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Home › Waters › Kentucky › Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam
Tailwater · Eastern Kentucky, Pike County, the Levisa Fork valley below Fishtrap Lake near Millard and Pikeville · Kentucky

Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam Fishing Guides

The coldwater release below Fishtrap Dam in Pike County, where water drawn from deep in the lake changes the river's character for miles and the gauge reading is the release schedule.

Mist lifting off a river between wooded Appalachian ridges
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam

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About the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam

Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam is a genuine tailwater in the strict sense: the river below the dam is not the river above it. Fishtrap Lake is deep enough to stratify through the summer, and the water released from its lower levels arrives in the channel colder and more consistent than anything the surrounding Pike County watershed would produce on its own. The gauge immediately below the dam near Millard reads stage continuously, and on a managed release that stage record is effectively the operating schedule written down.

Reading it properly is the whole business of fishing here. A tailwater rises when the gates open, and it does not rise gently. The difference between a wadeable morning and a river running hard can be a matter of an hour, and an angler standing mid-channel when a generation release arrives is in real trouble. The practical habit is to check the stage before travelling, check it again on arrival, and treat any rise as the signal to get out rather than as something to work around.

The compensation for that discipline is a river that fishes well when conditions are right. The cold stable release supports better invertebrate production than the freestone water upstream, and the fish below the dam grow accordingly. Smallmouth bass are the principal quarry through much of the year, with spotted and largemouth bass alongside them. Musky are present in this drainage and are a genuine if demanding target. Walleye and sauger use the deeper water below the dam, white bass run in numbers at times, and channel and flathead catfish reach good size in the holes. Bluegill, longear sunfish, rock bass, freshwater drum and carp round out the assemblage.

Access is from road crossings and the dam area below Fishtrap, with Pikeville the nearest centre of any size for lodging, food and supplies.

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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

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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.

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4. Withdrawing the license

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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 Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam.

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

Fishtrap Lake and dam area - the release point, with parking and bank access immediately below the structure.
Millard - the community at the gauge, the usual reference point for the upper tailwater.
Pikeville - the Pike County seat a short drive downstream, with lodging, food, fuel and tackle.
Road crossings along the Levisa Fork - the standard access to the river downstream of the dam.
Fishtrap Lake itself - the reservoir above, offering a completely different fishery with ramps and camping.
Russell Fork - the celebrated whitewater river in the same drainage to the east.
Breaks Interstate Park - the gorge park on the Kentucky-Virginia line, with camping and river access.

Seasons

Spring: high inflows mean frequent releases, and the river is often unfishable, so the stage reading matters most now.
Summer: the cold release keeps the tailwater fishing well when the freestone water upstream has gone warm and slow.
Fall: releases ease, the river settles, and smallmouth bass feed hard through the most reliable stretch of the year.
Winter: flows are usually lower and steadier, and walleye and sauger below the dam become the sensible target.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Longear Sunfish, Musky, Rock Bass, Sauger, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Walleye, White Bass on the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam in Kentucky.

Where can you access the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam?

Fishtrap Lake and dam area - the release point, with parking and bank access immediately below the structure. Millard - the community at the gauge, the usual reference point for the upper tailwater. Pikeville - the Pike County seat a short drive downstream, with lodging, food, fuel and tackle. Road crossings along the Levisa Fork - the standard access to the river downstream of the dam. Fishtrap Lake itself - the reservoir above, offering a completely different fishery with ramps and camping. Russell Fork - the celebrated whitewater river in the same drainage to the east. Breaks Interstate Par...

When is the best time to fish the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam?

Spring: high inflows mean frequent releases, and the river is often unfishable, so the stage reading matters most now. Summer: the cold release keeps the tailwater fishing well when the freestone water upstream has gone warm and slow. Fall: releases ease, the river settles, and smallmouth bass feed hard through the most reliable stretch of the year. Winter: flows are usually lower and steadier, and walleye and sauger below the dam become the sensible target.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Levisa Fork below Fishtrap Dam?

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