A 25-plus-year agreement between Georgia and Florida that excuses senior citizens from purchasing a license to freshwater fish or hunt in either state ends this July. (See www.floridasportsman.com/casts/080416 for details.) Lake Seminole and the St. Marys River are exempt from the expiring agreement.

Special regulations were adopted by the two states for these two shared bodies of water because the Georgia/Florida county line runs through Lake Seminole and the headwaters and some tributaries of the St. Marys River begin in Georgia. The regulations say that fishermen under the age of 16, those legally licensed in Georgia or Florida, anglers exempt from licenses, or those who have obtained a free permanent license may fish in either water body.

Florida anglers with only a Florida freshwater fishing license can legally fish Lake Seminole waters south to the Jim Woodruff Dam, east to the area called the “Booster Club,” and the waters extending northwest to the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers. Georgia anglers can fish all waters to Florida State Road 271.

“The way it works out, Florida anglers have access to less than 25 percent of the lake; Georgia anglers have access to almost all of it,” said Stan Kirkland of the FWC.

The agreement between the two states covers most of the St. Marys River, with the exception of its tributaries on the Georgia side.