Trout and Their Food by Dave Whitlock

Author:Dave Whitlock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2011-03-23T04:00:00+00:00

Swimming forward

Swimming backward

Crawling

Dead and tumbling in the current

Scuds crawl or swim forward with their several, complex pairs of legs. They characteristically swim with sort of a jerky-zoom motion through the water in an irregular swimming movement right side up, on their sides and upside down. In some waters they are called backswimmers because of these unusual swimming positions. When scuds crawl or swim, they have a more or less linear shape but when they are held captive in your hand or after they die, they form a “C” shape. Most scud imitations are tied on extra-short, curved hook shanks that imitate this “C” shape. To more precisely imitate free-swimming, living scuds, tie or buy imitations on straight hook shanks.

Scuds vary a lot in color depending on their species, diet, skin replacement cycle, and health. Most are a light dun-gray with tones of tan, olive, yellow, or orange. A few colonies I’ve seen are a definite pinkish orange and most scuds will take on a similar bright coloration after death. Consequently, the dead, pinkish-orange scuds you might discover in a trout’s stomach were not necessarily that color when eaten alive by that trout.

There’s a popular un-weighted, C-shaped, orange scud pattern, frequently used in tail waters, that is supposed to imitate scuds that die and dry out when the flow from the dam is decreased greatly, causing the water level to rapidly decline. The scuds, as well as many other aquatic food forms, often can’t retreat fast enough and so may get beached out of the water and soon die. With the next rise in the water, these dead, sun-dried scuds drift downstream. Imitations are fly fished with a natural “dead drift” either on or under the surface.

Live scud imitations work best in flowing water when fished with a natural downstream drift and close to the bottom structures where scuds live. The use of highly visible, floating strike indicators on flowing waters, especially those waters that have windy or riffed surfaces, significantly animates the fly, enhancing trout interest, while making strike detection so much easier.

For still-water ponds, sloughs, and lakes, the most effective way to fish scud imitations is to present to an area with a long, 40- to 60-foot cast, using a #1 sinking line, and count the weighted scud down to a depth just over the top of the aquatic vegetation or the stream bottom. Then slowly retrieve with a “figure 8” line twist or use 1- to 3-inch-long, slow-paced line strips. The ultimate line for this is the clear Scientific Anglers WF/S Stillwater line. Because it is clear and sinks below, creating no wake by the line on the water surface, it allows the scud to be retrieved long distances, in still water, without surface wind drag and without scaring trout as it passes by or over. But because you cannot see this line in the water, you must detect the trout’s take by feeling the change in line tension or sometimes the jerk of the strike. So, keep

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