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Home › Waters › Kentucky › Dix River
River · Central Kentucky Bluegrass, the Boyle and Garrard county reach above Herrington Lake near Danville · Kentucky

Dix River Fishing Guides

A central Kentucky limestone river above Herrington Lake, with good smallmouth water and a cold tailwater downstream of the dam.

A river bending away below forested hills in the Appalachians
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Dix River

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About the Dix River

The Dix River runs through the limestone country of central Kentucky, gathering out of Lincoln and Garrard counties and flowing north past Danville into Herrington Lake, then out below Dix Dam to join the Kentucky River. The gauge near Danville sits on the free-flowing river above the reservoir, and that upper reach is what this page describes.

Above Herrington the Dix is a classic Bluegrass limestone stream – clear water over gravel and bedrock, hard riffles, deep undercut pools and abundant cover. Smallmouth bass are the dominant sport fish and hold on the current seams and rock ledges much as they do throughout central Kentucky. Rock bass are numerous and often the most cooperative fish in the river, bluegill fill the pools, largemouth use the slower water near the reservoir headwaters, and channel catfish work the deeper holes.

It is worth being explicit about the tailwater, because it is the reach the river is best known for. Below Dix Dam the release from deep in Herrington Lake is cold enough that Kentucky manages a short trout fishery there, and that water fishes completely differently from the river above the lake. It is a defined reach below the dam, not the whole Dix, and generation from the dam controls it entirely.

Access to the upper river is by bridge crossings and county roads through Boyle and Garrard counties, with Danville the natural service base. Much of the bank is private farmland, so crossings carry the traffic and permission is the usual courtesy. High Bridge and the Kentucky River confluence anchor the bottom end, and Herrington Lake itself is a well-established fishery with its own following. Between the upper river, the reservoir and the short tailwater below the dam, the Dix drainage offers three distinct fisheries within a few miles of one another, which is unusual for a river this small.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Dix River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Lincoln County headwaters - the upper drainage above the fishable water.
Danville - the gauge reach and the main service base.
Boyle County bridge crossings - the primary upper river access.
Garrard County road crossings - additional access on the middle river.
Herrington Lake headwaters - the bottom of the free-flowing river.
Dix Dam tailwater - the short cold reach below the dam.
High Bridge - the Kentucky River confluence at the very bottom.

Seasons

Spring: high flows and the strongest smallmouth fishing on the upper river.
Summer: low clear water, easy wading and steady rock bass and smallmouth.
Fall: cooling temperatures and good smallmouth on the limestone ledges.
Winter: cold and low, with the dam tailwater the main winter option.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Dix River?

As of Sep 17, 5:45 am, the USGS gauge DIX RIVER NEAR DANVILLE, KY reads 22 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Dix River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass on the Dix River in Kentucky.

Where can you access the Dix River?

Lincoln County headwaters - the upper drainage above the fishable water. Danville - the gauge reach and the main service base. Boyle County bridge crossings - the primary upper river access. Garrard County road crossings - additional access on the middle river. Herrington Lake headwaters - the bottom of the free-flowing river. Dix Dam tailwater - the short cold reach below the dam. High Bridge - the Kentucky River confluence at the very bottom.

When is the best time to fish the Dix River?

Spring: high flows and the strongest smallmouth fishing on the upper river. Summer: low clear water, easy wading and steady rock bass and smallmouth. Fall: cooling temperatures and good smallmouth on the limestone ledges. Winter: cold and low, with the dam tailwater the main winter option.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Dix River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Kentucky agency site: https://fw.ky.gov/FishBoatGuide/Pages/default.aspx