Can Line trace hit a particle?

the particles (custom mesh, ring shaped and scaling up over time) are emitted by the player’s pawn (spawn attached), and I need to determine if one of those particles is present at a specific point.
I have tried line trace by channel and by object with all the combination of settings I could, but they seem to not be able to detect a hit against a particle.
It works detecting a hit against a static mesh component, but it doesnt seem to be able to spot particles.

trace.jpg

I also tried to change the particles material to opaque (they are supposed to be additive)
and I tried to add a collision to the particle mesh, and made sure particles collisions are active

can anyone think at a solution?

alternatively: could a blueprint sample the color value of a texture at a specific UV coord?

thanks!