Okay - I just have to ask…what’s your favorite scud color? Olive? Brown? Gray? Tan?
The waters I’m fishing have plenty of scuds in the waters and the trout make a meal of them (I’ve seen the stomach pump pictures) but for the life of me I can’t seem to fish the right color to get them to strike.
I know that scud are mostly active at night and there’s not a lot of movement when the sun is high so I tend to fish them mostly in the early morning and late evening.
THOUGHTS?
Thanks!
Jim
I catch most on bleached ginger w/red thread or scud gray with black thread…except on very bright sunny days. Then I use a UV Ice dubbed scud with red thread and just slay them.
mine is olive.
are you fishing them in lakes? or rivers?
fish them near weeds and and bottom cover.
use of a indicator works well to keep it right above the vegetation and slowly twitch it every once in a while to mimic the actions of the scud.
.usually they are no deeper than 5 feet.
when the scud gets frightened it can move in fast scoots like a crayfish.
but dont waste your time scooting a scud quickly.
only on rare occasions does this work.
also if you are going to be tying them, tie them straight! not curved. curved ones are either dead or resting or feeding.
also tie some with a orange bump 3/4 of the way up the hook shank. to simulate a pregant scud. sometimes this is what the fish key in on.
also pure orange scuds are dead and sometimes the fish key in on only the orange scuds.
but everyones opinion on scud color isnt important.
they matchtheir color to the environment they live in. i use green because all of the vegetation in my locallake is green.
but if yours is tan then you need to be using tan scuds.
tie yours or buy them…lwhatever you do in sizes #20-10 and youd be set.
you also must make them have a scruffy underside to suggest the legs.
also molting scuds that do not have their exoskeleton yet, have a distinct blue/grey hue. another thing to think about.
wow sorry for the long post just though it should be informative!
hope it helps!
Jim
Best suggestion I can give is that you check your local fly shop. He’ll tell you the best color. Now when your on stream watch the fish. They’ll root around to loosen the the scuds from the weeds then drop back to pick them out of the drift. when he drops back make your cast and lead it to him.
Color varies by stream in NJ where I’m originally from we used pinkfor scuds and shrimp on the Musky.
Tom
But, ya know, about the time I’ve hit on a color that’s producing results, the next time or season those finicky fish have changed favorite colors! Better take them all!
Dale
I do best for trout with creamy white scuds. Flo Orange or Flo Pink for steelhead
Olive definitely. If the scuds live in vegetation, the fly should blend in just like the natural. I think that the trout will turn their noses less with a more imitative, not attractive dressing.
Just my two cents, nen-bran
I tie a sort of two tone with the Rainey’s Beadback Scud. I use clear glass beads for the back and tan Antron (nylon) yarn for the legs. The bream here in FL seem to like this one the best so far in size 10 and size 12.
Without question, my best results from fishing a scud have come from using a size 12 with Ronn Lucas’ Orange Iridescent dubbing.
Olive or Flo Pink. You can find my recipe for Barbie Shrimps on flytyingworld.com
I also tie a pattern called a Glenn Canyon Scud.
John Larson (Alpinefly)
I tie them in olive,brown, grey or an off white, I usually put in an orange patch in the stomach area of the scud to simulate a female with eggs.
Thanks everyone for all the info!
I’ve been reminded of two very important points…
First - scuds are the color of what they eat and since there is a lot of vegetation in the stream that I fish - I need to stay with more of the green hues.
Second - when scud are swimming they are not curled up but straight…and I need to be sure to tie a few on straight hooks - not just on curved scud hooks.
And I would NEVER have thought about using red wire for the ribbing - but I’m going to tie a couple that way too.
Thanks for all the feedback - can’t wait to hit the bench then hit the water!
Jim
Tan and Orange for my regular scud patterns and a pink soft hackle sow bug pattern. These are the three main colors for my Bighorn fly box.
One thing to think about when fishing any fly is that our flies look different when the dubbing or other material gets wet. What looks right at the vice may not even look close when fished. I have a hard time believing that a different shade of olive is any less effective than an another. Relative likeness and proper presentation will make the difference. A tan scud fished like a streamer will not work even though fish are taking tan scuds. Small jerky like motion and observing the naturals are the keys.
Hey Jim…
PM me your address. and I’ll be happy to send you a few of these… and you can report back on how they worked…
You get to pick the sizes…
Roo Bug…
Hey Roo - thank you for a VERY generous offer! I will definitely take you up on it since the bugs I tied didn’t do much today.
I tied an olive, grey and cream - and noneo them really did much to speak of…I had a couple of missed takes and even an LDR (long Distance Release) but nothing that came close to the midges, emergers and elk hair’s that I was fishing.
But I’m determined to add this skill and get better at it.
Here’s a question for the group: Dead drift or strip? I read that scuds swim in bursts of 6 to 12 inches at a time so I alternated using motion with with every other cast. I could see the fly drift past fish and they would swim up - take a good look, but really have much interest in taking it… Talk about frustrating!
Any suggestions from anyone???
instead of the long strips you are taking, use short 1-2" twitches/scoots.
this is a more natural motion for the scud.
try it and tell us if it works for you. 
If I tie a pink scud I almost always dull it down with white synthetic dubbing to give it more of a translucent effect. I fish that all times except for spring when a bright one seems to work fine and probably simulate an egg as well as a scud. Other than pink, which has been my best color I fish olive with red thread, and sometimes orange with red thread. If you’re getting denied a lot maybe you should try something like a Ray Charles on a smaller hook and possibly smaller tippet. I have never stripped a scud to make it look like it’s swimming and never tied one on anything but a scud hook, which holds fish better than anything else out there. I think it’s sort of a general rule that if you’re having interest in your fly but they won’t eat it, go smaller. I fish size 20 scuds on lakes and bigger ones on rivers.
Along with the colors mentioned, we also have gold & pink. I sometimes use one as a dropper.
When I tie scuds; it is always with a specific stream in mind; most notably the Letort where I learned to fish them.
Before creating them many moons ago; I yanked up a small patch of Elodea and looked at the naturals to decide what color to tie; made sense to me. The end result was I “matched the hatch” and ended up with scuds in quite a few colors based on my observations with olive, olive grey and olive tan winning out the color competition.
As far as technique is concerned; many moons ago, Mr. Fox of Letort fame taught me to watch for the rooting fish, cast slightly upstream of the fish and “watch for the white of the fish’s mouth opening”. When you see the white disappear; set the hook!! Twitching is optional on the second cast if the fish refuses and you don’t spook it.
I wish I had a camera back then to show you some of the fish I’ve caught this way back when I was a devoted “scudrucker”.
As far as patterns go; they all work but years ago I came on to a pattern tied on a TMC 2457 scud hook that uses a blend of muskrat, angora, and Antron for the body; tied with a dubbing loop to create a fuzzy body. Antron yarn is used for the shell back and it is ribbed with fine green mono; 6X Orvis Super Strong tippet material is PERFECT for the ribbing! The angora fibers are picked out to simulate legs. I tie mine unweighted.
I have varied the the colors of the body blend and even blended the colors in the Antron yarn shell back to create color variation within one scud. I have found them particularly effective everywhere I’ve used them.