Agostino Roncallo
Step by Step

Mirage.

I began using Cul de Canard in the eighties, just when most
other Italian anglers similarly discovered its existence, but I
must admit that although I was appreciating its features, for
the first few years I did not feel the need to experiment with
new ways of using it. This probably happened View more...
I began using Cul de Canard in the eighties, just when most
other Italian anglers similarly discovered its existence, but I
must admit that although I was appreciating its features, for
the first few years I did not feel the need to experiment with
new ways of using it. This probably happened because, at
that time, it was enough to cover the shank of a hook with tying
thread and tie on a bunch of CDC fibers near the eye to
obtain an extraordinarily effective fly, so there was no need
to test new fly patterns. I continued to use that archetype of
the CDC Fly, without thinking it necessary to create other fly
patterns, until it gradually began to be less effective. Maybe
the fish had become more easily spooked, and I am referring
in particular to the grayling of the River Aveto in Italy, a
place haunted by myself and hundreds of other fly fishermen.
We were using the same CDC patterns every day, so much so
that the fish did not see almost anything else on the water other than flies formed by just flashy bunches of CDC fibers.
I began then to think more about the silhouette and structure
of the flies, thus creating the first representations of my
concept. Later, thanks to a lucky intuition, I created the
Mirage, the fly that came from the consideration that,
''Nothing is lighter or more buoyant than a CDC feather''. I
felt that if I could give to a feather the shape and outline of an
Ephemera, an up-winged fly, perhaps I would have gotten an imitation with extraordinary features. Using a CDC feather, I
got what I wanted, but mostly I realized that the CDC could
be used in many different ways and that with a single hackle I
could obtain a complete fly pattern. I called the imitation The
Mirage, because it is so thin and delicate that rather than
imitating the insect, it seems to imitate the essence of it and
because its catching power reminded me of the deadly
effectiveness of the namesake French fighter plane. In the
beginning I tied the Mirage on grub and straight hooks, but
lately I only tie it on grub hooks because I think their curved
shape is more appropriate for creating imitations with
extended bodies.

Move the mouse over the image to zoom in the fly. Touch the image to zoom in the fly.

List of materials

Thread 8/0 hook grub Garue 240 size 16 Tails, body. wing tied with a CDC hackle

Steps

Step 1

Choose a feather with whole fibers. Holding the quill end of the feather, I draw the fibers along the feather shaft towards the quill, with the same process that we use to obtain “Wonder Wings.” In this way I create an extended body.

Step 2

Tie the extended body on a grub hook, near the eye.

Step 3

Match the length of fibers from the quill end of the CDC feather with those that extend to form the body of the fly.

Step 4

With few turns of tying thread, I raise those fibers in order to form the wings, and then I cut off the excess portion of the feather right over the eye of the hook.