Waters north of Buoy No. 10. out to 3 miles from shore, remain closed. (Click for Map)

Florida anglers are an adaptable sort, used to working around changes in seasons, fish-ery laws and the wild economics of boating and coastal living. But for sportfishermen in the Cape Canaveral area, the years following September 11, 2001, have brought manmade changes that in many ways are overwhelming. Many traditional fishing areas around the Cape were closed, and remain closed, in the name of national security, ostensibly to protect the Kennedy Space Center and Port Canaveral from terrorist attacks.

Some local anglers say they’ve adapted to the closures by fishing other areas, with mixed results. Others have stuck close to favorite fishing holes, trying as best as they can to work within the framework of often confusing laws. Still others have opted to avoid the area altogether.

All agreed that it’s high time the government lightened up on public access to these world-class fishing waters.

Recently, I joined fishing guides Jim Ross and Russ Rivers for a half-day of fishing outside Port Canaveral. Ross grew up in Rockledge and began fishing the Cape Canaveral area with his grandfather when he was 5 years old.

As we exited the port, steering into a spectacular East Coast sunrise, Ross pointed to the north: “See that area from here to the False Cape? All that is closed off, extending out three miles offshore. As a result, I’ve lost 70 percent of my fall fishing since the closure. The Cape is unique because it offers protection from northerly winds that predominate in fall and early winter. It forms a lee that attracts bait and gamefish such as tarpon, snook, redfish and cobia.”

River added his plight to the conversation: “I don’t even come up here anymore to fish the fall mullet run. It’s too long a drive from Melbourne,” he said. “Before they closed it off, the fishing was unbelievable. I had 100-fish days. I just knew I was going to catch snook every time I came up.”

“What makes the area just north of Port Canaveral so unique?” I asked.

Ross explained that the troughs and bottom structure are much better up there, where fish ambush croakers, pinfish and mullet. During the summer, jack crevalle, tarpon and tripletail school in that area. But it’s during the fall when the area really comes alive. September through December are peak months for snook, tarpon, mackerel, reds, trout and just about every kind of gamefish that feeds on mullet.

“When they dredge the port,” Ross added, “they dump the sediment south of the port, where it washes up along the beaches and then back out into the ocean. There’s nothing but sand and sediment south of the port. Up north, where the baitfish hang out, the bottom is harder, crustier and firmer.”

I thought about the security closure. What concerned me most was the lack of signs, warnings and directions. I could see how an unsuspecting angler might stray into the restricted area. Going out and returning to port that day, I did not see any warnings about the restricted area. However, Ross repeated them to me from memory as I wrote them down.

Concerned, I asked an acquaintance who was going to Canaveral a couple of days later to give me his take on the situation. Keith Kalbfleisch is an active member of Central Florida Offshore Anglers in Orlando, and a licensed fishing captain. Like many, he has also been forced to fit his recreational and charter fishing schedule around the closures.

What he found was only one small, lighted sign well inside the port that warned boaters to avoid the 3-mile restricted zone or face a $50,000 fine and/or five years in jail. He saw nothing outside the port that warned boaters to stay out of the restricted area to the north. He said a fisherman could easily miss seeing the sign inside the port and that he saw no signs at the boat ramp either.

Inside the port, however, he found, as I did, numerous large signs, which read: “SECURE AREAS, NO TRESPASSING BY ORDER OF CANAVERAL PORT AUTHORITY. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED. BOATERS MUST STAY 15' FROM ALL DOCKS, 100' FROM BERTHED SHIP AND 200' FROM NAVAL BERTH.”

Obeying these rules inside the port does not necessarily mean that you will not be hassled by authorities, according to numerous fishermen who’ve found this to be a problem. The fisherman who probably holds the record for being harassed the most inside the port is Capt. Bryan Pahmeier of Titusville, who guides anglers for nighttime snook fishing inside the port at least three times per week. And three times a week he gets checked.

“If you go inside the port in a boat at night you’re going to be boarded,” he said. By “boarded” he means that officers in patrol boats will pull up and check out his captain’s license and his safety equipment.

The big problem, according to Bryan, is that officers from different law enforcement agencies are patrolling inside the port. One night he might be checked out by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office patrol boat and the next night it may be a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission boat. In addition, security officers from two agencies are patrolling from shore nightly.

Pahmeier, who began fishing the docks inside Port Canaveral in a Gheenoe when he was 12 years old, is well aware of the rules and complies with them. However, that doesn’t keep him out of the woods.

For example: “One night I was fishing 25 feet from a dock when a patrol boat pulled up and the officer boarded me,” he said. After he checked him out and started to leave, Bryan asked him, “Am I okay where I’m anchored for fishing?”

“You’re fine,” the officer told him as he pulled away.

Shortly after the patrol boat left, a security guard appeared along the shore and told Bryan to move out farther from the dock. Pahmeier tried to explain to the guard that the officer in the patrol boat had told him that his location was okay. That didn’t satisfy the security guard who kept motioning for him to move farther out, to the point that he couldn’t cast to the docks that held the snook they were targeting. Next, the guard got on the radio and reported Bryan to the same patrol boat that had told him he was okay in that position—25 feet from the dock.

According to Bryan, as he pulled farther away from the dock, the patrol boat crew confronted him and told him that the guard had reported him for arguing and raising his voice. He was afraid that he was about to get written up, or worse.

What got him off the hook, he thinks, was his client’s backing him up and telling the officer that Bryan was not yelling.

Bryan said he understands the need for security inside the port. He just wants some consistency in the patrolling.

Other Central Florida anglers voice similar complaints. Ben Beckner of Orlando, an offshore specialist with Bass Pro Shop’s Outdoor World, said many anglers have come into his store complaining about being hassled inside the port by authorities.

“Many have said that they’ve stopped fishing there because of the harassment,” he said.