I got this idea after watching a cooking show where the chef did beef three ways. Seems a lot of people have many various ways to tie this freshwater 'shrimp.' In 1975, Randall Kaufmann published a pattern which was described as plastic strip ribbed back scud, named Randall's Trout Shrimp. In 1977, Al Troth had a pattern published also with a ribbed plastic strip back named Scud. In this SBS, we will tie this stillwater crustacean three different ways, all with a rib and all with a gelatinous looking body. Recipe: Hook: Daiichi 1120, size 10 to 14 Tail (left to right): Hun, none, tan poly Body (left to right): Caddis Green Chewee Skin, Clear Scud Back over dubbing, Tan Scud Back over dubbing Rib (left to right): Mono, Orange Brassie Wire, Copper Brown Medium Wire Legs (left to right): White Ostrich Herl, Picked Dubbing, Hun We start this fly off by dressing the hook. Try and imagine a line from the eye to the point on the throat as a reference for the tail. The following three steps are the same for each fly. Tie in some lead for weight and also to give this fly its shape. Apply some super glue to the underside of the lead to help it stay in place. Now for the tails and antenna. You can use pretty much anything you want that gives a nice mottling or darker color to the scud. Here I am using Hungarian Partrige fibers. Alternatively, you can use poly as seen here or you could eliminate them all together. For the ribbing you can use mono... ...or wire. Here I am tying ostrich herl to the underside of the fly. These will be the 'legs' of the scud. Alternatively, you can tie a dubbing loop for addition of some hun fibers later on for legs. For the leftmost fly, I am using Chewee Skin for a body. Clip the end to a point to help tying it in. The other two flies I use Scud Back for the body. This will be drawn over the top of dubbing. Wrap the Chewee Skin forward to form the body. Or alternatively, dub a body. Here I have mixed tan, green, and orange to give me the color I want. On the Chewee Scud, draw the ostrich herl forward. Another way is to add Hun to the dubbing loop you made earlier. Then tie the dubbing loop over the dubbed body. And then draw your Scud Back over the top. For the ribbing, take the mono and catch the ostrich herl while following the body segments. Try not to trap the fibers. For the scud with just a dubbed body, take a bore cleaning brush and pick out the dubbing for legs. Wrap the wire over the body to form the ribbing. Pick out any trapped fibers and clean up. You can color the clear skin in any manner you want. After coloring if you add SSHAN, it will mottle. Trim the poly as well. Sit back and admire your Scud Three Ways! Enjoy!
