Scuds are very nimble as they dart and climb among the aquatic plants and other structure. In ponds they should be fished with short twitches and jerks near the bottom. In streams they should be weighted so they drift along the streambed. Tan scud patterns best represent the soft-shell, or most vulnerable, stage. Olive is an intermediate color, and gray scuds have hard, fully developed shells.
Scuds are also popular trout food, so there are many scud patterns available.
The gold-ribbed hare's ear can be used, too. Sowbugs look like freshwater versions of the pillbugs we see on land. Whereas scuds are flat along their sides, sowbugs are wider bodied and horizontally flat with legs that go out to the side. Sowbugs are not the aquatic acrobats that scuds are. They crawl over and around underwater structure.