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Thread: AR Halfpounder Flies

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Granite Bay, CA
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    505

    Default AR Halfpounder Flies

    I've gotten back into fly-tying after a 30-year hiatus. In the process I'm re-evaluating the flies I use for halfpounders on the American. In past years I did well on green psycho princes and Fox's poopahs, but not so far this year. I've done better drifting standard beadhead princes and swinging an olive conehead wooly bugger with catcus chenille and rubber legs (I forget the name of the pattern). Olives and greens seem to be the best colors for flies for halfpounders for me (I'd call peacock herl a shade of green). I haven't fished evenings, but if I did I'd swing a Fox's Poopah. I've gone down around Sailor Bar just to check out the salmon in the evenings and seen the pupa swimming in the surface film. It's so cool to scoop them up and watch them emerge from their shucks.

    Back in 2012 Bill K posted these popular patterns (and I know he once posted that the fish's preferences changes as we go through September and the fish acclimate to the river and its caddis hatches):
    Renegade
    Brindle Bug
    Green/olive Caddis Pupa
    Any #10/12 trout nymph
    Red Squirrel nymph
    Any small Steelhead fly
    Any soft hackle fly
    Wooley Bugger


    Others posted with the Dirty Bird/Bastard, Wooly Bugger, Olive Poopah, green-bodied soft hackle.

    I have a copy of Dennis Lee's steelhead book and looked at all the halfpounder patterns in there last night. I might add a few flies based on that. Lots of orange, red and pink in the patterns (but most seem to have originated on the Klamath, Rogue and Trinity).

    When the water is warmer my understanding is that swinging can be more effective since the fish's metabolism is higher. So maybe now is the time to swing one group of flies, then by late October focus on drifting?

    Thanks for any thoughts.
    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    1,067

    Default

    (I forget the name of the pattern).
    Shafer's 3D bug?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
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    Default

    I think when the water gets below 50 degrees you can go to a sink-tip or indicator system?

    Attractor patterns for Half-pounds might be #8/10.

    After they have been in the river for a while they can key in on the bugs.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    The OV
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    According to Bill McMillan (and a few others that are more fishy than me) steelhead will be very receptive to flies on the surface down to 48-50 degrees. Swinging subsurface, I don’t think there is a lower limit, besides the one where your feet go numb in the first few minutes.

    The American, then, should be a decent surface fishery. I just haven’t found it to be, and I’ve put in a lot of surface hours over the last few years. Ive done well on soft hackles in the film, mainly on 1/2 pounder / blue backs but also on winter run fish. But unless there is an actual hatch coming off, very little action on the surface. Maybe 1-2 fish per season to a waker or riffle hitched muddler. Maybe that’s reflective of the number of fish in the American vs rivers like the Trinity, Klamath, Rogue, etc where I’ve found much better surface grabs.

    So anyway, yeah, soft hackles in the film.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Norcal
    Posts
    909

    Default

    Good thread. When I go to the American i fish primarily 3 flies.
    BH woolie bugger, dirty bird or a soft hackle. One woolie bugger
    that worked well for me was olive color with a little red marabou
    under the olive marabou tail.

    EricO

  6. #6
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    Sep 2010
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    Granite Bay, CA
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    The wooly bugger style fly I've had success with this year doesn't look like a shafer 3D bug from what I saw online. I'm attaching a picture. It has a lot going on and has a ton of life in the water: marabou, flashy chenille, rubber legs, 2 styles of guinea feathers (one plain, the other dyed yellow), and a few strands of flashabou. Maybe it's more of a sculpin pattern, but with guinea feathers instead of deer hair.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    orangevale ca.
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    Here is a wooly bugger that I been using.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8
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    Jan 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smitty Fish View Post
    Here is a wooly bugger that I been using.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	77E29C8B-687C-47AE-9990-C615C0C4C29B.jpg 
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ID:	14971
    Looks like a Killer...........what size?
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  9. #9
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    Jan 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troutsource View Post
    The wooly bugger style fly I've had success with this year doesn't look like a shafer 3D bug from what I saw online. I'm attaching a picture. It has a lot going on and has a ton of life in the water: marabou, flashy chenille, rubber legs, 2 styles of guinea feathers (one plain, the other dyed yellow), and a few strands of flashabou. Maybe it's more of a sculpin pattern, but with guinea feathers instead of deer hair.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_3670.jpg 
Views:	331 
Size:	901.7 KB 
ID:	14970
    Extremely buggy looking......what size hook?
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    orangevale ca.
    Posts
    319

    Default

    Bill that’s about a size 6.

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