kayaksteve
Senior Member
Until they make a “navigable/unnavigable list” it seems like this solved nothing and served no purpose.
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Important meetings on fishing access- Flint River
- Thread starter lampern
- Start date
The public hearings and whoever else the committee talked to will help formulate the list of waters that are 'private' and subject to increased trespassing punishments.
I expect the list will be introduced as a bill and enacted into law so it has more legal weight.
And all the other waters will be defacto public navigable waters.
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They can meet, have discussions, decide what they think is best, and even get mad, pee in a circle, and jump through it, but us Southwest Georgia renegades can and will do as we please. 
Nuttin Better
Senior Member
It seems to me like the hang up in Georgia in trying to determine if a property owner can post access to a flowing river or stream that crosses their property is hung up on trying to determine if the water in question is navigable or not. Georgia should follow the Federal EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers definition as it relates to the federal Clean Water Act to determine if the water is navigable or not.
Attached is some information I found from the Federal EPA and some cases that have been heard in the Supreme Court to define Navigable Waters.
Attached is some information I found from the Federal EPA and some cases that have been heard in the Supreme Court to define Navigable Waters.
riverdiver
Senior Member
I understand that.
What I’ve never understood is how landowners can prevent you from floating down a river of creek and block you from fishing.
Thank goodness it’s not that way here in SC.
Because there is no public access to said river/creek and no public places to launch a boat?
Obviously not the case on the Flint River which started all this.
There are public access spots on which to launch and take out a floating craft.
It's because that is the law in GA and has been for a very long time. It works in GA on waters that are defined as non-navigable just like it does on the land. Land is free to walk over until the owner or someone else with the proper authority notifies you that you can no longer walk there.
Georgia General Assembly
Georgia General Assembly, is one of the largest state legislatures in the nation. The General Assembly consists of two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Some legislation
Don't ask me what all it does but I'm sure its on topic
Organizing a trip small mouth fishing out of state. The stream I’m focusing on flows 99% through private property. One can’t get out on private property but you can float through and fish. This matches most states that I’ve kayak fished in. GA law is very antiquated. It suppresses fishing tourism which thrives in other states.
Watch the 2/22 meeting
vimeo.com
Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment on Vimeo
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vimeo.com
Bananaslug22
Senior Member
Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing with this new News?!?! I hope so.
I don't know what my take away is. Happy to see some representation noting the issue of non-navigatable waterways and neighboring states and their laws and definitions.
Georgia needs to (re)define "navigable waterway" first and foremost. Because a definition from the 1800s may not apply today. Just as so much else has changed with time, this definition may also change. There are vehicles for navigating waterways that did not exist when it was defined.
cowhornedspike
Senior Member
Canoes existed then and were used for trade purposes...Georgia chose to ignore that then and is doing so again now.
Nothing has changed for the better with all of this hubbub that started with Yellowjacket shoals.
Bananaslug22
Senior Member
Let me be more specific to my most recent post- I’m seeing lists of “navigable” waterways with specific starting points.
I was busy earlier and could not read everything in detail so I hope this also opens up fishing on the waterways within that list.
cowhornedspike
Senior Member
When it is all done we will have less legal fishing rights and access than we did before this mess started. The legislators will side with the landowners and we will lose many miles of water that the DNR previously considered to fall under the "navigable" heading.
The DNR has always refused to cite folks fishing areas like YellowJacket shoals because they considered it to be in a section of the Flint that was navigable. It will now be clearly defined as NOT navigable and we all lose.
LIGHTNING
Senior Member
This article has the list of navigable waterways.
garivers.org
Protect the Freedom to Float Georgia's Rivers
Legislators should act to protect Georgians’ freedom to float all of the state’s streams that support recreational boating.
garivers.org
cowhornedspike
Senior Member
I may stand corrected...jury is out still.
I read the list of rivers that this bill would say are navigable and it looks like this will expand quite a bit over what the COE has published in the past and what GA has generally followed. Not sure this will stand up in court against the official definition of "navigable" in the GA law but we can hope!!
Bananaslug22
Senior Member
Which is exactly what I was “hoping” in my first post.
Does this list of navigable rivers/sections also include fishing rights or just passage rights?
Onto the governor!
www.legis.ga.gov
HB 1172
I'll let the lawyers tell us what this means
Georgia General Assembly
Georgia General Assembly, is one of the largest state legislatures in the nation. The General Assembly consists of two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
HB 1172
I'll let the lawyers tell us what this means
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