Roncallo Special
By Agostino Roncallo

Brown Roncallo Special

  This is one of the first artificial flies in which assemblage I inserted the CDC. Arose from a modification that I made to Suspender Nymph by John Goddard and Brian Clarke. After the publication of the book "The Trout and The Fly. A New Approach”, their Suspender Nymph became known to the Italian fishermen who appreciate quality.

  This nymph falls in the surface film of water by a ball of foam, wrapped in a strip of nylon stocking, fixed next the hook eye in imitation of the wing pouch. At that time, I did not know what was the foam, so wrap a ball of polystyrene, dyed black with a pen, in a strip of plastic film. I replaced the plastic film with the nylon stocking because I felt better imitate the wing pouch of the nymphs are ready for hatching.

  Imitation worked very well, but I had a problem: I could not see it easily in water, often lost sight of the fly, and hooked the fish to late.

  I modified it by adding a bunk of CDC next to polystyrene ball and things improved. Later I replaced the polystyrene ball with a foam ball reaching the final criterion for construction of imitation.

The idea to call the fly "Roncallo Special" was my friend Claudio Tagini's, that lives in USA and that with this fly has caught all kinds of fish: bass, blue gills, trout, Steelheads and salmon.

Tying description:

1) From a foam sheet of a centimeter of thickness, using clamp with which you make holes in leather, I income a cylinder and, with scissors, I give rounded a tip.

2) Lock the vice a hook grub and start to wrap the assemblage thread around its shank, starting from eye. Proceeding to the left to tight turns up to half of the stem, turning back and I stop just before the eye, the point where I have to fix the foam ball. To get the ball of foam, positioned on the shank of foam cylinder with round ends next to the eye, in order to get the ball attachment.

3) After creating the ball, I move the assemblage thread to the left by pressing and fixing on the stem a few millimeters of foam cylinder. Cut the excess foam cylinder and proceed with winding thread around the shank of mounting until reaching the point where I will begin to build the abdomen imitation.

4) At that point, a fixed on the assemblage thread hare hear or synthetic yarns that wrap for create a dubbing to wind around the shank for build the body of imitation.

5) Proceed with the construction of the body to reach the ball of foam , beside which a fixed s Hackle CDC. wrap the hackle around the ball in position and after having parachute attached to the shank of the hook, I cut the surplus.

6) I take the barbs of the CDC, move it to the left and lock in that position, crossing the wire assembly on the sides of foam ball.

7) Next to the foam ball, I fixed three herls of the peacock feather tail, the twined about themselves, wrap around the hook crossing between the CDC wings and the ball to get the chest of imitation, fixed the herls next to the eye and cut their surpluses. I finish the installation by running the head of the fly which I put a drop of paint.

  Usually, to create the ball of imitation I use yellow foam because it is the color that I see better in water. The fly could also be built deprived of the chest of peacock herls without to damage his effectiveness.

The Roncallo Special is perhaps the most eclectic of my imitation, either dry or wet floats and works in all types of water, high in the streams, rivers and lakes. In waters where the fish are subjected to high fishing pressure, especially in no-kill, where they are often attacked by small flies and capillary nylon, a Roncallo Special built on a hook No. 12, often catching very well, happened more than once and into difficulty waters.

Grey Roncallo Special

Pink Roncallo Special

Old Roncallo special

Text and photos by Agostino Roncallo © 2010