Additional Fishing Access Opens Just in Time for White Bass Run at Taylorsville Lake Headwaters
Anglers have new access to the Taylorsville Lake headwaters in central Kentucky just in time for the popular white bass spawning run.
“We’re going to be putting a lot of smiles on the faces of people,” said Bill Mitchell, foreman of the Taylorsville Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA). “Yesterday, people were out there just wearing out the fish.”
The management area includes an old road which normally is only open during quota deer hunts. The department’s wildlife and fisheries divisions have worked together over the winter to improve the road and install the necessary culvert to make the road accessible to anglers.
The seasonal reopening of Old River Road now provides anglers with easy access to some two miles of the Salt River. Mitchell said the improvements include new gravel on the roadway to make the area suitable for car traffic, construction of two gravel parking lots with space for 10-15 vehicles and several one car pull-offs placed along the road.
Old River Road opened for public use March 15. It will remain open until April 13, when the access gate will close until the fall. The road is accessible only off Palmer Road in Anderson County. Old River Road is gated at its eastern and western ends. Palmer Road connects to KY 1579, which ends at the Van Buren Boat Ramp at Taylorsville Lake.
Mitchell said the Palmer Road gate will open at 7:30 a.m. each morning and remain open until dark. The gate will also remain open during the April 7-8 youth turkey season. “We think this will make it easier for young hunters to get into some of these areas,” Mitchell said.
Plans call for the road access to open each year from March 15 until the day before Kentucky’s statewide spring turkey season. This will allow anglers to access the river during the height of the white bass spawning run up the river.
Maps of Taylorsville WMA and other wildlife management areas are available online at fw.ky.gov, the website of Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. Online visitors should click the blue “Maps and Online Services” tab in the upper right of the main page for a list of options.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, an agency of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, is responsible for the conservation of fish and wildlife resources and for boating projects in the state. A commissioner appointed by the Fish and Wildlife Commission heads the department. The commission, which is responsible for department policy, is a nine member bipartisan body appointed by the governor from a list of candidates voted upon by sportsmen's organizations in each of nine districts.
