Heenan Lake 9-29 - scuds

[gene goss]

Scott and I raced up to fish Heenan Lake yesterday, we got to the lake at sunrise and fished for a couple of hours with no grabs. I fished all my flies, black wiggle tail, marabou streamer, sheepcreek for no grabs. At 10 am a small midge hatch started to come off and the cutts were popping up on the surface around us.....still no grabs. I pulled my thermometer out of the water to read it (56 degrees) and had to pull a weed off that was hanging on the thermoneter, a grey scud about 3/4 inch. fell onto the tube.....WOW i bet this is what the cutts are feeding on.
I looked into my fly box and no scud patterm, i had a grey and tan body UV sheepcreek that looked the right size, so i got my clippers out and trimed some of the hackle off and made a couple of cast....no grads.
This guy that was fishing next to me caught a couple of fish, so i was watching his retrieve, and copy it on the next cast....fishon....landed that one, called the fish and game people to come over check out the cutt, and i then made another cast or two and hook another one....that came unbutton.
Looked up scuds on the inter-net this morning and this is what i learned.
Scuds swim straight out, not curved
Scuds don't like bright light, they are most active with cloud cover.
They like to live in thick vegetation, and hide under the rocks.
They swim with short bursts of speed and they swim in an erratic mammer, so your retrieve should be on the jerky side.
They live in shallow water (12ft. or less)
Scuds are Omnivores they feed on midges, small insect, damsels, and boatmens.
Grey scud

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w300/eugene047/DSCN0296_zps0329a800.jpg (http://s179.photobucket.com/user/eugene047/media/DSCN0296_zps0329a800.jpg.html)
I turned this rock over and it was full of scuds.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w300/eugene047/DSCN0305_zps0a38f224.jpg (http://s179.photobucket.com/user/eugene047/media/DSCN0305_zps0a38f224.jpg.html)
Fish and Game measureing my cutts (19 inches)
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w300/eugene047/DSCN0298_zps9aa5da90.jpg (http://s179.photobucket.com/user/eugene047/media/DSCN0298_zps9aa5da90.jpg.html)
Found these snails on the shore.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w300/eugene047/DSCN0290_zpsb049e0bd.jpg (http://s179.photobucket.com/user/eugene047/media/DSCN0290_zpsb049e0bd.jpg.html)
Found this pile of bear shit on the shore, when i was taking a lunch break.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w300/eugene047/DSCN0299_zpsb9ccd631.jpg (http://s179.photobucket.com/user/eugene047/media/DSCN0299_zpsb9ccd631.jpg.html)

[GoldenStone]

Gene. Bravo! Great job. That's why I fly fish... to figure them guys out! And thanks for the fish feed shots too. Looks like a sunny day... I've always done best at Heenan on overcast or even stormy white cap days!

[FRSam]

Don't see any bells in that bear scat Gene...that's a good sign.;) I hear scud and I immediately think of Eagle Lake. I wonder with the low water up there and increased alkalinity how it's affected the scud population? Great pictures Gene...thanks for sharing them.


Pete
FeatherRiverSam

[Mark Kranhold]

Gene, sounds like a great day! Scuds are big success at Heenan! I was wadding in one year with my float tube and along the shore line vegitation I just saw the water move of grey/greenish scuds. Thank god I had some scud patterns in my fly box. That turned out to be a great day and I got to see a 34" lahontan caught!

[markem8]

Hey, that is me in the background in the blue pontoon boat to the left of the Fish and Game guy. I found that if you could find water with the least algae you had the best chance. I was getting them on midges and a small black leech.