Fly Fishing

Scuds are a must in a fly fisherman's arsenal. Trout pack on a lot of weight just eating scuds. In some watersheds, scuds make up 20% of a fishes diet. They are active all year around and an important part of the food chain.

Scuds are small shrimp-like crustaceans and vary in colorations. They flatten laterally and have many appendages. There are a lot of sub species and come in a variety of colors and hues. Most are gray olive and tan colors. When they die they turn pinkish to orange.

Scuds will swim in just about any position: upside down, right side up, backwards, forwards, sideways. They'll dart and can move quick when startled.

Scud patterns can be presented using a floating, neutral color fly line with a 10 to 12-inch 4X leader. Longer leaders work well in deeper water. Smaller 9-inch or so leaders in 2-3 foot water. 16-inch leaders for 8 to 10 foot water.

The bead belly and bead head are popular fly varieties and scuds of various colors are used. When the water is off-colored you can use a brightly colored highly visible fly, darker flies on light colored bottoms for contrast. A well straitened leader in combination with a leader agent that breaks the surface film and sinks both leaders and unweighted flies is very handy when fishing any kind of wet flies.

When you cast your fly, observe its sink rate that way you'll be able to judge your flies performance on longer casts and retrieval rates.

You can leave let the fly sink to the strike-zone for a period of time , use a couple of hand twists, a short burst for 3-5 feet, a few 2-5-inch short twitches, a short rest and repeat the life-like sequence.

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