Georgia Fishing News

LIZELLA, GEORGIA ­- Due to scheduling conflicts and time constraints with the IFA Championships, the final regular-season tournaments for the IFA Redfish and IFA Kayak Fishing Florida East Coast Division at Fernandina Beach, Florida is cancelled. The tournament was previously delayed due to severe weather conditions.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga.- With thousands expected on Georgia reservoirs and rivers this weekend, a new Department of Natural Resources video stresses water safety through the story of a south Georgia fishing trip that almost turned tragic.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, GEORGIA - Visiting one of Georgia's Public Fishing Areas (PFAs) with the family is a great in-state way to entertain both the kids and adults this summer. Beginning on August 1, 2011, nine PFAs will have new days of operation, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (July 8, 2011) - The Berkley Bass Tank will be at the Academy Sports & Outdoors store in Snellville, Ga. The tank is scheduled for July 16-17 and will feature product demonstrations and technique seminars.

Brunswick, GA - Georgia Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Mark Williams has announced that Georgia waters will open for commercial and recreational harvest of food shrimp at 6:00 am on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Effective this date, commercial food shrimp trawlers can operate in Georgia's territorial waters open to power-drawn trawls. Commercial and recreational cast netters, as well as persons using a beach seine can harvest food shrimp from waters open to the use of these gears. Recreational and commercial cast net fishermen are reminded that they are required to use cast nets with a minimum mesh size of 5/8-inch when harvesting food shrimp.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga.- The Georgia Department of Natural Resources reminds boaters under the age of 16 that there is a minimum age requirement to operate a boat or personal watercraft (PWC) on public lakes and waterways. Young boaters can satisfy the minimum age requirements of this law by taking a boating safety course or by operating a boat under the supervision or in the accompaniment of an adult. The DNR encourages adults to NEVER leave young children unattended on vessels.

Brunswick, GA - Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner Mark Williams has announced that Georgia's territorial waters will close to commercial and recreational oyster harvest effective 6:00 a.m., Wednesday, June 1, 2011 through midnight on Friday, September 30, 2011. A similar closure was made in 2010 to meet the requirements of Georgia's Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) control plan.

LIZELLA, Ga. - Mike McDonald, of Sarasota, Fla., caught a redfish and speckled sea trout that measured a combined 51 inches in length to win the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing event at Sarasota on May 1. The event, which operated out of Centennial Park, was the second of three regular-season events for the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour's Florida West Division.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, GEORGIA - Portions of Lake Burton have been closed to boater traffic until midnight, May 6, 2011 due to hazardous conditions, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

EUFAULA, Alabama - The Georgia Southern team of Jed Thigpen of Waycross, and Wesley Maples of Statesboro, won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southeast Division event on Lake Eufaula Saturday with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split between the university and the university's bass fishing club - $7,500 for the bass club and $2,500 for their school. The win also helped them advance to the Southeast Division Regional Championship.