The Cumberland River held behind Old Hickory Lock and Dam above Nashville. A normal pool of about 445 with Bottom of Power at 442, a November 2026 drawdown to 443, no USGS lake gauge found (the Corps' own record is the live level), nine Corps areas at their published coordinates, the lock's hours and radio channels, and TWRA's 14-inch largemouth rule.
Lake Erie Western Basin
The shallow fifth of Lake Erie, averaging 24 feet. No pool and no dam: two NOAA gauges read the level. Nineteen ODNR ramps at their published coordinates, the Camp Perry and Davis-Besse closed waters, and Ohio's quota rules: a 15-inch walleye minimum, a limit posted each 1 May, and a 30-perch daily cap.
Monroe Lake
A Corps flood-control lake under Indiana's rules. The Corps labels 538 as the top of the normal pool and 556 as the top of flood, with no seasonal schedule on its record; USGS 03372400 reads the lake. Nine DNR and Forest Service launches, a DNR lake permit on every boat, idle speed east of the SR 446 causeway, and Indiana's statewide limits.
No waters of that type yet.
Tournaments filed or published for these waters, in date order, with the ramp and the organiser’s own details: Fishing tournaments on Kentucky and nearby waters.
Every lake this site watches on one page, the published summer and winter pool beside the latest gauge reading: Kentucky lake levels today.
Get told when the water changes
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