Hellgrammite Color?

[troutbum421 0]

I've been been toying with the idea of tying a hellgrammite pattern for a little while now and was confused on what color to use. I've seen patterns that are all black but I've seen Dave Whitlock's which uses grey-brown dubbing and brown swiss straw. I've also seen pictures of real hellgrammites and they looked brown but the pics weren't very good. Are hellgrammites black or does it just not matter that much? :help:

[Redwings1 0]

I have a bunch tied up in both black and browns...I let the water clarity determine the pattern to be used. For more silty and choked up water I will use the black, but in more clear water I use the browns.

[Guest]

They can vary greatly even in the same stream. I have seen them all black to a light tan color. I have also seen many with a reddish head, so I would say any of those colors will work because they all are in the stream at the same time.

[kerusso 0]

Redwings and Smalliehunter are all over this .... the only thing I would add is that I've caught some helgrammites that actually had a mottled (grey,brown, black) appearance on their casing. Don't know what sizes you are planning on tying, but they range from small up to 3 1/2-4 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide. They are dandy baits in moving water. Good luck.

[Guest]

Yeah, what those guys said! I've seen them in lots of variations, but Black, mottled Black/Grey, and mottled Black/Brown seem to work best in general.

[dafack01 0]

Russ Blessing tied the original Woolly Bugger to immitate a Hellgrammite. He tied it with olive chenille, black marabou, and black hackle.

 

I think any earthy-toned buggy lookin' thing will be mistaken for a Hellgrammite, honestly.

[flyfishingtaz 0]

next spring I plan on heading back home for a few weeks for a vacation and remember that those were some pretty normal bugs for the area. Is a pumpkin color out of the question? I've seen alot of patterns lately with that color in the fly. Is it just a fall thing, like for halloween, or can it actually be used for this particular pattern?

[sandflyx 0]

 

need I say more, dark olive to black on the head...

 

 

Brown version I tie...

[beadhead 0]

Sandy

They are talking about flies to catch fish , not what you had for dinner !!!!!!!!!!!!

[sandflyx 0]

Ah cooked in a tomato sauce, with fresh basil...

[bwoemerger 0]

Hope this picture helps...It is out of focus but the colors are ok

[fly time 0]

I would say go to your stream catch one, and judg by that, personally, Im scared to death of em, they look mean, guess Im just a big candyass, but Mike and Will are pretty right on the money with their replies!!

 

 

Dustin.

[CM_Stewart 0]

The short answer is that it doesn't matter. As dafack01 said, the woolly bugger was designed to imitate a hellgrammite, and what color of woolly bugger doesn't catch fish?

[Phacops 0]

Hellgramites, hummmmmm .....in bage is good pattern, but underbody black color is better.. look this hellgramite was tied with this color for me...

bye

[sparkleminnow 0]

Bwoemerger's pic is very representative of the helgies in my streams, BUT all black works the best. :dunno: