Georgia Outdoor News

Level: 0.4 feet above 840. Temp: 83. Clarity: Relatively clear. Spotted Bass: Bill Payne, with Bill Payne Guide Service, said the hotter days have helped the water temps rise fairly rapidly over the last week. “The air temps at night have not gotten very low, and this is causing the water temp to stay up,” says Bill. During Bill’s guiding, he has been seeing a fair amount of baitfish. They are mainly in the upper part of the water column.

More than 200 sportsmen and women from across the Southeast gathered at Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna on June 7 for “Stewards Of The Wild” Annual Banquet and Auction hosted by the Georgia Chapter of Safari Club International. “Nothing is more important to us than giving others the opportunity to enjoy the traditions of the outdoors, especially through hunting and fishing,” said Lester Richardson, the President of the Georgia Chapter.

Boater Byron Kenney, of Monticello, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Sinclair Presented by Suzuki Marine. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Kenney earned $3,641 for his victory. Kenney experienced a slow start. In fact, fishing was much tougher than he expected, considering how well Sinclair has fished recently.

There are several significant changes to Georgia hunting seasons and regulations this year, none more significant than the addition of an antlerless-only weekend of firearms deer hunting during archery season. Early Gun Hunting Weekend For Antlerless Deer Approved By DNR Board Another change is for deer hunters in Calhoun County, who are now included in the block of southwest Georgia counties with extended gun season to Jan. 15, and archery-only hunting through Jan. 31.

The 2025 recreational bay scallop season in the Fenholloway – Suwannee River Zone opened June 15 and will remain open through Labor Day (Sept. 1). This includes all state waters in Dixie County, a portion of Taylor County including the towns of Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee, and a portion of Levy County.

Since the 2025 seasons opened for private anglers and state-licensed commercial party boats on May 23 and federally permitted charter boats on June 1, anyone who follows Alabama anglers on social media has likely been inundated with photos of Alabama’s iconic reef fish, the American red snapper.

Due to cooler water temperatures than normal, Lake Lanier is behind schedule still with regard to the typical summer bite, according to Jimbo Mathley, of Jimbo’s Spotted Bass Guide Service. In fact, he’s seeing some things in mid-June that he’s never seen before. “I’m actually seeing herring and other baitfish spawning,” Jimbo told GON. “I can’t remember when I’ve seen that at this point in June.” According to Jimbo, flexibility is key right now to catching Lake Lanier bass.

Seminole: Level: 0.2 feet below 77.5. Temp: 83-86 degrees. Clarity: Clear to lightly stained. Bass: With many of Georgia’s major bass reservoirs beginning to transition into what I’ll call the “pre dog days” of summer, the action on Lake Seminole has been consistent the past several weeks, and MLF pro and Lake Seminole local, Matt Baty, doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. “This time of year the bite is really good on the lake, as long as you know where, and more importantly when, to fish.

Waterfowl hunters – start making your plans! The 2025-2026 migratory bird season hunting dates and regulations for Georgia were recently approved by the Board of Natural Resources, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD). “While the majority of waterfowl season lengths and bag limits will remain the same this year, one notable change is that early teal season has been shortened to 9 days,” said Kara Nitschke, migratory gamebird biologist.

Deer hunters like options. Here’s a new one for you: Hunters now have a second color option when adorning their 500 square inches of safety colors in order to meet the state’s requirement. Instead of wearing traditional orange, hunters now have the option to wear pink instead. It all started when Carly Lennig, of Dacula, now 16 years old, began asking questions in 2021.