Fishing is no longer allowed on the Cervantes Street bridge spanning Bayou Texar.
“The fishermen have lost their privilege to fish there,” said Pensacola City Councilman Larry B. Johnson, during the Jan. 26 city council meeting. “—I just wanted to make that public today, and I think those signs will go up soon.”
The No-Fishing signs have now been put up.
Apparently, the city has been receiving complaints about trash on the bridge. Johnson said that there was also an issue with fishermen breaking street lamp globes with their weights; such damages have cost the city a total of $4,800.
“I have received numerous complaints, over the years, of debris,” Johnson said. “It’s an unfortunate thing.”
The city councilman said that fishermen had been asked to keep their trash off the bridge and out of the bayou, but the problem persisted.
One citizen said he thought it was unfortunate that people would no longer be able to fish from the bridge.
“Fresh fish is one of the few healthy foods in this town that poor people eat,” said Mike Kilmer. “You know, poor people eat so much junk food.”
Johnson said that people probably shouldn’t be eating fish caught from the bridge.
“I think the health department has issued a statement that anything taken from Bayou Texar is not fit to eat,” the councilman said. “In fact, many of our waterways are polluted.”
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Independent News
When I first moved into East Hill 5 years ago, one of my favorite treats was an early morning run/walk along a route that took me over the Bayou Texar bridge, my son and I enjoyed the spectacular view and often stopped to watch the birds diving for fish or just to admire the scenic beauty of the area.
There was ocassionally trash left behind by the fisher folk but nothing too serious. Over the years more and more garbage accumulated to the point where the walkways were a foot deep in rotting bait, trash fish, discarded hooks, beer cans, food waste, and lots and lots of liquor bottles. After long holiday weekends, the bridge had so much debris piled up it was literally impossible to walk through.
These so-called sportsmen even vandalized and later tore down the No Fishing signs on either side of the “hump” that gave boats clearance to pass underneath without getting a fish hook in the eye. Thank you, city council for chasing these bums out! I am looking forward to again being able to use the pedestrian ways on the bridge the way they were meant to be used.
As for the ones who feel deprived of their favorite fishing spot: Too Bad! My only regret is the Pensacola PD did not arrest some of these pigs, especially the ones who vandalized the signs.
Fresh fish from Bayou Texar? Wow…
damn – I will miss walking on broken bottles, fish hooks, rotting fish and cut bait when I walk over the bridge. Thank you Councilman Johnson for improving my neighborhood!