Laurel River Lake Water Level
Laurel River Lake is at 1,000.35 ft today (Oct 6), 14.65 ft below its 1,015 ft full pool, down 0.28 ft this week.
Kentucky · Laurel River
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Water level history
About Laurel River Lake
Laurel River Lake is a reservoir on the Laurel River in Kentucky, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 1015 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Laurel River Lake's water level
Laurel River Lake is a hydropower reservoir with no flood control storage, and that explains most of what its level does. The original 1960 plan carried 75,000 acre-feet of flood storage, but the Corps dropped it during design, leaving a two-purpose project for power and recreation. The spillway is an uncontrolled 750-foot crest at 1,018.5 feet, which is also the top of the power pool; anything above that simply pours over. Below it, the Corps can draw the lake down to 982 feet, the level of the power tunnel intake, which gives about 185,000 acre-feet to run through a single turbine. The 1,015 feet you see quoted is the normal summer pool. Southeastern Power Administration sells all of the plant's output to East Kentucky Power Cooperative, which sets the dispatch schedule and sends generation requests to the Corps, and the Corps runs the unit within its water control manual. In Corps hourly records since 1987 the lake averages its highest in April, around 1,014, and its lowest in November, around 1,009.
The dam sits 2.3 miles above the Laurel River's mouth at Lake Cumberland, in Whitley County west of Corbin. Construction began in December 1964, the river was closed off on 22 September 1973, the lake filled in 1974, and the powerhouse came on line in 1977. The rockfill dam is 282 feet high and 1,420 feet long and controls 282 square miles of drainage. At summer pool the lake covers about 5,600 acres and backs up 19.2 miles to the Corbin water supply dam, with the Craigs Creek arm reaching roughly six miles northeast from near the dam. The 1975 environmental statement puts maximum depths at about 250 feet. Thirteen families, 41 people in all, were moved out, and about 4,000 feet of Kentucky 312 and its river bridge were rebuilt above the waterline. Most of the lake lies inside the Daniel Boone National Forest, so the Forest Service runs the recreation side, including Grove and Holly Bay marinas, both open year round. The Forest Service calls it one of the deepest and cleanest lakes in Kentucky; state biologists rate the main lake moderately fertile and the upper Laurel River arm highly fertile.
The fishery splits the same way. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife's 2026 forecast finds good numbers of 17- to 21-inch walleye with some to 23 inches, taken on surface baits at night in spring or by trolling deep crankbaits and spinner rigs over points and islands in summer and fall. Smallmouth bass have been increasing, with fish to 20 inches in recent sampling, under an 18-inch minimum and a two-fish limit. Spotted bass are best in the middle and lower lake, with the Craigs Creek area the standout lately. Largemouth, crappie and bluegill are best in the fertile upper Laurel River arm, and crappie near the city dam got a boost from surplus fish stocked in 2022 and 2023. The state record northern pike, 10.53 pounds, came from Laurel River Lake on 29 October 2006. Below the dam, water drawn from deep in the lake keeps the short tailwater cold, and the state has stocked brown trout there since 1995 across the 1.2 miles from the dam downstream.
Laurel River Lake — frequently asked
What is full pool at Laurel River Lake?
Normal summer pool is 1,015 feet above sea level, the figure the Corps and the Forest Service use for the recreation season. The true brim is the spillway crest at 1,018.5 feet, which is also the top of the power pool. The spillway has no gates, so once the lake passes 1,018.5 the excess flows over it on its own. The top of the dam is at 1,036 feet.
Why is Laurel River Lake so low in 2026?
The lake never refilled this year. Corps data show the turbine running around the clock from 24 January to 2 February 2026, which took the pool from about 1,010 feet to below 998. Spring inflow during a basinwide drought only brought it back to about 1,007. On 4 September the Forest Service warned that the lake was about nine feet below summer pool and that ramps could be steep or unusable. On 22 September it read about 1,004.5.
What is the record high level at Laurel River Lake?
The highest reading in the Corps' hourly record, which runs from 1987, is about 1,020.3 feet on 2 December 2004, nearly two feet over the spillway crest. Because the spillway is uncontrolled, high water here passes downstream over the crest instead of being held back in flood storage. The dam was designed so that its standard project flood would crest near 1,025.5 feet.
What is the lowest Laurel River Lake has been?
In the Corps hourly record since 1987, the low is about 996.5 feet on 1 January 2000. The lake came close again at about 997 feet in late December 2005 and early January 2006, and at 997.9 feet on 2 February 2026. None of those came near the 982-foot minimum power pool, where the lake would shrink to about 4,200 acres.
Does Laurel River Lake have a winter drawdown?
Not in the flood control sense, because the lake has no flood storage to empty. Levels follow generation and rainfall. Over the Corps record the lake averages about 1,014 feet in April and about 1,009 in November, then climbs through the winter. You may see 982 feet listed as a winter pool, but that is the minimum power pool at the tunnel intake, and the lake has not been near it since at least 1987.
How often does Laurel River Lake reach 1,015 feet?
Most years, briefly. In the Corps hourly record since 1987 the lake topped 1,015 feet at some point in every full year except 2000, 2006, 2008 and so far 2026. The Corps planned for this before the dam was finished: its 1975 statement projected an average level of about 1,010.6 feet and about 1,012 during the April through October recreation season, and state biologists still describe 1,012 as the average recreational pool.
Is there trout fishing at Laurel River Lake?
Trout were part of the plan from the start. As the lake filled in 1974, the state stocked 30,000 trout along with threadfin shad and walleye fry, and the Corps lists rainbow trout among the lake's species, with night trout fishing popular in summer. The more dependable trout water today is the 1.2-mile tailwater below the dam, where cold releases from deep in the lake support brown trout stocked every year since 1995.
Other lakes near Laurel River Lake
- Nolin River LakeKY
- Kentucky LakeKY/TN
- Paintsville LakeKY
- Green River LakeKY
- Rough River LakeKY
- Grayson LakeKY
See current levels for all 15 Kentucky lakes and reservoirs →
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