The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

My little brother and I are going to be hiking through the back country of yosemite next week. Are trail reservations start on Monday, but we'd like to camp out saturday and sunday somewhere close to yosemite. I remember seeing a bunch of great campsites of the 120 before entering yosemite. I can't remember what river that was along the highway. Anybody kmow if it's fishable and have a recommendation on a campsite?

Hey Sammy,

I think you are thinking about Lee Vining Creek.
There are a number of campgrounds in this area.

As you leave Lee Vining and head up 120 through the gorge, there is a road on the left that leads to several campgrounds.

Up near the top of the hill on the right is the turnoff to Saddlebag Lake. There is a small campground right at the turn-off, a walk-in campsite ~1 mile up the road, and a drive in campground at Saddlebag. Further up toward the entrance to the park is Tioga Lake campground, a small, but picturesque site.

The only issue with these sites, Sammy, is that it is a real pot shot whether any will be open on Saturday. We were up there two weeks ago on a Friday and had a hard time finding a site (we ended up at Saddlebag). Your best bet is to get there as early as possible.

Hope that helps,

Buzz

P.S.: yes, there are fish in Lee Vining Creek. Up in the Saddlebag Lake area it gets a lot of pressure, less so down in the canyon. There is decent fishing in Tioga Lake, but it helps to have a boat. Saddlebag has some decent shore fishing, but a float tube is better. Best fishing there was in the morning, but we were up there on a new moon. B

Hey buzz thanks for the info. Based on what you said we've decided to drive up 140 instead, and camp out near briceburg. There is a long dirt road that follows the river off the highway w/ some sweet campsites and decent fishing a few miles in. I think we'll have a better chance of getting a site out there w/out having to look to hard.

Our trail reservation isn't until monday, but we're gonna camp in briceburg on saturday, get up first thing sunday and see if we can't get a walk in permit for sunday. If not, we'll just fish in the tuolumne meadow all day and our monday permit allows us to camp out there that night.

Should be an awesome trip! I saw several HUGE brown trout on the trail last year. I'm prepping to try and catch one of them this time.

keep in mind the briceburg area was hard hit by the telegraph fire a couple of weeks ago. many areas are charred landscape now.

eric
fresno, ca.

yeah i kinda figured. Hopefully there are still some campsites open. Not too concerned about scenery really. Just looking for a place to camp for one night and maybe fish the evening.