Cape Coral City Council considering a ban on fishing from underneath bridges

In Cape Coral, people who live near bridges say they no longer want strangers to walk through their property to get to a bridge to fish.

The city is trying to find a balance between letting people cast their net without casting their trash.

Maureen Jackson sees people cast their lines all the time from the bridge near her home.

“We see people fishing on the other side of the bridge,” Jackson said.

She said she doesn’t mind most of the time.

“Because we’re here in a corner, we see that they parked in the median, and then, they go and sometimes bring chairs and can be there for an extended period time,” Jackson said. “We’ve also noticed that sometimes they’ll come and get bait by scraping off the side of the wall on the property, the next-door property and our own property.”

Several homeowners have complained to the city about fishing and public use of the bridges.

City council is looking into new rules that would ban people from accessing the area underneath most of the 123 bridges in Cape Coral.

Neils Anderson said he’s all for it.

“A lot of people just leave a mess, and it annoys the neighbors and their trespassing on the neighborhood,” Anderson said.

If it is approved by council, no trespassing signs will go up.

In a recent study, the city found that, out of 123 bridge locations, 40 had traffic-related concerns.

The city says the majority of the concerns are correctable. They want to work on a 5-year  plan to address the problems.