# Penny Winkle



## Nuttin Better (Mar 30, 2012)

Anybody know what a penny winkle is and has anybody ever used them for bait? Just wondering.


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## ranger370 (Mar 30, 2012)

Thought a penny winkle was a snail...??????


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## moore0661 (Mar 30, 2012)

They're a small crustacean usually found in drainage ditches or othe damp areas.  Fish love them.


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## Jody Hawk (Mar 31, 2012)

A crustacean?  I believe it's some type of larva. We used to find them in creeks under leaves.


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## Dennis (Mar 31, 2012)

They look like some kind of grub to me


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## SCOTT HILDERBRAND (Mar 31, 2012)

I have asked before and no one could answer.  Some type of larvae I guess. Great fish bait .


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## NGa.MtnHunter (Mar 31, 2012)

Heres a few pennywinkles I just went and picked up out of my spring, thousands of them in there. They're just a small hard shell snail.


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## fish hawk (Mar 31, 2012)

A freshwater snail and the correct name is periwinkle.


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## fishfryer (Mar 31, 2012)

Jody Hawk said:


> A crustacean?  I believe it's some type of larva. We used to find them in creeks under leaves.



I've seen them in a small creek in Jasper county. A friend showed them to me,told me they were great fishbait. They were in hardwood leaves,in the bottom of the stream. The ones I saw were about an inch long,give or take,and about a quarter of an inch thick. They were greyish in color. I never stuck a hook in one,just looked at them,and put them back.


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## Nuttin Better (Mar 31, 2012)

The penny winkle I am familar with is the larva that is found under wet leaves in creeks. They are great catfish bait.


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## Jody Hawk (Mar 31, 2012)

NGa.MtnHunter said:


> Heres a few pennywinkles I just went and picked up out of my spring, thousands of them in there. They're just a small hard shell snail.



That is not what I refer to as a penny winkle. We may all be talking about different things here.


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## krazywayne (Mar 31, 2012)

The ones I have used are a caterpillar looking worm found in wet leaves near a creek or spring. Catfish love 'em


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## Flaustin1 (Mar 31, 2012)

Yall talkin bout a helgramite.  (Stonefly larvae) Now thats good fishbait


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## fish hawk (Mar 31, 2012)

fishfryer said:


> I've seen them in a small creek in Jasper county. A friend showed them to me,told me they were great fishbait. They were in hardwood leaves,in the bottom of the stream. The ones I saw were about an inch long,give or take,and about a quarter of an inch thick. They were greyish in color. I never stuck a hook in one,just looked at them,and put them back.





Nuttin Better said:


> The penny winkle I am familar with is the larva that is found under wet leaves in creeks. They are great catfish bait.





Jody Hawk said:


> That is not what I refer to as a penny winkle. We may all be talking about different things here.





krazywayne said:


> The ones I have used are a caterpillar looking worm found in wet leaves near a creek or spring. Catfish love 'em


Yep were discussing two different things here...The worm looking things are one of the many types of fly larvae,most likely deer fly or horse fly,there's a bunch of different types.......Excellent bait!!!


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## Arrow3 (Mar 31, 2012)

Flaustin1 said:


> Yall talkin bout a helgramite.  (Stonefly larvae) Now thats good fishbait



Thats a go-devil....

We refer to the larve type baits as "stretchers"


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## Resica (Mar 31, 2012)

Flaustin1 said:


> Yall talkin bout a helgramite.  (Stonefly larvae) Now thats good fishbait



A hellgrammite is a Dobsonfly larvae. Excellent smallmouth and catfish bait.


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## fishfryer (Mar 31, 2012)

Resica said:


> A hellgrammite is a Dobsonfly larvae. Excellent smallmouth and catfish bait.



They're great for largemouth here also,as well as about any fish in our rivers and streams. Myself, and a friend caught over 150 catfish one night on hellgrammites in the river,fishing slipsinkers on the bottom. Good bait if you can find them! I've been on the river at night when the Dobson Fly hatch was happening,remarkable sight!


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## NGa.MtnHunter (Mar 31, 2012)

The pictures I posted above are what pennywinkles look like in this neck of the woods. Pennywinkles are snails not larvae or worms.


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## Jighead (Mar 31, 2012)

What many of you are calling pennywinkles we have always called go devils. To me it is hands down the best channel cat bait there is on Lanier.They are a larvae of some type, I heard it turns into a crane fly. After a hard rain, you can use them where a feeder creek comes into the lake, and if the water it is coming in fast and muddy, there are usually catfish in there gorging themselves on this bait. We have caught many a stringer of catfish fishing this method.


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## Resica (Mar 31, 2012)

fishfryer said:


> They're great for largemouth here also,as well as about any fish in our rivers and streams. Myself, and a friend caught over 150 catfish one night on hellgrammites in the river,fishing slipsinkers on the bottom. Good bait if you can find them! I've been on the river at night when the Dobson Fly hatch was happening,remarkable sight!


They're as big as small birds!


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## dawg2 (Apr 1, 2012)

If you are talking about a large maggot-like worm about an inch or two long with whisker like tubes on one end: That is a Crane Fly Larvae.  They make great bait.  They can also bite.


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## F.A.R.R. (Apr 1, 2012)

I'm not sure about the Penny Winkles, but I used to fish the Hiawasse River in  TN alot for trout and they called the small snails that lived in the river Periwinkles.

The river was loaded up with them.  It was funny some of the trout you'd catch would have these big fat bellies.  If you ran a finger down the belly you could here the periwinkle shells rubbing togather in there.  I don't know how in the world they diegest the shells but I guess it happens.


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## fishfryer (Apr 1, 2012)

F.A.R.R. said:


> I'm not sure about the Penny Winkles, but I used to fish the Hiawasse River in  TN alot for trout and they called the small snails that lived in the river Periwinkles.
> 
> The river was loaded up with them.  It was funny some of the trout you'd catch would have these big fat bellies.  If you ran a finger down the belly you could here the periwinkle shells rubbing togather in there.  I don't know how in the world they diegest the shells but I guess it happens.



I've caught shellcrackers in the river that had been eating fingernail sized mussels,they were passing them in the normal way. I've seen mudcats with mussels in them as big as a small egg.


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## Arrow3 (Apr 1, 2012)

Here is a "stretcher" and a "go-devil" (helgramite)


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## FredBearYooper (Apr 1, 2012)

Those helgramites can draw blood..watch out for those nasty suckers


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## fulltime (Apr 1, 2012)

Arrow 3 has in 1st pic what we call penny winkles. Hunting for them in leaves in creeks is about as fun as fishing with them. I have caught 100s of catfish on them in the rivers around here. My dad been fishing with them for many years.


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## bartgn (May 26, 2013)

Collected them as a young boy in creeks in Hapeville Ga . Charlie's bait shop , market & fruit stand located at Cleveland & Steuart Ave. gave me a penny a piece for them .


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## Nicodemus (May 26, 2013)

What ya`ll call a go-devil (hellgramite) is what we call a gator flea. They make a fine shoal bass and catfish bait. Bream will hit small ones.


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## Backlasher82 (May 26, 2013)

We always called these go-devils, they are crane fly larvae and some of the best catfish bait around.


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## shakey gizzard (May 26, 2013)

This should clear up the confusion! http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3509


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## Nuttin Better (May 26, 2013)

Arrow3 said:


> Here is a "stretcher" and a "go-devil" (helgramite)



What you are calling a strecher in the first picture is what I know as a penny winkle.


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## glynr329 (May 26, 2013)

*Jim Stretchers*

We called them jim strethers and penny winkle. I know we use to go to creeks and grab a big hand full of leaves. We would get a bunch and tear the bream up. They got hard to find in a lot of the creeks around here. Dad said it was from all the poisins that everyone was using.


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## shoot2grill (May 26, 2013)

Hellgramite also called crawly bottoms around here,find them in long hairy moss on rocks in shoals of river...their tuff! You can catch a lot of fish on just one and watch out for the pinchers!


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## snapdog (May 28, 2013)

"We called them jim strethers and penny winkle. I know we use to go to creeks and grab a big hand full of leaves. We would get a bunch and tear the bream up. They got hard to find in a lot of the creeks around here. Dad said it was from all the poisons that everyone was using. "  I agree with glynr329. We caught and fished with these for a lot of years. They have become scarse possibly because of hardwood harvest close to small streams where the leaves accumulated for them to be in along with pollution.


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## snapdog (Apr 8, 2018)

*Arrow3*

Your stretcher is what I grew up calling a pennywinkle. My dad took me to get those for bail many times . Any small branch with leaves always had thrm. The more leaves the more pennywinkles.


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## Glynr (Apr 8, 2018)

Wish I had a bunch of them we wore the fish out with them. Dad said that up in my neck of woods all the chemicals has pretty much done them in.


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