Favorite Dubbing For Scuds?

[troutchaser]

I actually prefer to tie my scuds with ostrich herl.

As for fishing them, I tie them on as a dropper under a foam caddis or a hopper pattern in fast water less than 3 feet deep. Any deeper, and I just fish the midges.

[Luke]

I use a base of antron with ostrich herl wrapped over the top. The ostrich gives it the color and the antron gives it a little sparkle.

As far as fishing, I like to dead drift them upstream.

[dave potts]

Well, lets expand the topic some. What are your favorite hook type and sizes? I've talked to some people at Taney that say they sometimes go as large as a size 8. Also, what's the consensus on the backing?

Dave

[Greg]

For those of you that use ostrich herl - do you use several colors? Or just the natural gray? And do you trim the herl off at the top?

As for how I fish them - I typically fish them as close to bottom as I can under a small indicator. I usually cast slightly upstream and mend as needed. Here lately at times I've been fishing a scud and a zebra midge in tandem.

Sizes - for my scuds 16 to 20. I've tied them in larger sizes but haven't done as well with them.

Rolan you are right in that all the myriad different ways of doing things are what makes this whole fly fishing thing fascinating. Fishing a scud is only one small part of the sport - but there could literally be hundreds of different ways to do it.

Greg

[Luke]

Greg - I do like to use combinations when I use ostrich herl. I do seem to do a lot of combinations that have gray in them (gray and tan, gray and olive, gray and black, gray and brown).

As far as trimming, some I leave full, some I trim and some I use scudback on. On some I put a little marabou tail on, it looks like a tiny woolly bugger.

[Greg]

Thanks Luke,

Greg

[troutchaser]

Here is how I tie my ostrich scud:

Orange or ginger scuds are tied on a standard scud hook, #12-#20.

Olive, gray, and tan are all tied on a wet/nymph sproat hook with a Kirby bend (Kirby bend is where you twist the hook point sideways just a bit).

I weight them with the smallest lead wire I can find, but I don't wrap it around the hook. I tie a small segment of lead to the hook lying flat against the shank. I tie in the ostrich herls (2-3) and silver or copper wire, palmer the herl and counter wrap the wire, and tie off.

Now, here's the secret: light a candle and slowly move the finished fly close to the flame, back first. The result is the herl on the scud's back will burn away, leaving a nice looking segmented back. I hold the fly in my fingers to protect the herl on the bottom of the fly from burning.

Note: Do the last step slowly, or you'll wind up with little black bumps on the back of your scuds from trying to burn it too fast.

That, my friends, will make one killer scud.

[Luke]

Troutchaser - That is great tip. I would have never thought to burn the feather. That tip just made my day.

Why the difference in hooks between colors?

[troutchaser]

The difference in hooks is simple, but often overlooked. Live scuds "swim" with their bodies rigid and straight. Only dead scuds are curved or curled up.

In case I failed to mention it, scuds turn orange when they die. It's sort of the same process you see in shrimp. They're grayish until you cook them, then they're pink.

[Luke]

I figured that's what the reason was going to be, but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks for the response.