Helgramites:

[fishin fool]

Hey all,
I will be fishing Lake Casitas this weekend. I've only heard about helgramites recently. Has anyone tried these there. Any details as to where to find them and how to use them would be greatly appreciated. If you want to protect your sources, please PM me and I will keep it to myself. Thanks and tight lines,
Fishin Fool

[pasadenafishin]

what kind are you talking about cause arent helgramites just bugs that live on the water??

[City Dad]

... since this is a family forum, could you please refer to them as heck-gramites?

I have yet to find any in local streams (though I must admit to expending very little effort in that pursuit) but if they are around you'd find them by turning over rocks in your local stream or river... and good luck they will pinch the **** out of your finger if you're not careful.

[smitty99]

They are little creepy crawleys that kind of look like earwigs but form a little pebble/sand cocoon around their soft body so just their heads can stick out and catch food. In WA state we usually found them hiding under river rocks in faster moving clear water. They are good trout bait from what I can remember and we called them 'Periwinkles' but the more scientific name is Helgramites.

[City Dad]

They are little creepy crawleys that kind of look like earwigs but form a little pebble/sand cocoon around their soft body so just their heads can stick out and catch food. In WA state we usually found them hiding under river rocks in faster moving clear water. They are good trout bait from what I can remember and we called them 'Periwinkles' but the more scientific name is Helgramites.

Hey, were in WA? I grew up in Okanogan. Those bugs with the pebble cases sure sound like caddis fly larve... which are still killer for trout none-the-less. I think that helgramites are much more common back East.

There are plenty of caddis flies around here - though they are tiiiiiiney compared to the monsters you'd find on the Chewak or the Methow. Even with the pressure most SoCal effluences see, it's hard to beat a little elk hair caddis and if that doesn't work, a size 18 pheasant tail or hares ear.


Incidently, our dad once showed us how to dig a certain larva which he referred to as helgramites out of water-logged, rotting wood - but as I got into tying I came to learn that they weren't helgramites at all (I think they werer probably dragonfly larve.)

and to digress further, I knew guys who called scuds periwinkles. (Never heard anyone who fishes call 'em freshwater shrimp - which they aren't)

trout food - is it fascinating or what?

[smitty99]

CityDad, I seem to remember finding them under river rocks in the central cascade foothills. They make a sandstone/pebble casing and they are black about a half an inch to an inch in length. Cold clear water.

after more searching... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobsonfly apparently this is the adult version of a hellgramite.

I've come to the conclusion that the Caddis fly larvae are what we called periwinkles.

[City Dad]

CityDad, I seem to remember finding them under river rocks in the central cascade foothills...

Wenatchee? Leavenworth? Cashmere? Yakima?

... or are you a clam digger?

[smitty99]

clam digger...especially the bearded variety! :)