Hey everyone, heading to Tuokumne Meadows, car camping with my wife and kid (and my in-laws for a couple of those days)... Anyone have any suggestions for fishing spots? Streams/creeks/rivers or lakes? I know that I can take off pre-dawn the days that my in-laws will be there, so i'll get out early at least one of those days but any suggestions would be welcome.

I'm sure i'll be asking rangers for places, but in case anyone had a good spot for me to chill (for the few hours I might get to fish) i'd be grateful!

_________________
Yong
Amago, 11' Iwana I, 12' Iwana II

here a few links that should help you .... have a great time!



http://www.flyfisherman.com/2011/07/25/tuolumne-meadows/#axzz20pJ8aVni

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/uptuolumne.htm

http://www.americanflyfishing.com/retail/common/community/article.asp?store_id=201&id=368

Try the Lyell fork of the Tuolumne. Lots of eager brookies just waiting for a dry fly.

John

Thanks guys, i'd seen all of those links online already. Lyell Fork it is! My wife and I used to backpack up Lyell Canyon out to Ireland and around to Vogelsang every year... less do-able with the kiddo showing up (at least for now!).

Lyell Fork was the only place i'd thought of to go, and sounds like a good start.

Thanks!

_________________
Yong
Amago, 11' Iwana I, 12' Iwana II

I'm headed to the Lyell Fork this Saturday with 2 friends I'm introducing to fly fishing. If you're not already there, I'll let you know how it goes.

- Albert

Nice, maybe i'll see you there

_________________
Yong
Amago, 11' Iwana I, 12' Iwana II

So.... low snowpack = really low Tuolumne river. Fishing was still good though! Just a bit more challenging. Ditched the 6wt western rig as the Lyell fork was less than thigh deep in almost all of the places and just stuck with my Amago. My buddy started using my 12' Iwana the second day and ditched his 5wt setup and we were both into fish in the morning. Mostly 6" brook trout.

The smallest hook size i've got is 12, so nothing was really biting on anything I was showing. Or... they just didn't like my flies I did get a nice 6" off of a killer bug dropper in one of the pools near the campground. I guess I should have taken pictures...

I had two western flies in a size 16 hook (i have no idea what they were or where I even got them), but those seemed to do the trick. The tiny white wings were basically gone after the first fish.

Did a hike up to the Gaylor Lakes on Monday, a nice little jaunt. You'd think there weren't any fish in there, but I was able to land this nice 9" just a little bit off shore, hiding behind a rock



The Gen 3 traditional TUSA line was the first traditional line I have fished with and it worked wonderfully. I'm not sure I want to go back to my level line now!

_________________
Yong
Amago, 11' Iwana I, 12' Iwana II

Hey Yong, my friends and I were upstream from the twin bridges from 11am onwards. It was a tough bite. I had my friends on my Amago and Ayu. I used a western 8' 4wt rod. They both got into some fish, but the fish were in general much spookier than expected. In some of the calmer pools, the fish would spook at my size 14 elk hair caddis landing on the water. I had my friends use various size 14 kebaris, sawyer's killer bugs, and foam ants. Fish would generally take in rougher water at the head of pools or riffles. I didn't try anything smaller than a size 14 as I left all that stuff at home.

Overall they both said that they had fun (this was the first time for both of them). One of them is partially colorblind, so I'm brainstorming on flies that would be easier for him to see.

This was my solo fish brought to hand for the day ... (I don't count the few fingerlings that I sent flying behind me ... all were accounted for and returned to the water )

Sounds similar to my experience. We hit up the twin bridges around noon and stayed for a couple hours. There's a stretch of the river at the end of the A section of the campgrounds that had some good pools and decent (6") fish.

My friend that was using my Iwana said he wanted to buy one after using it I can't stop using my Amago, maybe i should still him mine!

_________________
Yong
Amago, 11' Iwana I, 12' Iwana II