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]

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]

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

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

• Paintsville Lake State Park

• Paintsville Lake facilities map
• Paintsville Lake area interactive GIS map

v t e Visitor attractions of the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield
Parks	State Buckhorn Lake Carr Creek Carter Caves Cumberland Falls Dawkins Line Rail Trail Dr. Thomas Walker Fishtrap Lake Grayson Lake Greenbo Lake Jenny Wiley Kingdom Come Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Natural Bridge Paintsville Lake Pine Mountain Pine Mountain Trail Yatesville Lake Federal Big South Fork Cumberland Gap Interstate Breaks Interstate
Museums	Barthell Coal Mining Camp Bell County Coal House & Museum Bell County Historical Society Museum Big Sandy Heritage Center Blue Heron Coal Mining Camp Bobby Davis Museum and Park Breathitt County Museum C.B. Caudill Store & History Center Cloverfork Museum Coal Miners' Museum Cumberland Inn Museum David A. Zegeer Coal-Railroad Museum East Kentucky Science Center Elkhorn City Railroad Museum F.M. Stafford House Harland Sanders Café & Museum Hensley Settlement Highlands Museum and Discovery Center Kentucky Coal Mining Museum Kentucky Folk Art Center Knox Historical Museum Magoffin County Pioneer Village and Museum Marie Stewart Museum & Craft Shop McCreary County Museum Morgan County History Museum Mountain Homeplace Mountain Life Museum Northeastern Kentucky Museum Samuel May House Swamp Valley Museum U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum Wolfe County History Museum
Forests	Daniel Boone Dewey Lake Jefferson Kentenia Kentucky Ridge Robinson Tygarts
Reservoirs	Buckhorn Lake Carr Creek Lake Cave Run Lake Cranks Creek Lake Lake Cumberland Dewey Lake Fishtrap Lake Grayson Lake Greenbo Lake Laurel River Lake Martins Fork Lake Paintsville Lake Yatesville Lake
Natural features	Black Mountain Cumberland Falls Cumberland Gap Dog Slaughter Falls Eagle Falls Middlesboro crater Pine Mountain Pound Gap Raven Rock Red River Gorge Tri-State Peak Yahoo Arch Yahoo Falls
Miscellaneous	Bad Branch Falls State Nature Preserve Bat Cave and Cascade Caverns State Nature Preserves Big South Fork Scenic Railway Black Mountain Off-Road Adventure Area Cumberland Gap Tunnel Furnace Mountain Kentucky Reptile Zoo Mayo Mansion Middle Creek Battlefield Nada Tunnel Pikeville Cut-Through Pilot Knob State Nature Preserve Sheltowee Trace Trail