Lurking in the dark shadows of large rocks, waiting for any unsuspecting creature to swim or crawl past, nothing under a few inches in length is safe from the voracious hellgrammite.
- Rocky Riverbed (click to enlarge)
The hellgrammite is an aquatic insect, the larvae of the huge Eastern Dobsonfly that spends 2 to 4 years of its life (compared to 2 weeks as a Dobsonfly) living in the fast flowing stretches of streams and small rivers. They are nocturnal hunters that use their large, very strong pinchers to snag prey.
- Capture Screen (click to enlarge)
Since the hellgrammite is a favorite meal for just about any predatory fish in the Texas Hill Country Rivers, they make excellent bait. If you are going to take the kids fishing, I highly recommend starting out the day with a hellgrammite hunt. Just make a simple screen to put just below (downstream) a good sized rock and turn it over. Check the bottom of the rock and the spot where you moved it from. Then check your screen. Be sure to have everyone wear light gloves, the pinchers are VERY strong, especially for children. The kids will have a blast hunting hellgrammites so take your time, the fish will wait.
- Hellgrammite (click to enlarge)
Once you have enough for the day, keep them in a bucket of water and find some deeper water that looks good to fish in. Use a small hook with a split shot weight 6” above it. The hellgrammite should be hooked once through a single body segment and cast out to a likely spot.
For those of us who don’t use bait, you can mimic the look and motion of the hellgrammite with select lures or flies. I personally am working on tying a fly to get it as close as possible and am having tremendous success with the early prototypes.
