How To Tie A Scud Fly Pattern

Learn how to a great scud pattern, including a video tutorial (coming soon) and a full material list. Improve your fly-tying skills here.

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Today we're exploring the Scud Fly Pattern, a must-have for any fly fisher's arsenal, especially if you're fishing in freshwater streams and lakes. This shrimp-like pattern is tied using a Core 1120 Nymph/Scud hook, and features materials such as Hareline Sow Scud Dubbing and Swiss Straw for realism and effectiveness. The Scud Fly mimics a staple in the fish diet, making it extremely effective in a range of conditions. Recommended sizes are 12 to 16. Whether you're a seasoned tyer or just starting out, this fly is essential. Leave a comment below if you've tried this pattern or have tips to share, and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more fly-tying tutorials!

We've put together a kit that contains all the materials you need to tie this exact fly pattern.

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Material List:

• Hook: Core C1120 (size 14)
• Wire: Danville Spooled Lead Wire .010
• Thread: UTC Ultra Thread 70D (Olive)
• Tail: Mallard Flank (Olive)
• Rib: 6x TroutHunter Nylon Tippet
• Body: Hareline Swiss Straw (Olive)
• Dubbing: Hareline Scud Dub (Olive)

Video Transcript

Hello, I'm Carl at Trident Fly Fishing and today we're going to tie a scud. This is a shrimp-like creature that can be found in most streams and lakes and it's a fish food staple. I recommend you tie it in sizes 12 through 16. I typically fish it in size 16 myself. The fly we have in the vise is tied on a size 12 - I chose a larger size so it would be easier for you to see. There's the fly, we'll get the tie started.

The hook we're going to use today is a Core C1120, this one's in a size 12. A little bigger than I usually fish it, but easier for you to see what I'm doing when I'm tying the fly. We're going to add a little weight to this fly, so put a dab of super glue right here to initially hold the lead wire in place. This is UTC .010 lead wire. Twist it on, probably about a dozen turns. This fly's kind of got a football shape to it, so we're going to build up the center of the fly.

Now some UTC 70 denier thread in olive. Get that started right in front of the lead, wrap back, and start to create a bit of a taper to either side of that lead - the fly is kind of shaped like a football. We're going to wrap back well into the bend of the hook where we tie in our tail.

The tail of the fly is going to be a mallard flank feather. This is a nice use for those smaller feathers that don't seem to get used anywhere else. It's a small tail, probably less than half the length of the hook shank. Reposition the hook to make this easier. Now back up, reposition the hook again, get rid of our excess material.

The rib of the fly is going to be some tippet material - this is just some 6X nylon. We're going to tie this in so that the monofilament is on the back side of the fly, so when we wrap it over the shell it doesn't tend to pull the shell up.

Now for the body of the fly, we're going to use some Hareline scud dubbing in the color olive, and we're going to form a small thin noodle here. The thinner the noodle, the easier it is to create the shape of the body. Give this fly kind of a football shape with the body.

The shell for the fly is going to be a product called Swiss Straw. Interesting material. It comes all spooled up and you can open the material. In this direction it's really strong. In this direction it's not - it's really easy to tear. I'm going to use that to our advantage here. I've got a small piece, and I want this to be a little less than a hook gap in width. I'm going to catch that material with the hook, tear the edge, and then just tear it down. I'm going to tie this in on top, and then wrap it back over the top all the way down to the base of the tail, and then back up with some open, loose wraps.

We're going to use a Stonfo tool here to pick out some of this material to form the illusion of legs before we tie the back end. I'll likely go back and pick it out a little more once it's all done. Now you want to take this material and open it up and lay it across the back. Get rid of our excess material.

Now we'll take that piece of monofilament and palmer it up the body of the fly to form some segmentation. When we reach the eye, we'll tie that off. Cut our excess. Form a head. Get our whip finish tool - a four or five turn whip finish. Seat our knot and cut the thread.

We'll go back in with our Stonfo tool and get some more of that material to come out to give the illusion of legs. We don't want it to be too much longer than the gap of the hook. And a little head cement - this is Loon Water Based. Clean out the eye, and our fly is finished.

Please feel free to add comments at the bottom of the page and don't forget to hit that subscribe button to view all the new content here at Trident Fly Fishing. Thanks for watching. I hope to see you again next time.