Insect Order Megaloptera (Hellgrammites, Dobsonflies, and Alderflies)

I have just recently started fishing with hellgies and need some info on the best time of year for catching, bait. Any insight will be greatly appreciated

I am from ontario canada and i pick hellgrammites for a local bait shop owner i was just wondering when is the earliest i could start picking...last year i started in june but i hear you can start sooner when is the earliest i can do this??? thanks for your help

serious picker

I am an amatuer entomologist and am searching for adult dobsonflies. I think this is the right time of year for dobsonflies in Indiana. what are some ideal places and times to look? I know they like lights. If anyone lives in Indiana what are good places to look? I know you guys know your stuff when it comes to aquatic insect hatches, so I thought I would ask. TIA

Often times in March and April on the Colorado River north of Lake Buchanan in the Texas hill country, I will catch a bunch of Hellgrammies and fish them on a drifting line with a small split shot for channel cats. While I release most of them, often times I am stopped and asked what I caught them on. Since some of these fish will be in the 5 to 10 lb range it catches peoples eye. Their great bait for a channels, in swift water and clear rivers.

What really brings me to the area during these months is the White Bass and Stripper runs up the same river for spawn. I do alot of flyfishing for them. What brought me to this web site was trying to find a hellgrammite pattern that I might use to catch the channel cats when the bass fishing slows.

Any thoughts?

I'm working on a magazine article about hellgrammites, which I think are a generally underrated food source and an extremely cool group of insects.

I'm going to do a lot of research and combine it with my own experiences, but many of you have been fly fishing longer than I've been alive, so I'd like to see if any of you have stories about them -- catching big trout with stomachs full of them, finding trout rising to the dobsonfly adults, getting bit by these bugs, or anything else.