Fishing bike

[Heritage-Angler]

A couple of days ago, I saw a post from an old fishing buddy (AFISHN) in the swap forum.

Having discussed this with him in the past, I felt I should get a hold of him.

He was looking for a bike to use for transportation along the Lehigh Gorge trail, and also the Pine Creek rail trail. This is a great way to access spots that can be too far to walk to, and also just explore spots to fish on those waters.

I'ver ridden those trails many times, and found the Pine Creek trail to have a hard packed gravel surface - fine for a skinny tire bike, but the LR trail has a looser packed and sometimes deep gravel surface. Not so good for a skinny tire bike, and especially for a newbie rider packing a lot of fishing gear.

The answer? A 29'er mountain bike. Usually, these can't be found new for cheap, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one on sale at Performance Bike.

Diamondback Apex 29'er mountainbike

Plans were made with Tom to pick up the bike, and I promised to outfit it for use as a fishing rig.

We spent a fun day together picking up the bike and getting it all decked out, and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Tom and his wife. I think he's already figured out he'll be riding this bike for a LOT more than just fishing excursions!

Congratulations Tom, and enjoy!

 

[sandfly]

a lot of locals here have bikes out fitted to ride into the gorge for fishing. some even use 3 wheeled ones.

 

[DanL]

Silly question, but do you pack your wading gear and wading boots in a bag? Do you wear wading pants instead of full wading gear? Just wondering how you actually pack up for the ride down the trail, and do you then need to leave your empty "luggage" there (i.e fly rod tube, bag, etc), while you fish?

Seems like a good idea for the spring creek canyon as well, to ride a bike in.

 

[CRB]

Thoughts...use a pvc pipe and cut into the end the width of your fly reel with some pipe insulation for padding. place a cap over the end to hold the rod and reel in tube.use hose clamps and mount the pipe to the top tube parallel to the road/ground. I ware my fishing waders and use a hip pack and ride the trails to new waters.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

I like the concept. Would like to see how you carry all your gear.

DanL says-"Seems like a good idea for the spring creek canyon as well, to ride a bike in."

Seems to me like overkill for that place. It's not much of a walk to bother with a bike.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Bungie cord a milk crate to the rack. Tie wrap a pvc tube with end caps to the outside of the milk crate to hold the rod in a rod sock. The possibilities are endless, but it's nice to be able to remove it all in one shot when you get home.

Locks are a good idea out on the trail, but the expensive stuff (seat bag/contents and pump) is best carried along while fishing. You can get different size cable locks for cheap at Home Depot, and loop them together to lock everything with one lock to a tree or post. One 12' and two 4' cables works great.

Boots, waders, vest/pack goes in milk crate for the ride in. Street clothes and sneakers makes the ride in easier, and saves wear and tear on your waders. A lot cooler, too. If someone wants to steal a stinky old pair of sneakers out of the crate, more power to 'em!

Of course, wet wading simplifies things when it gets warm enough.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

That is a great set up. Thanks!

 

[PhilC]

I wanted to bike the Lehigh gorge for a while and finally one day I decided to go for it...went to Walmart and bought a $90 mountain bike...it served me well and I got one for her too. Been through a few tubes but other than that it's worked well

 

[charliepff]

Has anyone tried any of the fat tired mountain bikes for this purpose yet? Back in the day my buddy and I use to ride all over and fish from our bikes. I didn't fly fish then except for a clear bobber on a spinning rod. We were able to access a ton of water though.

We use to fish the Lehigh before it was the massive fishery it is now. We found that the long frame bikes were more comfortable. The biggest tip, was to have extra tubes, tools, chain, and so on. We did ride them hard so they did some more then average wear.

 

[Chaz]

I plan on using my Trek mountain bike for these activities.

 

[springer1]

Has anyone tried any of the fat tired mountain bikes for this purpose yet?

Yes. I have a rack on the back, and a PVC tube for the rod attached to the rack & it's supports using screw type hose clamps (Tie wraps get brittle and will break). The tube is angled back with the slant of the rack's rear support. I then bungie cord an old gym bag for my hippers and other stuff to the rack's top. But I've only used this with an ultra lite spinning outfit, not a fly rod.

I cut a plastic funnel so it fits in the bottom of the PVC pipe - it acts as a plug and indexes the rod butt to the pipe center. I use removable foam around the top of the pipe to keep the rod from moving around. The tube has a slot cut in it to index the spinning reel's stem outward/ rearward.

 

[dryflyguy]

I used a milk crate for the first couple of years that I bike fished. It worked OK. But was always kinda flimsy - I just couldn't seem to get it mounted real solid.

Then my wife found the old paper boy baskets at a local bike shop. And that is a lot better set-up IMO.
They mount very securely and have more room.
I can carry waders and boots - with still plenty of room for a big water bottle and lunch.

 

[Sylvaneous]

I bike into Oil Creek and along the Allegheny. I don't modify my bike at all. It is a Schwinn trail bike (not mountain) with an Aluminum frame. It came from Target for $125. When I was into mountain biking, you couldn't get an aluminum frame for less than something like $1000. I bungee-strap my rod tube to my bike frame. I wouldn't want to add more mess. Just additional complication. I mean, I wouldn't bring more on the bike than I would on my person into the water. When the river is down, it's a great summer day to ride the bike trail and stop off at places that look good to wade fish.

 

[dryflyguy]

Sylvaneous wrote:
I bike into Oil Creek and along the Allegheny. I don't modify my bike at all. It is a Schwinn trail bike (not mountain) with an Aluminum frame. It came from Target for $125. When I was into mountain biking, you couldn't get an aluminum frame for less than something like $1000. I bungee-strap my rod tube to my bike frame. I wouldn't want to add more mess. Just additional complication. I mean, I wouldn't bring more on the bike than I would on my person into the water. When the river is down, it's a great summer day to ride the bike trail and stop off at places that look good to wade fish.

Do you wear your waders while biking?
I tried that at first - and don't care to do it.
Not very comfortable. And doing that on a warm day gets me all sweated up.
Much more enjoyable to pack them in and put them on right before fishing IMO

 

[CRB]

I wear my waders. Sure they are hot when temps are 80+ but i would rather not carry them.