Hmm.... I've never been one to put much stock in flag etiquette these days. I guess there was a time when it was pretty important, particulary in military situations. But today, particularly with a recreational boat, I don't think it makes any difference what one does. I know the USCG doesn't care. We will occasionally fly the French flag in place of the US flag on our boat just for fun, and the USCG has passed us on patrol and not given our boat a second look.
Normally we fly the US flag from the peak of the boom (gaff). We fly our club burgee from the jackstaff at the bow. When we enter Canada we fly two courtesy flags on the starboard spreader halyard, the Maple Leaf on top and the older Red Ensign underneath it. That's just because I don't like the design of the Maple Leaf and do like the design of the Red Ensign. It's surprising how many people, when they walk past our boat in a place like the Nanaimo City Harbor, comment approvingly of our flying the "correct" Canadian flag (Red Ensign).
And when we've had guests from Europe on board during a trip into BC, we'll fly the flag of their country below the Canadian flag((s) on the starboard side. For one cruise we had, from the top down, the Maple Leaf, the Red Ensign, the Scottish, and the French flag.
We never fly anything from the port halyard because we have a radar reflector on the port mast stay that interfere's with anything we put on the halyard.
I know there are people who put a lot of stock into flying flags, pennants, and burgees according to the rules. It's important to them, and that's fine. But the reality is that you can do just about anything you want, including flying no flags at all, and from the recreational boat aspect, it's all just fine.
I think the digital age has pretty much rendered flags a thing of the past--- from virtually anywhere on the planet one can find out information about a vessel electronicially if one has the necessary communications gear on board. So I think flags have become little more than a quaint tradition as far as reality is concerned.
So my answer to the original poster is to fly whatever you want wherever you want. If you're into preserving the old rules, follow whatever guidelines are in Chapman's or a similar publication. But if you really llke the look of flying the US flag from the bow, go ahead and do it. You'll get a whole bunch of people telling you it's wrong, but you'll not get anyone actually doing anything about it, assuming you're not running a commercial operation.