People have been lured to the Mono Basin for hundreds of years. Native Americans visited Mono Lake each autumn to harvest its pinion nuts and the larvae and pupae of the lake’s brine fly. Later, gold seekers explored the area in search of overnight fortunes. Hard on their heels were timbermen, who supplied the mines at Bodie, shopkeepers, and farmers and ranchers who made their livelihood supporting the dreams of gold. Fly fishers can make this same pilgrimage and reap the rewards of finding trout in one of the most beautiful and interesting places in the Sierra.
The hub of the basin is the little community of Lee Vining. Close your eyes while sitting on the deck of one of the town’s eateries, and it is easy to imagine that you are in a cosmopolitan center. Different languages abound. French, German, Japanese, and many others can be heard, along with the British and Australian versions of English. This little town plays host to thousands of visitors from all over the world, and they pore over maps and guidebooks as they sit at lunch. Lee Vining owes its global popularity to the fact that it is at the eastern doorstep of Yosemite National Park. The presence of Mono Lake does not hurt, either.
The Mono Basin has a lot going for it, including some fine angling. The basin includes the entire Mono Lake drainage, from the summit of Conway Pass on the north to the June Lake Loop on the south. Many people who visit the basin choose to stay in the June Lake area, which was the subject of an article by Richard Alden Bean in this publication in 2005. There are many good reasons for that choice, but I find Lee Vining to be one of my favorite east side haunts. First, there is the iconic (if fishless) Mono Lake. I’m not sure if anything can prepare you for that first view of the lake as you are coming over Conway Summit or down the canyon of Tioga Pass. The scene is stark, but beautiful. The lake shows itself in many different colors throughout the year. Some days are mirror calm, while at other times, whitecaps push up into the tufa formations. In the fall, the vast aspen groves throughout the basin put on a brilliant display of color.
The Mono Basin is the location of a major drama in California water history. The first time I visited, I took a walk from town to the dried-up streambed of Lee Vining Creek. One of the major tributaries of Mono Lake, the creek had been totally diverted to feed the aqueduct that carried it south to the city of Los Angeles. It was a hot, blindingly sunny August day, and there wasn’t a bit of shade anywhere along the stream course. To say that it is disheartening to see a Sierra mountain stream reduced to such a state is a gross understatement. But a 15-year flash-forward found me walking out the back door of the newly constructed Mono Basin Visitor Center. Standing on the broad flagstone patio, I heard a sound that seemed out of place. Looking more carefully into the canyon, there was a sight I had been willing to bet I would never see: Lee Vining Creek was once again carrying water to Mono Lake. Oh, and that water was supporting trout that rose to a dry fly. Fishing people should visit this place for no other reason than to be reminded of the amazing recuperative power of natural processes.
Mono Basin Tackle
My basic gear for the basin is a 3-weight or 4-weight rod, a spool of 6X tippet, and a fly box loaded primarily with dry flies. There are only a few basic patterns: Parachute Adamses and BlueWinged Olives, a couple of caddis imitations, Royal Wulffs, Humpies, a few mayfly and caddis emergers, and hoppers and ants for the middle of summer. I throw in some beadhead nymphs in small sizes (16 and 18) for the larger pools of Rush Creek or Mill Creek. On those occasions when I fish a lake, I add a few more nymphs, including some in size 14, and streamers such as olive and black Matukas and Woolly Buggers. Your kit should include water and a sunblock, too. The Mono Basin is deceptive in terms of its altitude, and the sun can be unrelenting.
It should be noted that the drought has been particularly hard on the Mono Basin. The level of Mono Lake has fallen to lows not seen in 15 years or more, due to sharply reduced flows in its tributary streams. As early as the first week in July this year, water temperatures in lower Rush Creek were in the 70-degree range, which dictates not fishing it until autumn to avoid stressing the resident fish. Check for local emergency drought-related closures on all Sierra streams on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Web site, https://www.wildlife.ca.gov.
The Primary Streams
Starting at the south end of the Mono Basin, there are a number of locations where trout streams are easily accessed. I have previously focused on the June Lake area (see “The June Lakes Loop” in the March/April 2013 California Fly Fisher), and Rush Creek (see “Rush Creek: A Stream Restored,” in the January/February 2011 California Fly Fisher), so I will give those areas less attention here.
There are five principal tributaries to Mono Lake, and each of them supports populations of trout. Rush Creek is the largest of these and drains the lakes of the June Lake Loop before flowing out of Grant Lake, then passing under Highway 395 and down into Mono. There is a sense in which Rush Creek is two different streams. The section between Grant Lake upstream to Silver Lake is heavily fished and regularly stocked. It is also located right next to the road, and there are many turnouts. Rush Creek is a heavily managed stream, and the flows do not coincide with your intuitive sense of the season. Water is often low in the early part of the year and then quite high in October; so it is not easy to plan a trip with confidence in what you might find. You can get real-time flow figures by going to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power aqueduct Web site at wp.com/Aqueduct/realtime/realtimeindex.htm. The upper part of Rush Creek is fast water connecting some large and deep pools. There are days when fishing on the creek is red hot and others when it is a complete mystery. It is an attractive stream and enjoyable to wade wet when the water levels permit. At these times, it is a real pleasure for the dry-fly caster.
Below Grant Lake, the stream is much smaller and is managed according to water agreements designed to restore this section, which had been dewatered by diversions to Los Angeles. There is now a lot of vegetation along this stream — a good thing for the creek, but which makes access to fishable water difficult. The trout in this section are wilder and more challenging, but there is an innate sense of excitement to be found in fishing a stream that has risen from the dead. Air temperatures can be very warm downstream from the highway, so you definitely need to carry water, use sunscreen, and wear a hat. That same heat has been creating some very warm water in lower Rush Creek during the drought, so it needs time off after the early morning and shouldn’t be fished at all on hot days during the remainder of this season.
Before entering Mono Lake, Rush Creek is augmented by water from Walker and Parker Creeks. Both of these small streams rise high on the Sierra crest, spilling out of lakes that are reached by manageable hikes from the northern end of the June Lake Loop Road. Parker Lake sits in a picturesque bowl at 8,350 feet. It is reached by a two-mile walk from a trailhead located at the end of a dirt road that takes off from the June Lake Loop’s northern end just east of Grant Lake. The hike is initially a climb, but soon levels off to an easy stroll through sagebrush country. As you near the lake, the surroundings give way to pine and aspen forest, and Parker Creek appears to your right. The lake is small, with a fairly open shoreline. Many people bring float tubes up the trail. The area near the outlet is shallow, as are some spots on the south shore. Early and late in the day are the most productive times. Parker Creek alternates between meadow glides and steeper eastern Sierra descents. Like the lake, it is the home of a healthy population of brook trout. The fish in the creek are some of the spookiest I have ever encountered, especially near the lake outlet. Lower Parker Creek, reached by taking a right turn off the road to the lake trailhead about half a mile from the highway, offers brushy bushwhacking for a shot at small pools and pocket water.
Walker Lake is reached by taking the same right turn from the Parker Lake Road. Follow the road past the small pond that is an LADWP intake and continue on for about a third of a mile until making a turn onto Sawmill Canyon Road. This is a Forest Service road and should be marked for Walker Lake. Continue on Sawmill Canyon Road for almost three miles until it ends at the Walker Lake trailhead. The trailhead is high on a ridge above the lake. Down below, you can see a dirt road that leads right up to the lake and wonder why you did not take that road. The reason is that the road is private and locked off. The hike down to the lake is about half a mile and not a problem until you return to the car. This is another lake into which people carry float tubes, which let them fish the entire lake. It holds brook, brown, and rainbow trout, with some of the browns reaching surprisingly large size.
Parker and Walker Creeks are similar streams. Both are small and clear, with really shy trout. There are stretches of fast water and pockets that alternate with slower stretches in small meadow areas. They are lined with willows, which sometimes extend up to 20 feet or more from the actual stream, and there are places of unexpected depth. By and large, you are fishing for small, wildly colored brookies, along with some browns and rainbows.
If you venture onto either creek, keep an eye out for aspen glyphs — carvings on aspen trunks made by sheepherders as many as 100 years ago. The aspen groves were used as message boards, and there are phrases in Euskara, the Basque language, and many drawings. Of course, there are also a good many more modern memorials to ponder, as well.
Tioga Pass
Moving up to the Tioga Pass area, Ellery Lake is found nine miles east of the Highway 395–Tioga Pass junction. The lake lies at 9,477 feet and is backed up to the steep face of Mt. Dana. Anglers can look up at the sheer crags and imagine the ice climbers and skiers who frequent the steep chutes during the winters. The lake is right next to the road, so it is heavily used. Still, Ellery gives up some large fish and is a fairly steady producer of brook trout, browns, and rainbows. There are a number of small coves, which are reliable places to find early-season trout. These areas also produce fish through the summer, early in the morning or just before nightfall. Another good early-season bet is the Lee Vining Creek inlet area. Later in the season, the lake is best fished by float tubers, who can cover the deeper areas. There is no boat launch, but some people are able to get small rowboats onto the lake.
Lee Vining Creek is the water source for Ellery Lake. There are two sections of the creek that deserve attention. Above Ellery Lake, the South Fork of Lee Vining Creek rises on the eastern side of the Sierra Crest and flows through meadows until reaching Tioga Lake. This section of the creek offers dry-fly fishing for small fish in a beautiful setting. Below Tioga Lake, the creek is joined by Saddlebag Creek. The outlet to Saddlebag Creek flows through a wide valley below Mount Conness. Both forks offer a profusion of wildflowers as an accompaniment to their fishing. Early in the year, unassuming little Saddlebag Creek can provide some decent fishing for small brook and rainbow trout. Its flow greatly declines over the summer, and a combination of high water temperatures, low flows, and the extreme wariness of the trout makes it less attractive as the season unfolds. Below Ellery, the stream crashes down a series of falls until it levels out at the head of a valley at the bottom of Lee Vining Canyon. Here it becomes a beautiful meadow creek that cries out to be fished. Unfortunately, its attractiveness made it seem the ideal place to create a series of campgrounds, which hug the banks at the start and end of the meadow. Combine this with its proximity to the Tioga Pass Road, and it means that it is subject to high angling pressure. The stream here is a pretty place to fish, but you will not be alone, and for me at least, the results are rather inconsistent.
The Northern Basin
North of Lee Vining, Lundy Lake is reached by taking a lateral road west from Highway 395 seven miles from town. Follow Mill Creek for five miles until you reach the dam at the bottom of the lake. Farther up, at the inlet to the lake, Lundy Resort provides cabins, camping, and RV sites, a boat launch, and food and groceries. Lundy is a narrow lake formed by the damming of Mill Creek. The lake is a rainbow and brown trout fishery with the browns known to reach serious proportions. Although the extensive shoreline provides lots of spots for access, the larger fish are usually taken by getting out onto the lake in either a boat or float tube. Lundy’s trout go deep in the summer months, so the fly fisher probably would want to visit in May or from late September into October. If this time frame doesn’t work, try to fish the shallows early and late in the day in the mid-season months.
Mill Creek is a small stream that flows down Lundy Canyon, through Lundy Lake and Mono Lake. Below the lake, it is heavily vegetated by willows, cottonwoods, and pines. It looks difficult to fish, and it is. The payoff from this is that it causes many people to walk away from the creek, except at the most obvious points of access. This stretch of water is fast-moving, with riffles connecting small plunge pools and pockets. If you have the patience and are willing to spend the whole time bushwhacking, you might be rewarded by rainbow action on dry flies. Follow the normal rules for this kind of fishing — low and slow (the vegetation will assure the latter), using short lines and controlled downstream drifts. There is no reward here for trying to demonstrate how far you can cast.
Upstream from the dam, the stream flows through a narrow canyon that once was the home of the Lundy Mine and its workers. It is difficult to picture where a town of ten thousand people could be located here. On the other hand, it is easy to picture winter avalanches on the steep rock walls, which spelled the doom of the Lundy Mine and its community. In the canyon, Mill Creek flows through an ever-changing and expanding series of beaver ponds. This is a beautiful place, and it attracts a dazzling array of migrating songbirds in May and June. Fishing these ponds is challenging. They are choked by willows and connected by myriad hard-to-see channels, and the whole floor of the valley seems to be made up of boot-sucking muck. Still, I try to visit here once a year and slog through a few hours, seeking the brilliantly colored brook trout that inhabit the ponds and connecting waterways. Again, this is dry-fly land, using the same patterns that work down below. Be prepared to encounter a lot of fly-eating branches and at least a couple of moments when you fail to understand why you are doing this in the first place. A stop at the Lundy Lake store afterward can help put that in perspective.
Backcountry Options
With its easy access to Tuolumne Meadows, Lee Vining is the jump-off point for several classic Sierra backcountry trips. The Pacific Crest Trail crosses Highway 120 at the meadows and leads to single-day and multiday adventures in either direction, north or south.
If you are looking for a day hike, Tuolumne Meadows is the perfect access point for the magic of the Tuolumne River. Hiking south, the angler can fish upstream on either the Lyell Fork or the Dana Fork of the river. The Dana Fork is the smaller of the two tributaries and can also be reached from several access points along the Tioga Pass Road east of Tuolumne Meadows. This little gem rises in the meadows at the base of its namesake peak and runs through miles of pools and pocket water before joining the Lyell Fork just below the Tioga Pass Road bridge in Tuolumne Meadows. Although there are times when you are fishing just below the roadway and are never more than half a mile’s walk away from the traffic, there is still a strong sense of wilderness along this river. It is far more heavily fished right next to the road, but even in those stretches, I have had afternoons with the river all to myself.
The Lyell Fork is much larger, and because it is paralleled by the Pacific Crest Trail, there are a lot of hikers making their way along it. Fortunately, not a lot of those people fish, and those who do are largely destination anglers who are not going to stop and wet a line until they reach the end of their itinerary for the day.
I like to walk down below the point where Ireland Creek enters the river from the right and then work either upstream or downstream. If you fish thoroughly, you can spend a couple of hours on this river without covering more than a quarter to half a mile of its inviting water.
The Tuolumne flows below the Tioga Pass Road bridge through the magnificent meadow and heads downstream toward the Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp, some five and a half miles from the parking area. Once it makes its way through the meadow, the river begins a steep descent toward the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River. Along the way, it flows through a series of large, deep pools separated by spectacular drops, including Waterwheel, California, Tuolumne, and LeConte Falls. The river is heavily fished in the meadow by Tioga Pass Road, with pressure dropping off in direct proportion to the distance from the cars.
If you are looking for an extended trip, Tuolumne Meadows is a great jumping-off point. (See “Two Trips for Yosemite Wilderness Trout” in the July/August 2006 California Fly Fisher.) If you are not looking for the full backpacking experience, think about a visit to one or more of the High Sierra Camps. Glen Aulin, to the north, and Vogelsang, to the south, are a one-day walk. These camps provide sleeping tents and meals, allowing you to make an extended backcountry trip without having to carry much more than clothes and fishing gear. The camps are pricey, and they fill up quickly as soon as reservations open early in the year, but they enable people to enjoy a quality experience without having to do as much work. Check out the Yosemite National Park Web site at http://www.yosemitepark.com/high-sierra-camps.aspx for information on the camps and to learn when the window to make reservations will open. The High Sierra Camps situated near trout water make excellent base camps for an extended stay, allowing relaxed and detailed exploration of the fishing nearby. You can also string multiple camps together. A four-day walking trip can be made to circle through Vogelsang, Merced Lake, and Sunrise Camps and back to Tuolumne Meadows.
So who was Lee Vining anyway? Lee Vining came to the eastern Sierra in 1852 to search for gold. Later, the miner built a sawmill on a creek upstream from Mono Lake and struck it rich by selling lumber to the booming communities in Aurora and Bodie. He met his end as a result of a shooting that occurred at the Exchange Saloon in Aurora, Nevada.
If You Go…
Lee Vining sits at the junction of Highways 395 and 120, east of Yosemite National Park. The town is about 140 miles south of Reno and 325 miles north of Los Angeles. There are several motels along the main street. There are also the iconic eateries of the Whoa Nellie Deli at the Mobil station on Highway 120, along with Mono Cones, Bodie Mike’s, and Nicely’s. In addition, the community boasts several specialty coffeehouses. An RV park is located at the north end of town. Some limited grocery needs can be met at the Mono Market. There are not really any better grocery resources in June Lakes, so plan ahead, or make the trip to Mammoth. Contact the Lee Vining Chamber of Commerce at www.leevining.com for further information. There are numerous campgrounds in the area. They are concentrated on the Lundy Lake Road, Tioga Pass Road, and June Lake Loop. Information can be obtained from the Inyo National Forest, (760) 873-2400, http://www.fs.usda.gov/inyo.
The nearest fly shops are in Mammoth Lakes. If you wish to access the backcountry via horseback, Frontier Pack Train, https://sites.google.com/site/frontierpacktraindotcom, (760) 648-7701, offers a variety of options in Yosemite and the Ansel Adams Wilderness.
Area attractions include the Mono Basin Historical Society Museum and Upside-Down House, located in the park just east of Highway 395, and the Mono Basin Visitor Center and Mono Lake Committee Visitor Center and Store. Bodie State Park and the Bodie Hills are an easy drive north of Lee Vining and well worth a visit, as is Mono Lake itself. Take a walk at either the county park to the north or the South Tufa Area to the south of town, or both. Check with the Mono Lake Committee about activities such as the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua, held in June, birding walks, and canoe tours of Mono Lake. Bring your camera in the fall, when the basin erupts in the oranges and golds of the aspen groves.
— Peter Pumphrey
