Floyd’s Fork is a 62-mile-long tributary of the Salt River in Kentucky, directly south and east of Louisville. It begins in Henry County, near Smithfield Kentucky, flows through eastern Jefferson County and into the Salt River near Shepherdsville in Bullitt County.
It runs for about 30 miles (48 km) through Jefferson County and drains approximately 122 square miles, making it the largest watershed in the county. It is also the least environmentally compromised watershed in the county, according to the Metropolitan Sewer District, as large-scale development in the southeastern portions of Jefferson County is still relatively sparse. To preserve its rural character, much of Floyd’s Fork south of I-64 was zoned rural residential in 1993.
The Parklands of Floyd’s Fork is Louisville’s newest public parks system. It was named according to the waterway, the one unifying feature that tie the four primary parks together in eastern Jefferson County;
- Beckley Creek Park – 616 acres including the 22-acre great-lawn named the “Egg Lawn”, which gets its name from its shape.
- Pope Lick Park – 575 acres just south of Beckley Creek Park to near Thurman Rd.
- Turkey Run Park – 1,076 acres from Seatonville Road to Broad Run Rd.
- Broad Run Park – 685 acres south of Turkey Run Park and stretching south to Bardstown Rd.
- A 3.5-mile-long (5.6 km) narrow strip of connecting land between Pope Lick Park and Turkey Run Park, called “The Strand” adds another 353 acres.
For more information about the Parklands, visit their website www.theparklands.org
The Kentucky Division of Fish and Wildlife Resources also has a very nice description of Floyd’s Fork in their Blue Water Trails series of articles.
In the summer, Floyd’s Fork has a nice population of typical Kentucky warm water stream fish including Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, and various sunfish. There is a slot limit on Smallmouth to help develop the fishery. In the winter, the Kentucky Division of Wildlife Resources stocks rainbow trout both in the Miles Park Lakes in Beckley Creek Park and in Floyd’s Fork itself. While the the Lakes are managed as a put and take fishery, the creek is delayed harvest with catch and release in effect from stocking in October until spring.
Based on the Floyd’s Fork gauge at PeeWee Valley (USGS Gauge), best wading and fishing is between 10 and 80 cfs. Best floating and fishing is above 20 cfs but below 150 cfs. The creek can blow out and get muddy with even 1/2 inch of rain, but returns to fishable conditions quickly.