Sierra Fly Fisher

Guided days concentrate on the Merced Gorge, described on the outfitter’s own trip page as roughly eight miles long and paralleled by Highway 140 with very few turnouts, so getting down to the water is the hard part: huge boulders and log jams litter the river bottom. Through this reach the character shifts from long, slow-moving pools into pocket water and deep runs. Hatch notes given for the water include small Blue-Winged Olives on warm days in late January and February, the first Golden Stoneflies appearing in February, a Pale Morning Dun hatch running from June through early October, plus yellow sallies and caddis. Wet-wading comes into its own once snowmelt drops out. Rainbows outnumber browns about three to one. Full days are $600 for one or two anglers, additional rods $150; a four-hour half day is $475 for one, $75 per extra angler, equipment supplied.

Beyond the Merced, the outfitter’s own trip pages sell guided days on Yosemite’s upper Tuolumne and on the San Joaquin. On the Tuolumne the water described is the meadow reach at about 8,600 feet, where rainbows, brook trout and browns of around fourteen inches take dry flies and a pale morning dun hatch runs from June into early October alongside yellow sallies and several caddis; the Dana Fork is followed by Highway 120 from Tioga Pass down to its junction with the Lyell Fork, and the Lyell is reached on foot from the John Muir Trail. On the San Joaquin the pages name the eight-mile tailwater below Mammoth Pool, a three-mile hike down into the North Fork canyon for wild rainbows and brook trout, and the South Fork above and below Florence and Edison lakes. Barbless artificials only inside the national park. (Tuolumne River and San Joaquin River added 2026-09-21 from sierraflyfisher.com.)