Natural White Zoo Cougar Tying Instructions

Please click on pictures to enlarge

 

NOTE:

I tried to tell this story with pictures, but there is no substitute for good materials and practice.  The Zoo Cougar can be labor intensive, but the fishing rewards are worth it.  I highly recommend some of the excellent tying videos and DVDs on the market.  The folks in those movies are the real tying superstars!

 

Materials list:

TMC 8089 Size 6 hook

 

White gel-spun thread

Natural premo deer hair strip

Other colors of deer

White marabou

Pearl body braid

White calf tail

Natural mallard flank feather

Red glass beads (for articulated tandem)

50lb connecting mono for articulated tandem

Required tools:

Straight razor blades (BE CAREFUL HANDLING THESE)

Hair scissor

Hair comb

Magnum Hair Stacker

 

Tying directions:

(1) Debarb and place hook in the vise.

(2) Mount thread one-third of the way back along the straight shank.

(3) Tie in a white marabou tail.  It should be the length of the straight part of the hook.

 

(4) Tie in the pearl body and move to rear of fly.

(5) Wrap body and advance thread.

(6) Add calf tail underwing.  It should also be length of straight shank.  Since this is a non-hollow hair, angle the hair at the tie-in point to reduce bulk and provide solid connection.

(7) Select a mallard flank feather.  In the pictures above, the rightmost photo shows a “sorted” selection of feathers.  You are looking for a feather as long as possible, no twist, or unbalance.  The feather should be symmetric about its quill axis.  Sometimes these feathers are hard to find, so I buy the large 1/4oz packs and sort them (see left two photos above).  Strip away most of the webby fibers.  I also roll the quill underneath a solid aluminum tube (small rolling pin or X-Acto knife body).  Rolling the quill flattens the quill somewhat and makes a better profile.  You may choose to omit this step.

(8) Tie in the quill perfectly centered.  This is an underside view.

This is a view from above

(9) Clip a large bunch of hair for the collar

and comb out the under fur.  This is critical for success with this fly

(10) Stack the collar in a magnum stacker and cut them to a length of half the length of the hook straight shank plus a little more for tie in.

(11) Tie-in the collar with two moderate loose wraps, after the second wrap, press your thumb into the bunch to distribute the fibers along either side of the fly, but not underneath if possible.  It looks like this:

and the underside looks like this:

(12) Clip a large bunch of deer from the hide and comb out thoroughly.  Spinning deer is a tricky operation best learned from a video or a friend that’s an expert.  Expect a few failures as you learn.  I highly recommend Kelly Galloup’s excellent videos.

(13) Before spinning, clip the tips off the bunch.  Lay the bunch on top of the shank, and make “two and a half” thread wraps.  Before you tighten them down fully, allow the material to rotate (spin) around the hook shank.  It should make one complete revolution around the shank and stop.  For this illustration, I tied the head very thick to show the trimming operations better.

(14) Work the thread in front of the deer hair head and whip finish.  I don’t pack the heads on this fly.  It is designed as a sinking fly, so a head that’s less dense is better.  Cut off the GSP thread with the razor blade, it’s tough to cut with a scissor.

(15) Make a straight cut along the bottom of the fly with the razor.

(16) Carefully trim the fly in a semi-circle as shown.  This can be done by gently bending the blade, but be extra careful.  The fly looks like this:

(17) Spend only about two more minutes with the trimming, don’t go crazy, the fish don’t care at all.  A finished head looks like this:

but is very much subject to interpretation.  It is best to trim a few flies and see how they swim.  I like mine to dive and flutter when fished with a sinking line.

CLICK HERE FOR AN ARTICULATED VERSION

NOTES:  Tandem or articulated versions of this fly are quite popular.  Kelly Galloup recently published an articulated version in a national magazine.  In this version, he uses 4 glass beads to join the body segments and wire to connect the two hooks. 

 

An articulated version of this fly is basically two Cougars connected by mono (I use 50lb leader material).  The glass beads are a nice touch and useful for many other purposes.