Tioga Lake

Tioga Lake sits right on Highway 120 at about 9,650 feet, a mile below the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite. It began as a natural lake, and Southern California Edison raised it with a rockfill dam around 1928, so it now covers about 73 acres and holds about 1,250 acre-feet. It is a put-and-take lake with a wild side. CDFW planted catchable rainbows four times in 2026, from mid June to mid August, and those fish make up most of the catch. Wild brook trout work the shoreline and the inflow, a few browns live here too, and an occasional golden turns up, likely washed down from the lakes above. Most fish run 9 to 12 inches, and a 14-inch brown is a good day.

This is small, clear, cold water, and it fishes best in the first few weeks after ice-out, usually late May to mid June. Planters and brookies cruise the shallows then, and a float tube covers the whole lake in a morning. Kick the northeast shore by the dam and outlet, and the shallow south end where meadow water comes in. Hang a chironomid, Zebra Midge or small beadhead in 16 to 18 under an indicator 6 to 12 feet down, or strip a size 10 olive or black Woolly Bugger slowly on an intermediate line. On calm July and August evenings, midges and caddis bring fish up to a Parachute Adams, Griffith's Gnat or Elk Hair Caddis in 16 to 18. Wind comes over the pass most afternoons and shuts down the surface bite, so fish early and late.

The road and the ice set the season. Highway 120 over the pass usually opens in late May or June and closes with the first big storm in November. It opened May 15 in 2026 and not until July 22 in 2023. Edison draws the lake down over winter to catch spring runoff, so the shoreline sits low early in the season. There is no level gauge, and the nearest fly shops are in Mammoth Lakes and Bridgeport, about 50 minutes away, so bring what you need. The lake is easy to reach and gets plenty of roadside traffic in summer. If it is crowded or blown out, Ellery Lake is a mile downhill and Saddlebag Lake is 2.5 miles up a dirt road.