Best Fishing Spots in Kentucky

Kentucky fishes on impoundments, most of them substantial. Natural lakes are scarce, so nearly all the state's mapped water was built on river valleys for flood control and power, which puts flooded creek channels, standing timber and old roadbeds under the surface and moves levels with generation and rainfall. Those dams also create tailwaters running cold below them, supporting trout in a state whose surface water is otherwise too warm. Kentucky straddles warm-temperate and temperate bands, so southern waters fish through the year while the north can see brief ice in the coldest weeks. Elevation is modest, from 96 metres to 491 metres with a median of 201 metres, so it is the dams rather than the terrain that shape the fishing. There are 210 waters listed here for Kentucky, covering 77 counties. Most of them are reservoirs, with natural lakes making up much of the rest. By area, nothing beats Lake Cumberland at about 79 sq miles. Between 32°F and 76°F is the working range here. Break-up usually falls near early February on the average figures. The names that come up most in records are longear sunfish, bluegill, fantail darter and rainbow darter....