Regulation Changes Georgia-South Carolina

GEORGIA-SOUTH CAROLINA RECIPROCAL AGREEMENT

Georgia and South Carolina currently have a reciprocal fishing license agreement that allows anglers to fish on border waters and shorelines with a valid fishing license from either state. However, as a result of South Carolina’s revised fishing laws, a new agreement has been developed with public input.

Changes will affect border waters, from the Chattooga River to Lake Hartwell and downstream waters such as lakes Russell and Clarks Hill, and the Savannah River.

Specific Changes:

GEORGIA SPORTFISH REGULATIONS: GEORGIA-SOUTH CAROLINA BORDER WATERS

Species	Waters	Possession Limit	Size Limit	New?
Striped bass or hybrid bass or combination	Lakes Hartwell and Clarks Hill	10	only 3 may be over 26 inches	NEW
Striped bass or hybrid bass or combination	Lake Russell	2	only 1 may be over 34 inches
Striped bass or hybrid bass, white bass or combination	Savannah River downstream of Clarks Hill dam	2	27-inch minimum length limit
White bass	water bodies upstream of Clarks Hill dam	10	no size limit	NEW
Trout	All border waters listed*	5	no size limit	NEW
Bass (largemouth, spotted, redeye, smallmouth, or combination)	All waters	10	12-inch minimum length for largemouth bass
Crappie	Georgia waters	30
Walleye or Sauger or combination	All waters	8
Bream (all species)*	Georgia waters	40		NEW
*aggregate of all game fish (does not include catfish)	All border waters listed*	40

*BORDER WATERS: On the banks and in the waters of all channels of the Savannah River from its mouth to the junction of the Tugaloo (Toogaloo) and Seneca Rivers; the Tugaloo River from its mouth to the junction of the Tugaloo and Chattooga Rivers; and the Chattooga River to the North Carolina state line (35th parallel of North latitude at Ellicott’s Rock). This agreement also applies to all the waters and banks of Clarks Hill Reservoir (Strom Thurmond), Richard B. Russell Reservoir, Hartwell Reservoir, Yonah Lake, Tugaloo (Toogaloo) Lake, the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam, and Stevens Creek Lake (except that portion on the Stevens Creek arm upstream of South Carolina Hwy 53). The agreement does not apply to any flowing portions of tributary streams to these impoundments nor to tributary streams of the Savannah, Tugaloo and Chattooga Rivers.

South Carolina regulations differ for:

Crappie (possession limit of 20; minimum size limti of 8 inches)
Bream (possession limit of 30; no more than 15 can be redbreast sunfish)
There is a 12-inch minimum size limit for smallmouth bass

Georgia Wildlife Resources Division
2070 U.S. Hwy. 278, SE, Social Circle, GA 30025