Taneycomo Scuds - Gammarus Shrimp - Handful to look at

[Brian K. Shaffer]

[adkfan]

We have a very prolific scud population in my local spring fed limestone creek...


I use these variations of a very basic hares ear pattern along with a killer bug tied on a shrimp hook /mustard 049160

[mer]

Add some garlic, a little red sauce, you have a scampi in your hand.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Funny when the water falls out completely they have nowhere to go...

But into the belly of hungry trouts...

Those are ALL scuds.

A fork and some mustard..

Mustad joke.. about the use above..
(shrimp hook /mustard 049160)

[samsonboi]

Yeehaw! that's a lot of shrimps! We don't have any scuds (freestone waters only, up here)

[Brian K. Shaffer]

this little guy was out there too...

[samsonboi]

Nice! We do, however, have those guys.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

My foot pointing at a trout in Lake Taneycomo - as 2 units of water flow by.
Dec 2nd - 2pm.

[jhuskey]

That is a cool shot !

[dave potts]

Brian, what size are they typically? Also, what size tippet do you generally use there?
Thanks

[BigTJ]

I have been absolutely crushing the fish this year on scuds and a new crayfish pattern I developed. A couple things I leaned is that scuds are swimmers and they keep their bodies straight so use regular straight nymph hooks and let them swing or speed up at the end of a drift. Jigging also works well. The trout also really like hot spots on both scuds and crayfish.

I tie my scuds on sz 14 nymph hooks and use a modified walts worm to match them. There aren’t many simpler more effective patterns than a walts worm.

John

[Brian K. Shaffer]

howdy dave - Nothing beats picking up a handful of rocks along the bank and looking every different day...
Which I do a lot - down at the boat ramp especially. I would say they range from 12-18
and you are going to get bit more in those smaller ranges if the color is spot on.
The dissolved oxygen changes so frequently - our scuds change color a bunch.
For tippet - I use 5x regular mono... moving to 6x but rarely 7x.
These fish are just too big too often for 7x - for me.

The sowbugs are also the same sizes... similar everything really in the looks department only flatter.
Fox Statler taught a class at Lilleys Landing years ago - told us to fish both very differently.
Was a wide awakening for me learning to distinguish the two different presentations.

As BigTJ mentioned above, the scud is a side swimmer... whereas the sowbug clings to the rocks or crawls on the bottom.
ALL sections of the water column carry scuds and sowbugs. They get dislodged and become airborne in the water.
We are lucky to have loads of food in this river - It all equals fun fat fish :

same Mothers Day 2020

[BigTJ]

Brian that is quite the trout shrimp buffet!

I am pretty sure scuds are the only key menu item here in the Truckee - no sow bugs - at least I’ve never picked any up on my surveys.

Your comment on color is key - that’s why my scuds use dubbing that incorporates many colors. I start with a small UV shrimp pink or UV pink butt or sometimes Amber SLF living fiber. Then the body is Hare’e with Ice Dub tan or olive mixed with rainbow scud light or dark. You end up with a base color that approximates the natural with many other colors added in which seem to match the halter-shelter coloration in the naturals. I’m not sure if the butts mimic egg sacks or a dying scud or they just get the trouts attention - no matter they really seem to improve the effectiveness of the flies. See pic below not exactly a tough pattern.

Thanks for the topic and the great pics.

John

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Mike Ramsay would love to know his scud is on the internet ~ many thank you's kind Sir!
Special thanks to Steven Wright for Ozark Trout Tales page 48 / Table Rock Tailwater

Next time just go out with a single scud and nothing else.
Line - Leader - Tippet - Scud
I tie mine heavy.

I marvel at the name - what creativity!

[GMflyf1sh]

I used to watch the shrimp migrate up the lake. WHen they were plentiful the trout would grow over an inch a month and be little footballs. Th elate Could Water Bioliogist for Missouri Dpertment of Conservation did a study on the migrating behavior of the shrimp. I am happy to see they have continued to flourish after all of the new construction on and around the lake.

Gregg

[Caneghost]

I designed this pattern decades ago for the PA limestone spring creeks and published it in Fly Fisherman. Our trout grew quickly on the shrimp diet, Gammarus minus according to Schwiebert.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Gregg - those days of football fish come and go with the flows - big yearly flows creates giants in my opinion.

I like the cress bug look Cane... and I fish them here.. thankfully all these patterns are very durable.

This here tip is from a super nice fella Rolan's dog / scud dubbing blend named Peppy - his Mini Schnauzer's
spiky beard hairs were the fishing secret amongst many for a decade...

People often ask about Taney scud bug tying color... well - here is a winner.

"peppy" Gray


Bottom step of TU stairs : serious Sowbug / Scud populations here

[Brian K. Shaffer]

My buddy Darren has a full Wheatley



The more the merrier

[rsagebrush]

Apparently Darren is convinced and it shows.

The traditional Walt's worm does not have a bead but it also very effective. Walt's worm is a heavily weighted version of Sawyer's Killer bug fly. I believe the fish simply go for the bead on beadheads, like fishing eggs kind of although I have nothing against that and I fish beadheads a lot because they catch fish.
The scud pattern I used in the early 80's was a bit of shaggy dubbing with a cut plastic bag for the shellback with mono or copper ribbing is size 12 and 14, weighted or sometime no weight. It was a supremely effective fly on Cheesman section of the south Platt and I had many 30+ fish days with them.
They still work fine today and are very easy to tie.

[GMflyf1sh]

In days gone by tdhe trout in Lake Taneycomo grew an inch a month in the early 70 and 80’s. The flesh was a wonderful pink color. Lots of 4 plus pound fish caught every year. It is good to see the population coming back. Spencer Turner the late cold water biologist for Missouri did a paper on the strimp populations. My copy is in tdhe Bud Lilly trout and salmon collection if Bozeman. I did get the chance last fall to come back to the Ozarks after a 30 year nascence. I caught and released some really fine trout on heaney, Norfork, and White Rivers. I will be ack this fall for another 45 day trip to those same waters.