Here's my hellgrammite. . .
I love these bugs and June is prime time. Often, when river fishing is slow, I'll kick around and roll rocks in riffles on the Susky or Juniata River. Hellgrammite nymphs are common in the fast water sections and some are quite large, up to nearly 3 inches in length.
If you release a helgy nymph high in the water column where there isn't a lot of current, you will note that they dive straight to the bottom with a strong wiggle movement. . . which probably explains the efficacy of patterns tied with marabou or rabbit strip. Don't hesitate to impart some jigging action when fishing helgy nymphs.
Also, a characteristic I point out is that many helgy fly patterns are black. Most of the helgy nymphs I see are much lighter: their heads/thorax tend to be dark brown, almost a mahogany tone, but the longer abdomens are usually in the mid-gray to medium brown or olive tone. Like most nymphs, they're lighter on the underside.
