Debate over Flint River fishing rights leads to legislative action on rivers

The Flint River hosts a diversity of unique wildlife and has been the center of a fight over private property rights. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Updated on 3/27/24 at 4:26 p.m.

On a sunny, cold morning, the Flint River in Upson County, Georgia, is wide and shallow, coursing over rocks and branches. Allen Ragsdale, a fishing guide on the river, maneuvers his small boat deftly through the area he knows well — and is regarded as one of the best places in Georgia for shoal bass.

But Ragsdale says he doesn’t fish here anymore, nor does he guide fishing trips at the location. This pass of the river, Yellow Jacket Shoals, has become one of the state’s most controversial water stretches.