Green River Lake Fishing Guides and Conditions, Kentucky

About the Green River Lake

Green River Lake is a Corps flood-control reservoir above Campbellsville, and it is one of the better all-round fishing lakes in central Kentucky. It holds all three black bass species, which is unusual and genuinely useful: largemouth in the coves and flats, smallmouth on the rocky main-lake points, and spotted bass wherever the two meet.

The character of the lake is set by its drawdown. Green River is pulled down a long way each winter for flood storage and refilled in spring, and the difference between summer pool and winter pool is dramatic enough to leave boat ramps well up the bank. In summer the lake floods a lot of shoreline brush and timber and fishes shallow; in winter it is a smaller, more concentrated lake where fish sit on the deeper structure and are far easier to locate.

The upper end where the river comes in holds muskie, stocked and maintained by the state, and that fishery is quieter and less known than Cave Run. Crappie fishing around brush is consistently good, and the lake is surrounded by Corps land and a state park, so bank access is better than on most reservoirs.

The tailwater below the dam is worth knowing about as well. Releases put cold water and current into the Green River below Campbellsville, and that stretch fishes differently from anything on the lake itself.

The gauge below reports pool elevation. On this lake that number is not a detail, it is the first thing to check: which ramps are usable, whether the shoreline cover is wet, and whether you are fishing the summer lake or the winter one all follow from it.

Access

Green River Lake State Park: ramps, camping and bank access near Campbellsville.
Holmes Bend: Corps ramp and campground on the north side.
Pikes Ridge: Corps ramp and camping toward the upper lake.
Smith Ridge: mid-lake access with good parking.
Upper Green River arm: shallower, current-influenced water and the muskie fishing.
Dam area: the deepest water and the winter concentration.
Note: the winter drawdown takes some ramps out of service entirely.

Seasons

Winter: low pool, concentrated fish, and the best odds on smallmouth and muskie.
Spring: the refill, bass and crappie spawning in the coves, and rising, stained water.
Summer: full pool, shoreline brush and timber, and the busiest recreational months.
Fall: the drawdown begins, bait moves out and the fishing gets steadily more predictable.