Who fishes Scuds?

rudyc

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Here in WI, I fish the Driftless Area pretty often.
When I fish a Scud, it's usually a local favorite called the Patrick Scud.

Anyone else like to fish a Scud?
 

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@rudyc .

Morning. I used to fish scuds all the time ( 30 plus yearas ago ), on a local tailwater, the " Not Straight" River. It used to be full of scuds, which led to nice fish sizes, for such a smaller stream Our favorite pattern was called the " Not Straight River Candybar" , in Orange. Unfortuantely, hard times have fallen upon this little Central Oregon Desert Fishery. Last Winter, there was almost zero flow due to drought and water demands. Almost all the weedbeds are gone, which is where the scuds loved to live. Maybe someday itll come back.

Also used to use them in some Yellowstone Area Lakes. Haven't done that in about 40 years.

Thanks for the memories.

Bob
 
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I feel like scuds were all the rage when I was fishing in the 90s. I rarely if ever hear them mentioned anymore.
 
I used to fish scud patterns regularly in lakes until I began catching on to this chironomid fishing thing. I've only used scud patterns a couple times on rivers, and that was on the Missouri where they account for a lot of the aquatic forage biomass.
 
I used scuds when fishing the Provo R. in Utah. It's the go to many times. I haven't ran into any , when I've stomach pumped, here in Puget Sound lakes..I hear told they may inhabit central WA. lakes..
 
My buddy did well on A section of the Green last month with a tan scud in size 16…
 
My normal 2-bug rig is a weighted scud tied with easter basket grass shell case and a chironomid on the point. Each year the scud gets less and less attention! For that matter, most of my bugs get less and less attention as the feed in our NCW lakes does not seem to be what it was 10 years ago.

There was a time I fished two scuds. A large, weighted scud in light gray with pearl shell case and a small olive scud on the point. Back in those days we never gave chironomids that much credit because the scuds were all that you needed for plenty of action.
 
I remember the first time I fished some lakes around Kamloops.
After the first day of fishing I stepped out of the boat into the water. Once on shore, I noticed my boots were covered with scuds. That was pretty eye opening for a novice fly angler like myself back then.
SF
 
I remember the first time I fished some lakes around Kamloops.
After the first day of fishing I stepped out of the boat into the water. Once on shore, I noticed my boots were covered with scuds. That was pretty eye opening for a novice fly angler like myself back then.
SF
I used to do a lot of shore based fishing and shallow wading in Wyoming lakes because it wasn’t safe to fish out of a tube in steady 30+ winds. I would have to scrape the scuds off my waders and boots every time.

That’s actually a place I did well with scud patterns.
 
FW&P have determined that scuds comprise 80% of the diet at a local lake. You better believe we fish scuds there. They do like leeches for desert.
 
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Scuds occupy a couple rows of my lake box. I've had some productive days fishing scuds since reading about them in Steve Raymond's books. He says that scuds work year round but are more important as a lake food source in late summer and fall when the chironomids peter out. I fish scuds with a slow hand twist retrieve and an intermediate or slow sinking line over the shoals. Hang on to your rod...

Haig-Brown fished a scud pattern called a gammarus which looks like an olive invicta. It was my top fly on a trip to Meadow lakes lodge a couple years ago.
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Wet fly or combination wet fly-nymph fishing is a lost art. About 20 years ago some of our lakes were still cool enough to fish throughout the summer. Traveling caddis would arrive sometime in late July to early August. An EHC trailed by a hare's ear spider would elicit a lot of strikes. Must have been a very special time for Haig-Brown to fish cooler, healthier, environments with waaaaaay less competition.
 
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