CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Fishing at the Corpus Christi marina can be peaceful. You’ll hear a few seagulls passing by and water lapping onto the edge of the sidewalk.
Larry Frank has owned a boat on the marina for about 30 years and said boating is a good way to spend time outside with friends.
The Marina had a sign with a rule that said people were not allowed to fish within 100 feet of a boat. Marina staff took that sign down on Friday evening around 6 p.m.
Just prior to that happening, Councilman Ben Molina said the sign was a recommendation and not a rule.
Frank said the sign would have only prevented boats from being damaged if people had followed the recommendation.
“We also have to sail very close to the breakwater, so when fisherman are fishing and they have their lines out in the water, we can’t necessarily adjust our course to stay away from their lines," he said.
Marina Advisory Board chair Richard Bell said they had the sign up because fisherman would cast their lines towards the jetties and passing boats would get the line stuck in their propellers and other parts of their boat.
“99 percent of the people get it. We have boaters and we have fisherman who are sharing the water space,” Bell said.
The recommendation applied to moving boats, but people would still be able to fish from their boat and inside the L-heads.
He said fisherman casting their line would primarily affect boats during races on the marina on Wednesdays and sometimes on Saturdays.
Antonio Tamia was visiting the area from San Antonio and did not have a problem with the recommendation. He said he would just move to another place where there weren’t as many boats.
“You’ve got those small boats that are going by real fast, that tends to scare all the fish away," Tamia said. "They tend to go that way or somewhere else and wherever you’re at, you’re not going to get nothing."
