A bunch of friends and I are hiking into Hetch Hetchy in August and will have some day hikes planned. I am looking for places to go that have a small lake good for trout fishing. Spinning reel, not fly rod. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I appreciate the help.

Yosemite in general is not noted for great fishing....but there are some lake in the Hetch-Hetchy area that have fish. Check out Eleanor--you can drive there now, and Cherry Lake as well. If you want to backpack to a lake, your best overnight destination might be Lake Eleanor to Laurel Lake...

But if you are planning on camping at Rancheria Falls, then Rancheria Creek is by far your best bet...

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

I guess the fish must like me.... I've always had good luck fishing in Yosemite.
Even caught Browns out of Hetch Hetchy.

The higher lakes have punies... but what do you expect?

The vast majority of lakes, rivers, creeks in Yosemite ... have fish.
They no longer stock so the very close lakes will have high pressure and suffer the consequence.
Lakes further out ... (like Wilma, Tilden, Benson, Smedberg, etc.) will be better...

If just dayhiking... good luck. I hated fishing Cherry but Eleanor was fun in a trailboat... but gets
lots of pressure since it's pathetically easy to get to.

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What rigging would you recomend in Rancheria Creek? I will only be packing a spinning rod, no fly rod.
Thanks!

Pick up something like this:

Z recommended spin-in trout-a-fish-on lures

Especially the black with the yellow dots one. Get that one for sure. Get a small one... and maybe medium sized one.

Have fun. Catch and eat. Dispose of remains in the ground please... not thrown in lake

Edit: I looked closer. That pack there is a great deal. You get THE lure in small and med size.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2011 08:26PM by chick-on.

On Saturday, I caught 14 brook trout, all pan sized 6" or bigger, at Ostrander Lake.

I find that fly and bobber works better for the smaller lakes than bait or spinners. An inconsistent retrieve works well for fly and okay for spinners. I've had the best luck nymphing the fly just below the surface. Some lakes the trout like wooly buggers, some the caddis/gnat styles work better.

I've had great luck with spinners.

But if you want the best luck:

What you need is a can of peas and a Billy Club.
Dump the peas in the water. When the fish comes up to take a pee... smack.



(yes, it's my goal to pester you)

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Quote
chick-on
I've had great luck with spinners.

But if you want the best luck:

What you need is a can of peas and a Billy Club.
Dump the peas in the water. When the fish comes up to take a pee... smack.



(yes, it's my goal to pester you)

Pester away... one of my buddies caught a whole two fish with his spinner, had to throw the small one back. I threw all but two back... coz I could.

Course, he didn't have any Z rays, just a Kastmaster and a rooster tail with hooks that were a few sizes too big.

At least he wasn't littering the shore with salmon eggs.

I saw lots of big trout in the 15" to 20" range in the Lyell River while hiking from Donahue Pass to Toulumne last year. Did not see one single person fishing.

Quote
waterman
I saw lots of big trout in the 15" to 20" range in the Lyell River while hiking from Donahue Pass to Toulumne last year. Did not see one single person fishing.

That's the Lyell fork of the Tuolumne River - that was a rare day. Usually the fly fishermen are lining up on the banks and pulling out the trout.

Headwall at the south end of Lyell Canyon. Donohue Pass is up there somewhere.
I think Mt Lyell is the hi-point just right of center. Lyell Glacier is the source of the headwaters of the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2011 10:00PM by qumqats.

We camped at the headwaters. Awesome up there.

I think at Eleanor you need some sort of trail boat or canoe to catch anything. Vernon is excellent for fishing. Can't speak for Kibbie, but Boundary, Flora, Spotten Fawn, Little Bear and lakes between don't have any fish in them at all.

Yosemite has been removing fish at some lakes above 4000' to help the Yellow-Legged Frog recovery:
http://kellyfinan.com/kelly%20images/troutfront.pdf

Here's a quote from that PDF:

The stocking of fish in high Sierra lakes and streams has resulted in significant impacts on vertebrates such as the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. Fish eat tadpoles and eggs and compete with frogs for the insects that they eat. The population of the yellow-legged frogs has decreased by 95% since the introduction of trout, and more are being lost every year. To improve habitats for native frogs, an experimental fish removal program began in 2007. This used a portion of park entrance fee funds to remove fish from Virginia Lake, Cold Mountain Area Lakes, Hutchings Lake, Bartlett Creek Lakelets, Middle and Tiny McCabe Lakes, and Harriet Lake. These lakes were chosen because combined, they only make up 5% of all lakes that contain fish in the park, are remote, and are not popular among anglers. In addition, the plan would consider restoring species such as the yellow-legged frog and the Yosemite toad to their historic ranges

Disclaimer: I am nowhere near a fisherman, but I will gladly eat the fish my friends catch.

Thanks for that oak.

Here's a bit more:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,28257,28298#msg-28298

Bit stumped about Harriet. Was there last year. Lots of fish in there still.... maybe still a work in progress.

Kibbie has good fishing. At least I've again been very lucky there.
Believe it or not Mercur had monster Brown Trout in it. Caught some big boys they almost scared the bejesus out of me.
I think in the following years these all have perished. Haven't seen a fish in there in many years.
This was probably about 10 years ago.

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I just read that... Mr. Oak. We have to continue to agree to disagree on the campfires.



Enjoy Lyell

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Well thank you all for your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, pestiness. I think I will just plan on a great trip and consider living out of my pack rather than living off the land (and lake). I do appreciate it. I will report back late August.

How about those yellow frogs?

Of course, and I understand where you are coming from. However, if there is no fire ring, you can have a fire and leave no trace the next morning, but of course having a fire in a non-existent fire ring would be illegal, and I would never do that in the park and violate the rules.

Anyways, yeah, I've actually seen the nets in the unnamed lake between Flora & Boundary. I'm sure I have pics of it on one of my harddrives. But it was clear that it was there to catch/kill the fish.

Like I PMed you, Lyell appears to be out this weekend, most likely gonna be the Emigrant this set of offdays.

Nucleic, i can't speak for the frogs (although they are noisy as hell), but I prefer trout cooked over a campfire myself. I'm not a huge fish fan, but that alpine trout absolute delicacy. My advice would be to bring your fishing gear, and if you catch some fish and dine on them, great, but if you don't catch anything you still have some freeze dried to survive on.