Fort Atkinson council OKs riverwalk fishing restriction

From the Daily Jefferson Union;

Downtown Fort Atkinson anglers will have to pack up their tackle boxes and fishing rods and move west if they want to wet a line along the city’s riverwalk.

The Fort Atkinson City Council on Tuesday voted 3-2 in favor of an ordinance that prohibits fishing on the southern banks of the Rock River from the pedestrian bridge east to the American Legion Dugout.

Since it met March 18, the council appeared to be evenly split on the issue, with council member Jim Simdon sitting on the fence. At Tuesday night’s meeting, however, Simdon made up his mind.

“It’s difficult for me to bring myself, as a shore fisherman growing up in Fort Atkinson, to say it’s OK to restrict (fishing) to a certain area,” Simdon said. “But I think with all that’s happened, I think it would be only fair to the other people to give them the spot where they can go and sit and walk and push carriages and all other things without worrying about somebody being in their way.”

The council had debated the proposed ordinance for about a month in the wake of complaints by some people saying they had difficulty using the walkway due to fishing activity.

Earlier in the day, Rock River-Koshkonong Association member Jim Furley Jr., who has acted as an unofficial spokesperson for the anglers, told the Daily Union that the National Organization for Rivers states an area should be open to the public for fishing and other activities up to the ordinary high water mark.

“They’ve studied past U.S. Supreme Court decisions and that is their position,” he said.