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[halcyonguitars]

Greetings,

A question for the fly anglers here. I'm wondering about those pink flies I see you tossing. Do they sit on top of the water, or do they sink in the water column, and if so how deep?

Thanks...

[colin6101]

Usually you try to fish the top third of the water column or so when fishing pink flies. It can be necessary to get it right in front of their noses at times but you are better off having the fresher, more aggressive fish swim up to your fly. This is assuming you are fishing water with enough visibility however.

[DanJohn]

Im fishing mine in top 3 feet of water. As Colin said, if the visibility is there, you want the fresher fish to attack. So I want the ones that are moving to chase down my fly. As well, I'm tying them to ride hook point on top so that I don't snag fish.

[halcyonguitars]

Thanks,

Not up to tying yet. I wonder what the store bought ones will be...

[redder]

As well, I'm tying them to ride hook point on top so that I don't snag fish.

Skills, where to watch this action.

[colin6101]

Just use bead chain eyes and put them on top of the shank and the hook will ride point up. Look up any clouser minnow pattern and you will get the idea.

[DanJohn]

Just use bead chain eyes and put them on top of the shank and the hook will ride point up. Look up any clouser minnow pattern and you will get the idea.

Exactly this. The trick is getting enough weight to flip the fly, but not too much to sink it right down. I have no idea here, as I just tie and hope for the best. Just like I cast!

[fossil]

I always use sink tip and light flies for pink in both Furry creek and Fraser River, it's 6 ips rate. Floating line+long leader+heavy flies only been used in Vedder some where like Canal.

[halcyonguitars]

Thanks folks!

[ajransom]

I like unweighted flies... I find bead chain eyes with hook riding up, still ends up getting a bit deep and snagging fish.

[Renegade]

On the Squamish this year I used a type 3 sink tip and unweighted flies, or a floating line with a beaded (or dumbbell or bead chain) fly.  Best flies were small (size 8 hookl) sparse and simple in fluorescent/UV Pink or chartreuse (which seemed to work better most of the time), even in almost opaque water.  I try to fish somewhat faster water there with swinging and stripping.  Worked really well this year, including yesterday (Sept. 5)t, when there were fresh, aggressive fish coming in, still with lice.

[bigsnag]

For Pinks I don't bother tying "pink type" flies. I just use my scrap ties and coho flies. Pinks will bite almost any jig,fly or wool tie if its in their face. My favourite fly take is at the end of the swing where you just let the fly line hang in the water and wait for a pink to grab the fly as it flutters in the current. Its like a fishing mulligan when you don't get a take on the swing but get one on the hang down.

[fishseeker]

Like others here, I used an unweighted fly with a sink tip leader attached to my floating line and that has worked a treat both on rivers and in tidal waters.   

Also, tried using a slightly weighted fly on a floating setup and I was surprised at the amount of times I snagged bottom.  My sink tip with unweighted fly never snagged bottom and I rarely foul hooked any fish that way either - it seemed to get the depth exactly right.

This year I thought I would tie my own.  Just went out and bought a cheap vice for 20 bucks and tied some green or pink glossy chenille to streamer hooks.  I also tried some fancier combos with a bit of bucktail or some flash tied in - fancy made no difference.  I found a few wraps of chenille around the hook shank very effective - green actually worked quite a bit better in that dirty squamish water I thought. In the tidal I have been doing well with pink but I am sure the green would work equally well.

[halcyonguitars]

I saw a guy pull out three pink in 20 minutes on green...

[DanJohn]

I saw a guy pull out three pink in 20 minutes on green...

On the Fraser, that's Great. Anywhere else and that's not very productive.