For anglers with a sense of adventure and even modest physical stamina, Western Pennsylvania is the place to be and now is the time. Water quality is the best since George Washington and Christopher Gist paddled up the Allegheny with an eviction notice for the French, fish stocks are improving and shore-bound anglers can get to the water -- lots of water.

Pennsylvania's nationally renowned Rails-to-Trails effort plus the simple technology of a bicycle and human muscle power are opening up miles of new fishing to anglers willing to pedal before they cast. According to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, 550 miles of biking and hiking trails now wind along Western Pennsylvania rivers and streams, most on abandoned railroad grades.

"A bicycle is a great tool for an angler," said Venture Outdoors assistant program director Rob Walters. "It allows you to cover greater distances and fish waters that most anglers would not be able to reach in a walking trip. Most of the trails are flat for easy pedaling."

Walters described bike fishing as a great way to scout new areas and find fish that don't see a lot of fishing pressure."

"There are lots of amazing access points reachable from the Rails-to-Trails on the Youghiogheny River, Montour Run and Penn's Creek to name only a few," he said, "and there is fantastic access right in Downtown Pittsburgh. You can access the three rivers via bike and fish along 18 miles of riverfront in the city."

Venture Outdoors, a nonprofit outdoor recreation group (www.ventureoutdoors.org), offers an array of experiences across Western Pennsylvania, including biking and fishing.

"More than half of the fishing trips we guide on the Youghiogheny are biking trips," Walters said. "Our guests enjoy it more than walking, and biking allows more time to fish."

Formal Rails-to-Trails paths are not the only options for adventurous biking anglers.

"Many state forest and state game land roads that are closed to motorized vehicles provide bicycle access to spots rarely visited by fishermen," said Gregg Rinkus who lives in Franklin, Venango County, within bike-strike distance of trails along the Allegheny and Clarion rivers and Oil Creek. "Bike-in fishing has added a wonderful dimension to my outdoor experiences. I love to bike, and I love to fish, so what better combination could there be? I've been doing it for 30 years and rarely do I encounter another fisherman once I get a mile away from "drive-to" locations."

Rinkus' solitude may soon be less certain. Bike fishing is catching on.

"It used to be just the same eight or 10 regulars you'd see using a bike to go fishing along the trail," said West Newton Bicycle Shop employee Jericho Shupe, who outfits bike renters for trips along the lower Youghiogheny. "Now I see new people who have fitted their bikes with racks with PVC pipes on the sides to carry their poles. ... I've actually been thinking about doing it myself."

Another Western Pennsylvania outfitter already does, and knows the rewards.

"Fishermen bike all along the Clarion River and even up on Toby Creek," said Dave Love, owner of Canoe, Kayak and Bike Rental on the Clarion River in Ridgway, Elk County. "It's a 10-mile stretch of fishing up through there and [bikers] know that not a lot of people are going to walk that far, so it's going to be good fishing."

Anglers, he said, are adapting to the opportunity.

"Some put baskets on the back. Others rig a device of some kind that will hold their gear and rods across the handlebars," he said. "Most of the serious bike anglers use a mountain bike. Even though these trails up here are hard-packed stone dust, they soften up with all the rain we've had and a bike made for these conditions is better."

Love approves of the activity the trails draw to the region but cautions that continued good fishing depends on conservation.

"Throw those fish back in," he said. "The only reason you caught that big fish is that 10 other people threw it back before you did. The fishing is tremendous up here, and we can keep it that way if we work together."

Love also can keep a secret.

"I talked to a guy the other day who fished for six hours in a steady rain and caught 45 nice fish -- half trout and half smallmouth bass. I won't say exactly where he was fishing, but you can get there from here on a bike."

Rivers and streams aren't the only waters where a bike-pedaling session can improve the fishing. At Maurice K. Goddard State Park in Mercer County, a bike trail parallels 12 miles of Lake Wilhelm's shoreline.

"There are a number of places where people can park cars, but there are areas accessible by bike where otherwise it would be a long walk," said Goddard State Park manager Bill Wasser. "It opens up some areas of the lake to shore fisherman without boats that may not otherwise be utilized."

Wasser said Lake Wilhelm anglers have been making nice catches of walleyes, muskies and panfish.

More bike trails access lake shores at Presque Isle, Pymatuning, Moraine, Raccoon Creek and Keystone state parks.

Some knowledgeable bike-trail enthusiasts maintain that few recreational facilities anywhere rival the stunning scenery and good fishing along the Great Allegheny Passage. With its final link completed in 2006, the trail snakes along the Youghiogheny from McKeesport to Confluence, Somerset County, then up the Casselman River into the high tablelands of western Maryland -- over 100 miles of pedal fishing possibilities.

"Water quality in the Casselman River is greatly improved over the past 20 years since I moved here," said Tony Marich, chairman of the Somerset County Parks and Recreation Board. "Now there is a good smallmouth fishery, and also trout, particularly in the summer where there are springs in the riverbed or at the mouths of coldwater tributaries.

"You're basically in a gorge with an active railroad on one side and a bike trail on the other, so you don't have any highway access like you do on other streams like Loyalhanna Creek. Here, a bike is a huge asset for a serious fisherman."

Even serious angler-bikers may never exhaust the possibilities. A diverse partnership of local organizations, businesses and state agencies propose another 175 miles of Rails-to-Trails for construction across Western Pennsylvania.