Free fishing without license this weekend in Ga., no fees to visit national parks

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - With great weather in the forecast – it is time to get outside and enjoy.

Any Georgia residents can fish for free without a license Saturday on any public water from rivers to lakes to the coastal waters.

There will also be an event for kids ages 15 and under at the Richmond Hill Hatchery.

From 8 a.m. till noon on Saturday, the Georgia DNR will open up their ponds for fishing. You are encouraged to bring your own rods and bait, but they will have some to provide if you don’t have them.

The fish in the pond were produced right there at the hatchery. They produce thousands of fish each year for the state of Georgia to stock the rivers, lakes and other areas for fishing opportunities.

Just this week they restocked hundreds of fish at Daffin Park and Lake Mayer.

“We do a lot of work to produce these fish that everybody is catching every week so we love to see people go out and catch as many as many fish as they can whether they are trying to keep them and eat them or just go out and have a good time outdoors especially with the good weather this weekend,” said Alex Cummins, Ga. DNR Fisheries Biologist.

This weekend – any of the fish caught in the ponds at the Richmond Hill hatchery you can take home with you and the DNR says after not hosting this event for two years with COVID, there are a lot of fish to catch in there.

If you still want to get outside this weekend but fishing maybe isn’t for you. It will also be free to get into national parks and landmarks, including Fort Pulaski.

Saturday is also National Public Lands Day.

That means that national forests, parks and monuments are all free for the day – including in our region.

While the fee free day is nice, there will also be hundreds of volunteers across the nation volunteering to clean up the public land.

In the morning dozens of volunteers will be out on the property cleaning up the trails and making sure to preserve the land – those volunteer spots are full.

However, all day Fort Pulaski will be open to enjoy the trails, the fort and have cannon firings throughout the day on Saturday.

The day is all about getting outside and enjoying – whether you are in town visiting or maybe you’ve lived here your whole life and never have come out to explore.

“That happens more frequently than you think, I’ve lived here for so long and this is our first time but it is when we have those experiences that I think people are surprised, not only at the history we’re telling out here but just the beauty we have out here, it’s amazing come out on a morning or an afternoon, you never know what wildlife you are going to see,” said Joel Kadoff, Visitor Services Program Manager.

It’s true, within minutes of wrapping up that interview, we spotted two bald eagles off in the distance.

If you want to come check it out again – it is free Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – the last time to get through the gate will be 4:30 p.m. Get outside and enjoy!

Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.