Getting There

We chose the Mono Meadow trailhead to begin our journey to Lower Ottoway Lake, deep in the Yosemite back country. Mono Meadow is located on Glacier Point Rd. It has a spacious parking area. Prepare for a nice long hike to Lower Ottoway Lake.

The Hike

The hike to Lower Ottoway Lake is not a day trip. It is a difficult hike to Lower Ottoway Lake. At 13 miles from the Mono Meadow trailhead, it doesn't make for an easy day trip. We found that 8 miles a day was a pretty good rate for a couple of city slickers. So, on the first day we camped at Illilouette Creek at a bend in the trail that nearly meets the creek. Like-minded people have thought the same as we found plenty of camp site relics to lounge upon. They were probably headed toward Lower Ottoway Lake or Red Peak Pass as well.

The next day we set out to conquer the hills separating us from Lower Ottoway Lake. We climbed for most of the day to eventually reach the trail junction near Upper Merced Pass Lake. We traveled over to Upper Merced Pass Lake to take a break and eat lunch. While we there, we quickly learned that there were no fish in this lake. There were a couple of USGS personel there studying the Sierra Yellow-Legged Frogs.

After lunch we still had about 3 or so miles to go before we reached Lower Ottoway Lake. We were pretty bushed but we pushed on uphill to the legendary Lower Ottoway Lake fishing. We were not disappointed...

The Fishing

The fishing is amazing at Lower Ottoway Lake! Leave your bait at home, you won't need it! Spinners, flies, they all work here at Lower Ottoway Lake. These fish are hungry, and I'm not gonna lie, we ate 3 of them. Anyhow, I stuck with a green Humpy with a beadhead Hare's Ear nymph on a dropper. I had a lot of action at Lower Ottoway Lake. Alex did well using Panther Martrin lures in a number of patterns including black and yellow bodies. We caught in total, upwards of 50 fish at least at Lower Ottoway Lake. This is a lot of sight-casting from boulders to cruising fish. It takes a lot of work to get to Lower Ottoway Lake but it is well worth it!