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Home › Waters › Kentucky › Herrington Lake
Lake · Boyle, Garrard and Mercer counties, central Kentucky, a narrow lake in the Dix River palisades south of Lexington between Danville, Harrodsburg and Lancaster · Kentucky

Herrington Lake Fishing Guides

Kentucky's deepest lake, a narrow impoundment of the Dix River in the limestone palisades south of Lexington, long known for crappie, hybrid stripers and steep-walled bass water.

Sunrise burning off mist over a timbered reservoir
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Herrington Lake

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About the Herrington Lake

Herrington Lake fills the gorge of the Dix River in central Kentucky, impounded behind Dix Dam near Burgin and running for some thirty-five miles between Boyle, Garrard and Mercer counties. Built in the 1920s, it was Kentucky’s first major reservoir and remains its deepest, with water well over two hundred feet in places near the dam. The lake is narrow and steep, walled by the limestone palisades that make this stretch of the Kentucky River country distinctive, and its shoreline of rock, cliff and wooded slope looks more like an eastern mountain reservoir than a typical Bluegrass impoundment.

The depth and the rock define the fishing. Largemouth bass work the shoreline and the many small coves, while smallmouth bass hold on the steeper rock and the deeper points, and Herrington has a reputation among Kentucky anglers as one of the better smallmouth lakes in the central part of the state. Hybrid striped bass and white bass are stocked and chased in open water where they push shad to the surface, often spectacularly in late summer and autumn. Crappie are the lake’s bread and butter and hold on brush, docks and standing timber. Walleye are present in modest numbers, and channel catfish and bluegill fill out a broad species list. Marinas along the lake support both fishing and a long-established houseboat and cabin culture.

The USGS gauge near Burgin reports lake elevation, which is the number worth checking before a trip. Herrington is drawn down substantially for winter, and the difference between summer pool and winter pool is large enough to change which ramps are usable, how far docks reach and how the steep shoreline fishes. The drawdown also concentrates fish, which makes late autumn and winter productive for anglers who know the structure. Read the elevation alongside recent rainfall in the Dix River watershed, because a heavy central Kentucky storm will colour the upper lake quickly while the lower end near the dam stays clear.

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Pool right now

731.52ft NGVD29
  • 24 hours-0.34 ft ↓ falling
  • For the dateHigh for the date

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 03286000, HERRINGTON LAKE NEAR BURGIN, KY. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Posting to Herrington Lake.

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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.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Herrington Lake ft (NGVD29)

Now: 731.52 ft pool elevation, read 4:45 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 03286000, HERRINGTON LAKE NEAR BURGIN, KY).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Danville - the city southwest of the lake, with lodging, fuel and full services.
Harrodsburg - the historic town northwest, with additional lodging and restaurants.
Burgin - the small town near the dam and the gauge location.
Lancaster - the Garrard County seat east of the lake.
Dix Dam - the dam at the north end that created the lake.
Kentucky River - the river the Dix flows into just below the dam.
Lexington - about forty-five minutes north, and the nearest city of size with an airport.

Seasons

Spring: the strongest season, with crappie spawning on the shallow brush and bass moving up along the rock.
Summer: hybrids and white bass surface on shad in open water, and bass fishing shifts deep along the steep shoreline.
Fall: cooling water sets off the best topwater fishing of the year and crappie return to reachable depth.
Winter: the lake is drawn well down, crappie and bass concentrate on structure, and the fishing rewards anglers who know the lake.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Herrington Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Hybrid Striped Bass, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass on the Herrington Lake in Kentucky.

Where can you access the Herrington Lake?

Danville - the city southwest of the lake, with lodging, fuel and full services. Harrodsburg - the historic town northwest, with additional lodging and restaurants. Burgin - the small town near the dam and the gauge location. Lancaster - the Garrard County seat east of the lake. Dix Dam - the dam at the north end that created the lake. Kentucky River - the river the Dix flows into just below the dam. Lexington - about forty-five minutes north, and the nearest city of size with an airport.

When is the best time to fish the Herrington Lake?

Spring: the strongest season, with crappie spawning on the shallow brush and bass moving up along the rock. Summer: hybrids and white bass surface on shad in open water, and bass fishing shifts deep along the steep shoreline. Fall: cooling water sets off the best topwater fishing of the year and crappie return to reachable depth. Winter: the lake is drawn well down, crappie and bass concentrate on structure, and the fishing rewards anglers who know the lake.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Herrington Lake?

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