As many of you know, I’m a fly fishing fanatic. When I was planning my big PCT adventure, I knew that I was going to have to trout fish the section of the PCT that traverses the High Sierras. I had been told that there were countless alpine lakes holding trout in this area as well wonderful trout streams.

In a business where every ounce counts, I didn’t want to have to take a full fly rod and reel with me through a 300 mile section in the Sierras. That would have been way too much added weight. So I opted for a type of fly fishing rod that is gaining more popularity in the U.S. – especially among backpackers – a Tenkara rod.

Tenkara rods have their origin in Japan and now several companies are producing and distributing these lightweight rods in the U.S. I bought the “Sato” from Tenkara USA, and at just around 3.5 ounces, it was perfect for my journey through the Sierras. It also can be fished at three different lengths ranging from 10’ 8” to 12’ 9” which made it good for both the small streams I encountered, as well as the large lakes I also had the opportunity to fish.

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I didn’t initially begin hiking with the rod, but rather sent it to myself at Kennedy Meadows where most of the real fishing on the PCT begins. I was so excited to start fishing with it that I took an extra zero day at KM so I could spend one entire morning fishing the South Fork of the Kern River. This river is known for its golden trout, which also happen to be California’s state fish. Apparently goldens are related to rainbow trout and biologists think they evolved from rainbows that repopulated the Sierras after the last ice age 10,000 years ago.

I didn’t catch any goldens on this day but did catch a few rainbows and browns. I just fished for the morning because I really needed to take care of my resupply in the afternoon since I was heading out into the Sierras the next morning.

In general, I fished the lakes and streams in the Sierras whenever I walked past them and saw trout swimming around…or when a section of water looked nice and “fishy!” It takes very little time to set up a Tenkara rod so I could easily stop, get out the rod, extend it, and in a minute or two be fishing.

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The trout in the Sierras aren’t usually too picky when it comes to their meals. Goldens in particular are quite aggressive in going after surface flies. I found that the brook trout in streams were sometimes a bit more cautious with their strikes and it was challenging to set the hook on them. Rainbows in the lakes were usually quite aggressive and slammed my surface flies like they were great white sharks breaching out of the water going after seals or penguins. In fact, since it was so exciting, and I could usually get top water action, I fished exclusively with dry flies in the High Sierras.

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Fly selection was pretty easy. The fish weren’t too picky – they were hungry! They have a short growing season and so they aren’t going to pass up a potential meal. I often had three inch dinks trying to hit my large dry flies – usually they couldn’t even get their mouths around the fly. The fly patterns of choice for me: elk hair caddis, mosquitoes, Griffith gnats, grasshoppers and parachute Adams. A fly from that selection usually did the trick.

My fly fishing brought me into a small group that ended up traversing the entire Sierras to South Lake Tahoe. I had been fishing Rae Lakes when I got to chatting with two other thru hikers; Black Market and Money. They saw me pulling out a bunch of brookies from the shore and were excited to try the Tenkara rod for themselves. I got a lot of satisfaction out of spending the rest of that morning showing them how to cast the rod and catch fish on the top water with it. They were hooked! I joined their band and we all fished together through the Sierras. In fact, Money went and bought himself a Tenkara rod at a fly shop in Mammoth because he so liked the fishing we had been doing as we hiked.

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The fish generally weren’t monsters. The goldens and most of the brookies were in the eight to eleven inch range. The bigger fish were generally those in the alpine lakes. We caught some 12-14 inch rainbows at Smedberg, Wilma and Dorothy Lakes in Yosemite NP.

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And we caught our largest goldens (it’s possible they were golden/rainbow hybrids) at lower Sallie Keyes Lake near Selden Pass.

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As you can imagine, the fishing in the High Sierras was incredible and I took full advantage of it. Often times I would stop along side the stream and start fishing as the rest of the group continued. They knew they would see me in an hour or so after I had gotten my fix. I am planning to keep the rod with me for Northern California as well as Oregon and Washington. I’ll update you on the PCT fishing in those sections in the future.

High Sierras Waters Fished:

• S. Fork of Kern River (Kennedy Meadows) – browns, rainbows
• S. Fork of Kern River (Monache Meadow) – rainbow/golden hybrids
• Rock Creek – goldens
• Whitney Creek – goldens
• Bubbs Creek – goldens
• Kearsarge Lakes – brookies
• Rae Lakes – brookies, rainbows
• Woods Creek – brookies, rainbows
• Lake Marjorie – brookies
• Palisade Lake – rainbows
• Palisade Creek – goldens
• M. Fork of Kings River – goldens
• Evolution Creek – goldens
• S. Fork San Joaquin River – goldens
• Sallie Keyes Lakes – goldens
• Bear Creek – goldens
• Fish Creek – brookies
• Purple Lake – rainbows
• M. Fork San Joaquin River – rainbows, browns
• Shadow Lake – rainbows
• Lyell Fork – brookies, browns
• Tuolumne River – brookies, browns, rainbows
• Return Creek – rainbows
• Spiller Creek – rainbows
• Matterhorn Creek – brookies
• Smedberg Lake – rainbows
• Wilma Lake – rainbows
• Falls Creek – rainbows, brookies
• Dorothy Lake – rainbows
• Cascade Creek – rainbows