Autumn On The EB

Autumn On The EB

Friday, February 19, 2016

Scud Season

To the fisherman born there is nothing so provoking of curiosity as a fly rod in a case Roland Pertwee "The River God (1928)


9:30 am and I am the first at the Y Pool parking lot today. Lucky or will I be fishing a desert? It's been close to two months since I've gone above RT 9 because of my affair with the lower CR especially Cady Lane. But I will spend a few hours working this water and trying out some variations of some standard winter flies.

The joint filled up quickly and I left after 2 hours with three rainbows coming to the net. I saw one other trout taken during that time. The simple scud did the trick. No weight, no indicator, just drifting the fly with the idea of keeping it deep. The end of the fly line would stop, the rod was raised, the bamboo bent and the 'bow was then netted.

This was a variation of my usual scud tie. I'm staying away from using metal beads as much as I can. I want something that adds some mass to the fly but also looks like it's supposed to be there. So I went to a local craft store and bought a tube of olive colored plastic beads. They are pretty much weightless, cost nothing, but have no buoyancy and they look like the head of an aquatic insect (I'll be working up some stonefly nymphs with them later today).

The Y Pool has fish but they seem sluggish. One 16 inch fish just seemed to roll over and come to the net. The water was COLD and I kept thinking what a few days of 50 degrees would do to this place.


FYI -

Hook - scud 14 to 16

Head - olive colored plastic bead

Body - olive Australian possum or rabbit, beaver, muskrat, dog or cat

shell - thin clear plastic cut from a cheap lunch bag (this always beats the "shell strips" that are out there).

Rib - ultra fine copper wire

Take a dubbing brush and work out the dubbing once the shell is tied down but before the ribbing is tied in. Don't overdo it!

I"LL BE TYING SOME UP SUNDAY AT CHARLIES!!!

6 comments:

Ontherocks said...

Dog or cat? You mean there's a fishing application for the fur I pull off the cat brush?!! Jackpot! It's tying season!

Herm said...

Scuds (size 16) have been working on one of my local rivers in NH. Seems I do better with them in the winter. Glad to hear they're productive on the Swift as well.

Herm

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Herm,

It's a good winter fly!

Ontherocks,

Just read an article about using coyote hair and another about hair from the family dog.

Ken

Tincup said...

Been tiring the brook trout pattern maple syrup with yellow lab dog fur for years. A old time mariner told me in the 80s in the moosehead area. Out fishes the cheneal wrap 4 to 1. Sorry I will miss Charlie's but in Florida in the pine island area until end of March. Everyone enjoy the seminar if u think u get info on this blog don't miss Charlie's. Ken you ever get your package.

Millers River Flyfisher said...

Tincup -

I'm going to spend March 2017 at Melbourne Shores working the surf and the Indian River Lagoon. You're on the OTHER SIDE OF FLORIDA!! Some day we will meet and fish!!

Ken

Sam said...

The plastic bag for the shell works great, Ken. What I have started doing lately is putting a somewhat wider strip for the size hook and stretch the heck out of it prior to tying it down. It makes for a great scud shell.

Regards, Sam