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Equipment and Flies
- Three, four, and five-weight fly rods are ideal for fishing Antlope Creek Ranch
- Fly fishermen should have a few 9' or 10' leaders
tapered to 4x, and bring tippet spools of 4x, 5x, and 6x diameter.
- While many mid-summer fishermen
wade wet in sneakers, sandals, or wading boots, hip waders
are perfect for the stream or for fishing from shore on the
lakes. Chest waders are needed if you plan on float tubing the
lower lake. You'll be asked not to wade in the edges of the lakes as the drop-offs are steep. You may have to get your feet wet when
landing one of the larger fish, but otherwise please try to avoid wading.
Also keep your wading to a minimum when fishing the stream. You
may cross when necessary, but please avoid wading up and down
stream. Also, try to cross where there are shallow gravel runs
to avoid stirring up too much silt, disturbing the insect life,
and alerting fish downstream to your presence.
- For the lakes, bring both
floating and sinking or sink-tip lines (up to type III). You'll
need long leaders tapered to 5x or 6x for the dry activity, and
a little shorter leader tapered to 3x to 4x for wet flies and streamers.
Expect a lot of action using emerging insects just underneath
the surface. Many of our regulars fish some type of dry or emerger
with a dropper, short or long, and a nymph or midge pupa attached.
Expect midge activity to start in early spring and continue all
year. Mayflies start in late spring and early summer. Terrestrials
are effective most of the season, especially after early spring.
Leeches, damsels & dragonflies patterns seem to work best
from late spring on. A crystal bugger or leech with a nymph trailer
can be deadly. You must experiment with various retrieves at different
depths until you strike gold! Many lake fishermen have great success
fishing nymphs at various depths underneath an indicator. Just
let them sit there for a bit, patience is a virtue at this point,
and then pull it slowly back for another cast. Water boatmen, especially from early summer on, are a staple on the lakes, especially the lower lake.
- For the stream, shorter
leaders tapered to 4x or 5x are appropriate. Deer
hair flies with short droppers or no droppers will produce. Nymphs
of various sizes and colors should be in your box. Yellow Humpies,
Stimulators & Elk Hair Caddis are high on our list for dries,
but there are a number of other popular patterns, such as Parachute
Adams, that will work well. Hanging a nymph underneath these high
floaters can sometimes turn the trick. Black AP’s, PT’s,
Prince Nymphs & Golden Stones are some of the nymph patterns we
usually tie on first. Small nymph patterns will begin to be the best
choice in late summer & fall. Almost any bead head nymph can
work in the creek at various times.
- Hoppers are a must have middle to late summer.
FLIES
STREAMERS
Beaded Micro Buggers, (blk/olive/brn), # 12
Conehead Mini Leech #10
Halebopp Leech #8
TERRESTRIALS
Parachute Ant, #16-20
Para Foam Ant, #14
Chernobyl Ant, #8-12
TFS Foam Beetles, #14-16
TFS Damsel, (olive),#14
Stillwater Nymph,#14
Zack Attack Damsel,#14
Idylwilde Hopper,#8 & 12
Barr’s Dropper Hopper, #8 & 12
Hopper Grande, (tan),#12
Fox’s Boatman,#12-14
Rainy’s Water Boatman, #12
DRIES
Callibaetis Cripple,#16
Parachute Adams,#16-20
CDC Biot Spinners (Callibaetis) #16
Quigley’s Sparkle Stacker (Callibaetis) #16
Pop Top Midge Emerger, (grey,blk),#20
Yellow Humpy #14-16
Stimulators (yellow) #12-14
NYMPHS
Zacks Zallibaetis,#14
Poxyback Callibaetis,#16
BH PT Nymphs, #14-20
Copper Micro Mayfly, #16-18
Black AP, #12-16
BH Golden Stone, #10-14
Frostbite Midge Pupa, #16-20
Mercer’s Zebra Midge, #18-20
This is by no means an all
exclusive list of flies. There are many other patterns that
will work as well in many cases. However, this is a list of flies
that represent patterns that any fisherman should have in their
vest. Going to our private ranches or to public water with only three
or four patterns will mean you stand a good chance of not having
the right fly at the right time.
A few points to remember:
Although Antelope Creek Ranch
is private, we still operate under Fish & Game guidelines &
regulations. Fishing licenses are required and must be displayed.
But we've added a few of our own rules and guests
must remember that we require all of the ranch fishing to done fly
fishing only with barbless hooks, and that all fish caught must be released.
Procedures for handling trout
1. Try to bring each fish
to net or hand as quickly as possible. The larger ones
will do their best to interfere with you doing this, but remember,
the longer you play one the greater the chance they will die later.
If you do find yourself in a long battle with one of the bigger
ones, never take it out of the water. Use an airless release only.
2. Use barbless hooks and avoid using the
very large streamer hooks. Fish with size 8 flies or smaller.
3. Please, no hard nylon nets! The
new rubber mesh nets are ideal, as they do not remove the protective coating on the fish.
4. Avoid dragging any fish up on the bank.
Use the airless release at all times. You can either reach
down with a hemostat or hook disengager and remove the fly while
the fish is still under water.
5. When taking pictures of your fish please
get everything ready before lifting the fish up for the shot.
Support the fish with both hands- don’t squeeze-
and keep it over water the whole time. Lastly---your trophy should
not be out of the water for over 5 seconds.
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