Paintsville Lake
Lake and Dam
Paintsville Lake
Location	Johnson and Morgan Counties, Kentucky
Coordinates	37°50′23.34″N 82°52′15.56″W / 37.8398167°N 82.8709889°W / 37.8398167; -82.8709889
Type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Paint Creek
Primary outflows	Paint Creek
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	26 miles (42 km)
Surface area	1,139 acres (4.61 km2)
Max. depth	100 feet (30 m)[1]
Water volume	40,700 acre-feet (50,200,000 m3)
Shore length1	57 miles (92 km)
Surface elevation	709 feet (216 m)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Paintsville Lake is a 1,139-acre (4.61 km²) reservoir in Johnson and Morgan counties in eastern Kentucky. It was impounded from Paint Creek in 1983 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is the major attraction of Paintsville Lake State Park.^[2]

History

Paintsville Lake officially opened to the public in 1983, three years before Paintsville Lake State Park was established.

On December 9, 1978, ten-thousand Johnson County residences had to be evacuated from the area below the construction site of the Paintsville Lake dam. This is because the area had recently received eight inches (200 mm) of rain, which had caused a leak in the coffer dam that was keeping the construction site of the actual dam dry. The dam did not break, and the residents were allowed to return to their homes the following day.^[3]

Fish species

Paintsville Lake has a variety of game fishing species. Fish that can be caught in the lake include:^[1]

Gallery

• 
  Paintsville Lake spillway
• 
  Rocky Knob Recreational Area
• 
  Paintsville Lake as viewed from the Kiwanis Trail
• 
  Paintsville Lake's emergency spillway