Paintsville Lake

[Whopperstopper]

Might be in the area a few days in both April and May. Is there much grass? Dewey Lake too is of interest as I will actually be staying in Pikeville, KY and business in both Prestonsburg and Paintsville.

Asking for general information, grass? Ramps? Any smallmouth? Spots? Lm? I'm thinking Paintsville Lake is really clear.

Appreciate any info

[1Twofish]

Paintsville is a deep, mostly clear lake. It has Large and small mouth. Walleye too. If your in town and the timing is right there are some big fish that can be caught. The head waters is much more shallow and more like a normal lake..it is small so you can run from one end to the other in a few minutes. Dewey has fish in it, but they are hard to catch for me.

[EKYRanger]

I live about 5 minutes from the Paintsville ramp. There’s some good largemouth in Paintsville but they are hard to come by. It’s a beautiful lake but hard to fish. Gets a lot of pressure. Smallmouth are in the lake but you can fish for YEARS without catching one. The state park ramp has 4 lanes and a courtesy dock to tie up your boat. There are some huge Walleye in the lake but again, they are rarely caught. You can catch fish at Paintsville but don’t over expect.

[1Twofish]

Hey EKY Ranger, we used to fish the Johnson Co sportsman pub tx at Paintsville. It was always tough. If you could catch two fish you were golden, if one of them was a good one you were a winner.

[HH45cal]

About 20 years ago I’d occasionally fish buckhorn lake near hazard- caught a bunch green fish there- small lakes can muddy up quick with rain- it’ll be hammer time over here on Cumberland dale and cedar- can always run over here

[EKYRanger]

Hey EKY Ranger, we used to fish the Johnson Co sportsman pub tx at Paintsville. It was always tough. If you could catch two fish you were golden, if one of them was a good one you were a winner.

I’ve fished that tournament as well. As far as the lake goes, it hasn’t changed any! We call it the Dead Sea.

[Kerz321]

Well, this helps a lot for any future fishing Thanks much!
Vic

[spinningreel]

Might be in the area a few days in both April and May. Is there much grass? Dewey Lake too is of interest as I will actually be staying in Pikeville, KY and business in both Prestonsburg and Paintsville.

Asking for general information, grass? Ramps? Any smallmouth? Spots? Lm? I'm thinking Paintsville Lake is really clear.

Appreciate any info

In April/May, the local lake you should really look at is a Pike County lake called Fishtrap Lake, its about 15 miles outside Pikeville. Its nothing spectacular, but it will produce better numbers and size than either Dewey or Paintsville lake.