We hear it all the time - you can fish on designated navigable water up to the high water mark.  Well...  except on the Jackson below the dam where the Kings Grant and uncooperative landowners create a different law... maybe other places as well.

But, where is that navigable water?  I asked that question to the VDGIF and they were kind enough to send me their list.  I include it below as well as provide the file in PDF and Excel if you want to download a clean copy.

The Designating Authority indicates who annoited the water as "navigable".  ACOE = Army Corps of Engineers, VA Acts = a state decision, and VDGIF = the VA Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries.

You are on your own in how you use this list.  I am not a land use lawyer and cannot even guarantee that the high water mark assertion is valid.  However, here are some links to sites which are more comfortable defining your legal rights.  Your choice on how you rely on the info you see there.  Make your own call.  The only thing that is fact is the list below.

• National Rivers Website - Virginia Section
• National Rivers Website - Discussion of Public Ownership
• Virginia Waters Research Center Report - Fantastic discussion of the entire issue which leaves you with the bottom line that the answer is "maybe" since there has not been a specific decision on fishing rather than navigation.

Bottom line - be careful and be courteous.  We fish based on positive relationships with the landowners.  If a landowner asks you to leave, do so.  You can argue later with the authorities to determine if you had a legal right to be there - but do not have that discussion in the middle of a river.

Click here to open the spreadsheet version of the list

Click here to open the pdf version of the list