January Bass

Although cold enough to wear a light down jacket, it was fairly warm for the last day of January. The night before, I had decided to pack up my bike fishing gear and roll out early  the following day. The only real difference between my bike fishing gear and my regular fishing gear is that while bike bound in route to my favorite fishing holes, all of my regular fishing gear is in pieces and stuffed in to my backpack. The Camelback pack that I use has one water bottle holder on each side and a tightening strap that runs from back to front above the mesh holders. The disassembled fishing rods fit nicely in the mesh water bottle holders and are cinched down with the tightening straps. It works out real well. I have a small flat tackle box tray that contains various jigs, hooks, bobbers, and some smelly stink bait for the channel cat. I usually take two rods so that I can set one on the bottom for the channel cat and then keep one to try my luck for the crappie, bass or whatever else might be biting.

After taking the kids to school I headed out on the bike for my morning fishing adventure. I was not going very far. I took the local Southwind rail trail to the connecting trail that connects the Southwind with the Lehigh trail and headed back in to the woods. Elm Creek runs along the north side of the Lehigh trails. As I came up to the fishing hole, I parked the bike and shed a layer as it had begun to warm up slightly. It had been a nice ride. It was early enough that there was not much wind and the temperature was just right for a comfortable ride. The water in the creek looked very still. It was moving very slowly. There was a light fog over the creek through which the sun glistened on the water.

I unloaded my gear and assembled my rods. I tied a trouble hook on one rod and loaded it with some stink bait. I set a sinker about two feet above the hook and cast the line in to the water.  I set the pole down and started tying a rooster tail on the other pole. There are a lot of trees lining the water way and it does not take much to get tangled up. I fished up and down the bank. Fishing is worse than gambling. You are always sure that if you just throw one more line it you will catch the big one. I continued to cast and move around having no luck. Then, when I was least expecting it, I felt a fish strike the line. I attempted to set the hook and the fish began to run. It felt like a fair size fish but I would never know for sure. Either the line was not set or the fish somehow twisted the hook loose as my fishing pole popped back straight and the fish was gone as fast as it had come. 

After losing my first fish, I decided to check on my other line. It was still standing where I had left it. I reeled it in to check the bait which was still there. I cast it back out again and let it sink to the bottom in hopes that a large channel cat would eventually stumble across the bait. It was not to be however. I  changed my jig to a popper on my casting line in hopes of bringing something up from the depths of the abyss witht the plooping sound of my new jig. Amazingly enough, it worked. On the second cast, I watched a bass hit the popper about ten feet from the shore. I was so astonished that I did a poor job of setting the hook for the second time and the slippery little booger disappeared beneath the dark water. Watching a fish hit top water bait is amazing. From my slightly elevated position, I could see the white skin of the fish rise and grab the popper and take it down beneath the water. It ran with it for a bit but then shook loose and was gone. Watching the strike had been awesome, but catching it would have been better. After casting for some time with no luck, I decided to pack up and head to another location on the back to the house.

I found a spot where a contributory fed in to the main creek and decided to give it a go. I figured there might be fish feeding from the feeder creek that was running in to the larger creek. I decided to tie on the rooster tail again and gave it a toss. On the second cast, I got a pretty strong hit. I set the hook and the fight was on. The rod I was using was a pretty light rod with a light line as well. It can be misleading and make smaller fish seem pretty big but this one was putting up quite a fight. I finally beached the big bass and was thrilled to see how big it was. I did not weigh it but it was a pretty good size fish. I unhooked him and put him back in the creek for another day. I like catching fish more than cleaning and eating them. After releasing my first catch of the day, I cast out my line again. To my surprise, on the second or third cast, I hooked another bass and brought it shore. It was about the same size as the first one. I couldn’t help but think, what a great way to spend the morning of the last day of January than by bikefishing. Be sure to give it a try sometime.

After releasing my second catch of the day, I decided that would be enough. I had combined two of my favorite things to do in an incredibly beautiful setting. The only thing better than riding bikes and catching fish is doing them together. I disassembled my rods and stored my gear. After putting my gear away, I realized that I had not taken my biking gloves off while fishing. So next time I see you on the trail, if you smell something fishy, don’t worry, it is just me. I had a nice ride back to the house. I am looking forward to seeing what February brings.

Enjoy the ride