#cockaroo

I have been a long time reader of Ward Bean’s website, Warmwater Fly Tyer . I have tied and fished many of the patterns found on the pages of his site. For the warm water fly fisher/tier this is an incredible resource. I highly recommend a visit.

Sometimes something is sitting right on front of your face, and you fail to notice it. That is the case with the Cockaroo. I have looked at the wet fly section of Ward’s site countless times. I fish wet flies more than any other subsurface patterns, and I am always on the lookout for new designs to try. I have tied many of the flies listed on his page, but for some reason, I have seemed to have skipped over the Cockaroo. During a recent exchange with a gentleman by the name of David Hutton on Facebook I was reacquainted with this particular fly. David, a blogger himself, publishes a blog called Palmetto Fly ’n Fish, he also manages a Facebook group by the same name. Both sites highlight some of the excellent fishing available in the great state of South Carolina. While not entirely devoted to fly fishing, both blog and group mostly contain fly fishing related content so I’ll cut him a little slack!

David had posted a picture of a Cockaroo that he had tied and recently fished. There was immediately something familiar about the pattern, but I could not put my finger on it, but I knew I liked it. David quickly pointed me to his source for the fly pattern, and all the pieces fell into place. The next time I sat in front of the vise, I tied up a few Cockaroos and slipped them into my wet fly box. It is still early season here in the northeast so it would not be long before the Cockaroo found itself tied to the end of my leader.

My first version of this pattern was not exactly true to the original. I tied up a variation of the fly using materials I had laying around on the desktop from the previous night's tying session. There was no peacock in sight, and I was too lazy to open a drawer and dig it out. What I did have on hand was a wire core dubbing brush in a dark brown color. Again not the exact ingredient called for, but it would be far more durable than the peacock herl, so I went with it. The other substitution was the soft hackle collar. The original pattern called for brown hen hackle, but I had a gorgeous olive Whiting Brahma Hen Cape on the desk, so I went with that. So, in the end, the fly had the same basic color scheme, but it was just a little mixed up — a brown body instead of green and a green collar instead of brown. In Ward’s own words he gave me permission to take some liberties with his pattern. In his tying notes he states, “Of all the body parts, the tail and the wing are constants. Choosing other materials for the remaining parts; the underbody, body, and collar are up to you” . I know Ward is good with my changes, hopefully, the fish would not mind the slight to the original pattern!

My very first cast with the pattern yielded positive results. As fish are still a little sluggish in the still cold water here in the northeast, I retrieved the fly with a painfully slow hand twist retrieve after the fly had settled near the bottom adjacent to a submerged tree in about 5 or 6 feet of water. As soon as the fly passed the branches of the sunken tree, there was a slight heaviness on the line. I was sure I was about to be hung up on a tree limb, but I set the hook anyway. A heavy throbbing on the end of my line greeted my hook set. After applying as much pressure as my three weight could bring to bear, the fish was coaxed out of the labyrinth of branches and after a spirited fight in open water a chunky, good sized bluegill was brought to hand.

In a few days of testing the pattern has coaxed a mixed bag of panfish from the water. After losing all of my original test patterns to tree limbs and the occasional foul mannered pickerel, I returned to the vice and tied up some more. This time I stayed true to the original pattern using peacock herl and brown hackle. The results were the same! The fish took the pattern without hesitation when presented correctly. Tied on a long nymph hook, this fly bridges the gap between wet fly and streamer. I feel it would serve well imitating both aquatic insects and small baitfish.

To address those that say that panfish will take any fly, I did a side by side test with my usual early season wet flies. Both versions of the Cockaroo took far more fish than the other wet flies when fished together on a tandem rig. A scientific study? No, but enough for me to add this pattern to my early season arsenal as well as my regular wet fly box!

Pattern Recipes

Ward Bean’s Cockaroo:

Hook: Mustad 3906B Size 8, 10, 12

Thread: Uni-Thread - 6/0Dark Brown

Tail: Ringneck Pheasant Rump Feather Fibers

Underbody: Uni-YarnDark Brown

Body: Peacock Herl2 Herl's

Wing: Ringneck Pheasant Select Rump Feather

Collar: Hen Neck Feather Furnace

Panfish On The Fly’s Cockaroo:

Hook: Saber #7231 size 8

Thread: 70 denier UTC brown

Tail: Ringneck Pheasant Rump Feather Fibers

Body: Brown wire core dubbing brush

Wing: Ringneck Pheasant Select Rump Feather

As much as I like the take of a chunky bluegill as it slurps a fly off the surface, I know that if I want to catch serious numbers, I need to fish beneath the surface. There is no question that nymphs and wet flies will catch more and, in my experience, larger fish. Although my favorite way to fish below the surface is with wet flies, I am often found with a nymph of one sort of another tied to the end of my line.

Choices, Choices, Choices

There is an endless variety of nymph patterns to choose from. Bluegills and other panfish are not particularly picky when it comes to nymph patterns. Steal a couple from your trout fly boxes, and you’ll catch plenty of fish. But why not tie up some nymphs to target panfish? As a die-hard nymph fisherman, I carry a staggering number of nymph patterns on me when fishing trout streams near and afar. Although I don’t have nearly as many nymph patterns in my warm water fly boxes, there is still an excellent collection to be had. I carry a variety of different sizes, colors, and designs. My favorite is probably the “long nymph.”

The “Long Nymph”

When I say “long nymph,” I am referring to a nymph pattern tied a 3x long (or longer hook). I prefer nymphs tied in this style for several reasons. I find that longer hooks are easier to extract from the tiny mouths of bluegills and other panfish. These longer nymphs also do a better job imitating one of the bluegill’s main prey items, damselfly and dragonfly nymphs. A long slender nymph does an excellent job mimicking a damselfly nymph while a long chunky nymph imitates the larger dragonfly nymph. These long nymphs also resemble a wide variety of other things on the panfish’s menu as well.

Many years ago I was introduced to a fly called the Jennings Stonefly Creeper by an elderly friend of mine. He had been fishing the pattern since he was a kid on our trout streams here in New Jersey. The Jennings Creeper is an impressionistic imitation of a stonefly nymph, a common food item for trout. Since being introduced to the fly and learning first hand of its effectiveness, I made sure I always had a few on hand. Eventually, one found its way into a warm water box, and it proved to be a panfish killer. Over time I evolved the pattern into a different fly but it kept a few of the characteristics of the original design. Although the new fly bears little resemblance to its predecessor (the original had the wingcase unsecured at the rear of the fly), its lineage goes back to that classic pattern

The Double Duty Nymph

A long nymph can also pull extra duty as a small streamer. The size and shape match small minnows and baitfish quite well. Retrieved along the bottom, they can even imitate a small crayfish, tadpole, etc. I usually prefer a nymph tied in the round for this type of work, one that lacks defined wing cases, legs, etc. Patterns like Ward Bean’s Cockaroo or the classic Carey Special have been a long-time favorites for this type of work. I tie the Carey Special in a few different colors and use it to imitate everything from damselfly nymphs to baitfish. I will often reach for an olive Carey Special instead of a more imitative pattern when damselfly nymphs are active. I find it a very effective imitation of this insect.

Raiding The Trout Box

Other trout patterns that have made their way into my panfish boxes are flies like the Montana Stonefly Nymph, the Rubber Legs, and my favorite the YUK Bug, specifically the Pepperoni Yuk Bug. The Pepperoni Yuk Bug has accounted for some very hefty bluegills over the years for me. These flies are all tied to imitate stoneflies, just like the Jennings Creeper I mentioned earlier. My panfish waters don’t contain any stoneflies, but these long nymphs do a good job imitating other things that bluegill and other panfish eat! Not Just For Panfish These big nymphs are not just for panfish. I have caught scores of bass (especially smallmouth, carp, catfish even pickerel on these nymphs. These flies are small enough to be eaten by larger panfish but big enough to attract the attention of larger predators at times. These big nymphs are some of my favorite patterns for carp. Tied in even larger sizes, they will clean up on river smallmouth bass!

Will small nymphs catch you a lot of panfish? Absolutely, but the big bugs work well too. Often they work better when it comes to catching larger fish! Tie some up and give them a try.

Pattern Recipe:

The Double Duty Nymph

Recipe:

Thread: Black or brown 70 denier UTC

Hook: 3x long nymph hook

Tail: Ringneck Pheasant rump feather fibers

Shellback: Turkey quill

Body: Buggy dubbing in color of choice (olive/brown shown here)

Collar/Legs: Hen body feather in a color to match the dubbing used

‘Stunning’ Roman Cockerel Goes on Display

Question for my Readers! – Is this just good History Preservation, Our right to Cultural Heritage, or Tomb Robbing? ** DB “‘Stunning’ Roman Cockerel Goes on Display” by Victoria Woollaston via “Daily Mail“

Three years since it was discovered during excavations on an ancient cemetery, a rare bronze Roman cockerel has been given a permanent home.

The 2nd century figurine is believed to be one of…