Last week, the National Park Service announced changes in fishing regulations throughout Yosemite, notably including opening Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to anglers. Hurrah!
Photo: Phil Akers, MyOutdoorBuddy.com
Superintendent Ray McPadden explained “Visitors can now enjoy fishing throughout the year, including in areas like Hetch Hetchy, with regulations that are easier to understand and more consistent with state guidelines.”
Fishing the reservoir is clearly something Congress expected when it passed the Raker Act, authorizing its construction a century ago. The change is most welcome, coming almost exactly two years after we joined with 24 organizations and businesses to urge the Park Service to allow fishing at Hetch Hetchy. It is always great to work with partners:
Aspen Outdoor Management Services ◊ California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Echo Cooperative ◊ Evergreen Lodge, Rush Creek Lodge & Firefall Ranch ◊ Fly Fisherman Magazine ◊ Friends of the River ◊ Merced Fly Fishers ◊ Nesporado Fly Fishing ◊ Northern California Council, Fly Fishers International Pasadena Casting Club ◊ Restore Hetch Hetchy ◊ Santa Barbara Fly Fishers ◊ Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club ◊ Sierra Nevada Alliance ◊ Sonora Fly Company ◊ Stanislaus Fly Fishers ◊ Tight Line Therapy ◊ Trout Unlimited ◊ Trout Unlimited Central Sierra Chapter ◊ Tuolumne River Trust ◊ Yosemite Fly Fishing ◊ Yosemite Fly Fishing Guides ◊ Yosemite Adventure Guides ◊ Yosemite Outfitters
The official change in regulations is described in the Superintendent’s Compendium.
This previous Compendium language was deleted: Public access is prohibited below the high water mark of Hetch Hetchy reservoir, an elevation of 3796 feet (see the High Water Mark map in the appendix). This includes a prohibition on bathing, swimming within 1 mile of any tributary directly flowing into the reservoir. This restriction is necessary to maintain the high quality of water found in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir as a clean municipal drinking water source free from microbial pathogens and other contaminants.
This language was added to the new Compendium:
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- Fishing from the top of O’Shaughnessy Dam is prohibited.
- Visitors engaged in fishing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir must limit bodily contact with water. Wading, swimming, or other bodily contact with the water (other than using one’s hands to retrieve or release fish) is prohibited.
Many anglers will still prefer stream fishing to reservoir fishing. Others will be drawn to this new opportunity, wondering what fish and what size of fish might be lurking in the water.
If you fish the reservoir, let us know – and send pictures. And please, while fishing Hetch Hetchy and elsewhere, be good stewards: obey the law and do not leave anything behind.
At Restore Hetch Hetchy, we are pleased as punch that fishing is allowed – now all 38 of California’s reservoirs which hold more than 200,000 acre-feet of water allow fishing.
We are far from done advocating for improved access at Hetch Hetchy (as we also advocate for the reservoir’s relocation and the valley’s restoration). Hetch Hetchy is still the only of these large reservoirs that does not allow boating – the reason is not water quality as the Compendium states but management concerns and perhaps San Francisco’s opposition. There is also still the issue of allowing camping at Hetch Hetchy as well as improving trails.
But let’s take a moment to savor progress to date and thank the National Park Service for listening!