Buckhorn Lake fishing: Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass

Target species: Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Hog Sucker, Golden Redhorse, Flathead Catfish, Channel Catfish
Boat: 6 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Leatherwood Ramp Buckhorn, 2 lanes.

The reservoir

Buckhorn Lake covers 1,058 acres in Kentucky, across 2 counties: Leslie and Perry. It is a reservoir: 93.5% of it is 21 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is ≈48.9 feet (14.9 m); at the dam, USGS RESSED gives 125 feet (38.1 m) at full pool. Our records hold 20 species for this water.

7 target fish, led by Largemouth Bass

  • Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
  • Rainbow Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
  • Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • Northern Hog Sucker — Feeding water: 50–70°F.
  • Golden Redhorse — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • Flathead Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
  • Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.

Also recorded here: Black Redhorse, River Redhorse, Spotted Bass, Shorthead Redhorse, Silver Redhorse, White Crappie, Bluegill, Rock Bass, Longear Sunfish, Longnose Gar, Yellow Bullhead, Emerald Shiner, Brook Silverside.

Kawartha Lakes w legend.png
NASA World Wind with markups by User:P199 · Public domain

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: ≈48.9 ft (14.9 m). USGS RESSED gives 125 ft (38.1 m) at the dam at full pool: a measured figure, not a survey map. 93.5% of the water is 21 feet or shallower. We hold 106 depth contours for this water, drawn from 12,383 soundings.

  • 0–3 ft: 21.1% of the water
  • 3–6 ft: 31.2% of the water
  • 6–9 ft: 17.2% of the water
  • 9–12 ft: 10.3% of the water
  • 12–15 ft: 4.9% of the water
  • 15–18 ft: 4% of the water
  • 18–21 ft: 4.8% of the water
  • 21–24 ft: 3.9% of the water
  • 24–27 ft: 1.6% of the water
  • 27–30 ft: 0.9% of the water
  • 30–33 ft: 0.2% of the water

6 ramps and launches on this water

On this water we hold 6 trailer ramps and 1 shore access point.

Water sled at Buckhorn lake (I0015906).jpg
Wikimedia Commons · OGL-ON
  • Leatherwood Ramp Buckhorn — 2 lanes, restrooms. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=490
  • Buckhorn Dam Ramp — 1 lane, restrooms. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=487
  • Buckhorn Lake State Park Marina — 1 lane, restrooms. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=488
  • Confluence — 1 lane, restrooms. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=313
  • Gays Creek Ramp — 1 lane. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=489
  • Trace Branch Ramp — 1 lane, restrooms. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=312

Shore access for bank fishing

  • Buckhorn Tailwater — restrooms. website app.fw.ky.gov/fisheries/AccessSiteDetail.aspx?asid=493

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 7 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.

Lower Buckhorn Lake, Ontario.JPG
Paul Gierszewski · CC BY-SA 4.0

What is hard here

Only 6 public ramps are on file, so the launch decides where you fish.

Where this data comes from

  • USGS — USGS reservoir bathymetric surveys (ScienceBase): class A, a survey of the bottom, 2023.
  • USGS RESSED — USGS RESSED reservoir sedimentation database: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
  • Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.

Part of these depths rest on an averaged water level, so they are approximate (≈).