Getting There

The section of Lee Vining Creek where we went fishing was behind the Ellery Lake Campground. Ellery Lake is east of Tioga Pass on the east side of Yosemite. It is not inside the park boundary so technically you are not in Yosemite National Park. The Ellery Campground is the only one at the lake and is not large so expect capacity in peak months. In late September we were among one other group there.

The Hike

If you stay at the Ellery Lake Campground you can find your way down to the water easily by walking down to the inlet at the north side of Ellery Lake. From there you can traverse the shoreline upstream. An even better option is to cross at this section because it is shallow, especially in fall, and fish from the west side where you'll avoid bushes and steep banks.

The Fishing

We were lucky enough to get the campground space directly adjacent to the creek which meant we only had to walk about 100 feet to the water and did not have to encroach on other camp sites - not that there was anyone else really there. The down side of visiting in late September was the night temps got down to 28° and the women and children had to abandon the tent and ride it out in the car.

After setting up camp we got right down to business fishing the creek. Behind our camp site was a nice, slow run and the trout were staging under the undercut bank opposite of us. From there we were able to hook a few small Rainbows using small spinners.

We decided to go around to the inlet via the campground. From there we chucked lures but couldn't get anything. The water was shallow and moving fast, there was very little pocket water. We gave up on that section and went back to camp. When the sun went down I started fly fishing and pulled out a couple wild Rainbows, a planter Rainbow and a very small Brown Trout on assortment of dry and wet flies.