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Hello everyone,
I have a question. When I worked as a fishing instructor for a camp two years ago, I was told by another fisherman to "teach about hellgrammites." I had no idea what they were at the time, and I still don't know what they are. All I know is that they are dobsonfly larvae and they are good fishing bait.
My question is, what is a hellgrammite? Do they exist in southwestern Idaho? What do they look like?
I would really like to try fishing with hellgrammites someday if the regulations allow it.
Any help will be appreciated,
Jared
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I spent a lot of time in the eastern US where there were big numbers of hellgrammites in many of the streams and rivers. They were excellent bait for trout and smallmout bass. I have never seen a hellgrammite in Idaho or Montana and I turn over a lot of rocks.
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Hello,
Thanks for that info, that is very interesting. I was asking because I found an insect under the sand in the Snake River that almost looked like one. I thought it was a hellgrammite that recently turned into a dobsonfly. I am trying to find it what it is. I have a picture of it attached if you want to see it.
Jared
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I can't say for sure but it has the general shape of a dragon fly nymph.
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Hello,
That is exactly what I thought. It might be a dragonfly nymph. Maybe I should get some dragonfly nymph flies and try fly fishing the snake river now that I know what is down there.....
Anyway, I have a question, how do you find hellgrammites? I don't know if they exist in Idaho or not, but I wanted to try looking. Any ideas?
Jared
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They are generally found in faster moving water like riffles. You can turn over rocks and they will be clinging to the bottom of the rocks. You can also kick over rocks and hold a net below them and they will wash into the net. If you do find them be careful, their bite will draw blood.
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Hello,
Ok, so while I was waiting for a reply, I went to the Snake River. I was turning over rocks in the water but I didn't find anything. Maybe it's because that was very slow water? Who knows.
So I went to shore and I said to myself, "What other kinds of insects are there here?" So I turn over a rock and three Hellgrammites scurry out. I got my gloves on and by that time I lost them. So I turn over another rock on shore very close to the water, two come out, small ones. I was able to get one.
I will post a pic later, I got to go,
Jared
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When I was young we caught heligrammites in the winter on th Salmon River for whitefish. We used the lighter yellow colored ones. There were big black ones also. I believe when these hatch they are called Stone Flies. That hatch is prime fly fishing on rivers. You will often see the larvae casing on rocks or bridges after they hatch.
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Hellgrammites and stone are two different things
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