Twenty Lakes Basin (Saddlebag Lake)
Tioga Pass area (above Lee Vining) · near Lee Vining · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- July–September (Tioga Pass open)
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required. Twenty Lakes Basin sits above Saddlebag Lake (10,000 ft) near Tioga Pass — reached by trail (or a water-taxi across Saddlebag) into a basin dotted with trout-filled lakes. Accessible only when Tioga Pass is open (roughly late spring–fall). Hoover Wilderness; permit for overnights.
What is here
- Features
- Trout-filled basin above 10,000 ft · Water-taxi shortcut across Saddlebag · Near Tioga Pass & Yosemite · Brookies & goldens
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Fishing detail
- Water type
- high-sierra
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Fly · Casting · Bait
- Boat
- shore
- Target species
- Brook trout (abundant) · Rainbow trout · Golden trout · Cutthroat (some lakes)
- Intl tip
- License required (permit for overnights). A trout-filled basin above Saddlebag Lake (10,000 ft) near Tioga Pass — take the summer water-taxi across Saddlebag to shortcut the walk. Abundant brookies plus goldens. Only accessible when Tioga Pass is open (≈July–fall). Combine with Yosemite's high country and Mono Lake. Easy, beautiful high-country fishing.
The guide
The Twenty Lakes Basin, tucked above Saddlebag Lake near Tioga Pass at the eastern edge of Yosemite, is one of the Sierra's mos…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Twenty Lakes Basin (Saddlebag Lake) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.966, -119.272