You can wear your lucky hat and bring your lucky rod, but if you want to make the most of your next fishing trip what you really need is great advice. Your best bet? The 2008 Georgia Fishing Prospects.

Recently released by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD), these two guidebooks provide fish population trends, fishing tips and fishing location information for 31 reservoirs and 18 rivers throughout the state.

The free guides, entitled 2008 Georgia Reservoir Fishing Prospects and 2008 Georgia River Fishing Prospects, are currently available in print or by e-mail from any WRD Fisheries Management office and soon will be available online at www.gofishgeorgia.com.

Georgia waters offer anglers some of the most diverse fishing opportunities in the Southeast with more than 500,000 acres of reservoirs and 12,000 miles of warm water streams.

Outlook information for each Georgia reservoir and river is compiled annually by WRD Fisheries biologists and is based on sampling efforts, knowledge of past fishing trends, fishing experiences and angler and marina owner information.

Lakes detailed in the 2008 Georgia Reservoir Fishing Prospects guide include: Allatoona, Andrews, Bartlett’s Ferry, Blackshear, Blue Ridge, Burton, Carters, Chatuge, Chehaw, Clarks Hill, Goat Rock, Hamburg, Hartwell, High Falls, Jackson, Juliette, Lanier, Nottely, Oconee, Oliver, Rabun, Randy Poynter, Richard B. Russell, Seminole, Sinclair, Tobesofkee, Tugalo, Varner, Walter F. George, Weiss and West Point.

Rivers detailed in the 2008 Georgia River Fishing Prospects guide include the Altamaha, Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Conasauga, Coosa, Coosawattee, Etowah, Flint, Ochlockonee, Ocmulgee, Oconee, Ogeechee, Oostanaula, Satilla, Savannah, St. Marys, Suwannee and Toccoa rivers.