modern Michigan streamer · mid-1990s
Galloup's Zoo Cougar
Also called Zoo Cougar
Solid origin Galloup as originator and the Michigan origin agree across Kreft, Global FlyFisher, Flylords and the Slide Inn; the 1999 book confirms it predates Montana. Only Kreft gives the mid-1990s date.
History
Kelly Galloup designed the Zoo Cougar for the Manistee River in the mid-1990s, while he was running the Troutsman in Traverse City. It appears with full materials in Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout (1999), the book he wrote with Bob Linsenman about the jerk-strip streamer methods they worked out on Michigan rivers, so it clearly predates his move to Montana.
It is unweighted, with a wide, flat deer-hair head and a mallard flank wing. Galloup meant it to ride just under the surface and dart side to side on a stripped retrieve, like a crippled sculpin. Yellow was the first color; it is now tied in a range from white to black. The Slide Inn calls it the fly that put him on the map, and Flylords lists it among the patterns that started modern streamer fishing.
Materials
| Hook | Long-shank down-eye streamer, sizes 2 to 1/0 (shop flies sold in 2 to 6) |
|---|---|
| Thread | Olive 6/0 (or to match) |
| Tail | Marabou or chickabou |
| Body | Silver braid (optional; omitted in Galloup's own video) |
| Underwing | White calftail or bucktail |
| Wing | Two mallard flank feathers, flat over the top |
| Collar and head | Spun deer hair, collar left long, head trimmed flat and wide |
Tying video
Tying the Zoo Cougar with Kelly Galloup by TheSlideinn
Sources
- Kreft, J. "Galloup's Zoo Cougar." RiverKeeper Flies, August 2, 2017.
- Joergensen, M. "Zoo Cougar." Global FlyFisher, November 6, 2010.
- "The Evolution of Modern Streamer Fishing." Flylords Mag.
- "Galloup's Zoo Cougar." Galloup's Slide Inn (product page).
- Linsenman, B. and K. Galloup. Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout. Countryman Press, 1999.
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No photo yet. Every photo on michfly is of a fly tied for the site, so they're added a few at a time.
Original recipe cards for many Michigan patterns are kept at the Michigan Dry Flies archive, built by the late Tom Deschaine.