need suggestions for fishing in Yosemite

In that area The Tuolumne river at Tuolomne meadows 8-10 miles west of Tioga pass, is supposed to be great down river for about 5 miles (PCT, towards Glen Aulin) from hy 120, and up river (Lyell valley, JMT, PCT) for up to 9 miles. Actually I'm guessing it might be pretty nice all the way donw into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, where you may find bigger (and different species of Trout). That last I don't have any verification on, but is out of your 6 mile specs.

According to "Trout fishing the John Muir Trail" (Steve Beck) there are a lot of fish, but most are about 12 inches. There are records of people occasionally taking an 8-10 lb monster out of there, but that is very rare. It is after all somewhat high up in the mountains. He recommends using terrestrial pasterns, especially black ants.

It also doesn;t hurt that that area and river are pretty gorgeous. Anyway, I'm planning to try out some tenkara next time I backpack there.

Upper Lyell Canyon… brook trout are plentiful and two weeks ago they were quite easy to catch. If fishing for food, their small size is offset by the special limit of 10 brook trout.

About two miles up from the trail cutoff to Vogelsang, I met a man who possessed a quite impressive brown trout. My string of puny brook trout were a sad comparison, and as late as the hour was, I didn't hold much hope of pulling in my own browns. I scooted past and started working the river he had just fished. Five minutes later I had caught two brown trout, 9 and 11 inches long respectively!

The fishing was so good that one morning I confidently proclaimed to my daughter that we would be having trout for dinner, and I did not have to eat my words, just the trout.

Gear and technique: tenkara rod, 5x tipit and size 12 and 14 black ants tied on a wet fly hook. I tried a few nymphs and dry flies, but kept coming back to the black ant. The largest fish were caught by sneaking to within ten or fifteen feet of a grassy bank with an undercut, and flicking the fly just over the edge of the bank. Stealth was important for the big fish, but not so much for the brook trout in the upper canyon.

Backpacking while continuously fishing miles of meandering river with ample backcasting room and no road nearby was really fun. As long as I stayed off the trail I felt as if I had the canyon to myself.