Does anyone take their bike fishing? If so, how do you haul your rod? In a month or so, if the good Lord is willing and the weatherman will cooperate, I will be in the Great Smoky Mountains.
At which time, I will be dropped off along way from anywhere, with only a bike to ride out. Thankfully, it’ll be mostly down hill ride, i gotta get my brakes checked! Anyway, after fishing most of the day, I will ride my bike out. I’m planning on a piece of PVC, zip tied to handle bars. My rod is a 7 ft 3wt 2 piece, so it’ll be kind of long and possibly cumbersome. If it broke into smaller pieces I could carry my rod tube on my backpack, but it would be awfully unhandy as long as it is. And buying another rod really isn’t an option for me at this point. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I have 30 years in the bicycle industry and believe I have seen most the jury rigged contraptions out there. For fishing rods I like the pvc zip tied to the top tube rather than the handlebars. If I had a dime for every calamity story I have heard from something added to a pair of handlebars I could afford a couple new rods and a NuCanoe to carry them around.
So with a tube at roughly 3 1/2 feet to accommodate a 7’ rod your tube would slop over a bit if you tied it to the top tube but even though it looks a bit “off” it doesn’t really get in the way. I have seen son creative fishing rod holders made to attache to the Delta racks like this one; https://deltacycle.com/racks-and-bags/quick-release-seatpost-bike-rack . You have to get used to a tail wagging around behind you but it is easy to tie a pvc tube to the beam on the bottom of this and bungee a small gear bag on top to hold your vest and hip boots/ waders or whatnot.
I would be interested to see what you decide you like best and decide to go with. Lots of creative people on this board so wouldn’t surprise me if someone has fabricated a tubular titanium 45 degree super duper multi rod holder at some point. Best of Luck.
Haven’t done it and don’t plan to, but my first thought also was “not across the handlebars!” Pointing it in the same direction you’re going makes more sense, methinks.
If you google ‘fly rod bicycle’ you’ll get a ton of images of different solutions. Most common and practical solutions I’ve seen are either mounted on the fork or the chain & seat stays. That being said, what exactly is wrong with just strapping it to your back? Either a light pack or just a sling made from a piece of rope would solve your problem pretty quickly one would think.
Top tube with bungies for me too. You want to consider parting company with the bike in the event that you need to bail off.
Sound like a great time.
Dick
Disclaimer: I ride but have yet to personally encounter a practical situation to ride to a fishing locale.
My first inclination would be to mount a rear rack on the bike and use the rack’s frame to secure the rod tube vertically. The rack would also hold a pannier or top mounted bag where I could stow the rest of my gear for the ride.
Riding on a mountain road, I want to be free of unnecessary distractions. I definitely wouldn’t mount a rod across the handlebars, and I wouldn’t want one knocking about on the top tube. In the absence of a backpack of sorts and a shorter rod, I’d prefer the rod mounted vertically and behind the rear axle and drivetrain.
I still have most of the parts of a 2piece rod that turned into a 5piece courtesy of the spokes of my bike
That happened while salmon fishing in Nova Scotia
Here in CT, I used to often use a bike to fish the salt.
Often there’s no legal parking near where I wanted to fish, so riding a bike and stashing it in the bushes was the way to go.
I had an old junker women’s 3speed that no one would bother so I could leave it anywhere unlocked and expect it to be there when I got back.
The woman’s style bike was the way to go… much, much easier to ride with waders on.
