Soon very soon

[Melvinp]

Hellgies

 

[Don]

They and their small give me the creepy jeepies.

 

[Melvinp]

Nothing like being on the river bank during a big hatch of these little monsters lol when one of them is crawling on the back of your neck

 

[Don]

I used to use a lantern at night but would turn it off when the Dobsons Hatch. I don't want to know. Creepy Jeepy.

 

[Melvinp]

Kinda fun about hellgies nymph stage catch all kinds of fish but when they get their wings not so much

 

[HenryDavid]

I fish the Susky a lot at night, the Dobson Flies try to attach themselves to your face.

 

[Don]

Interesting critters and they keep a long time. I took a 2Gallon bucket with a lid last two years ago filled it half full with leaf litter and a handful of dirt or two. they lived fishably for a couple weeks. Can't stand working with them.

 

[Melvinp]

They will live a long time just keep them cool and a little moist but don’t keep them in water they will drown kinda funny that’s where you catch them

 

[pabassman]

I remember keeping them in strips of burlap and grape leaves. Kept them in the basement where it was cooler.

 

[Melvinp]

I got the bright idea to show my daughter the batch of hellgies I had in a foam cooler in my kitchen I opened the lid she screamed jumped up on the counter and I was chasing hellgies around my kitchen floor (mom wasn’t impressed) so big word of advice don’t keep them in a foam box they will crawl up the sides with ease

 

[Don]

Ha ha. I am the only one that like fish in the household so I try to not have incidents that lead to negative reactions. Thanks for the warning. But I won't fish them anymore as the Hellgies actually are too gross for even me. Live leeches are a second. Bloodworms are third. Becoming a sissy in my older years. Things bother me now that I wouldn't have thought twice about 20 years ago. Spiders, Some snakes, probably more. What a sissy I can be.

 

[Gremcat]

If anyone finds some some I’d like to buy a hundred LOL. Here they are in driveway puddles. I can’t find them ever and hear they are great for trout. I find some fish with crawdads inside too and have a knack for catching those but again by many of areas where I haunt for an odd reason I don’t find them. It’s weird to be honest. I grew up catching crawfads daily for a decade or more and even as far south as NC. Always used for a meal Or bait but in PA it’s sort of a non-starter. Cant buy and I can’t find yet. Then have to kill when you leave the water.

For Hellgies I even looked at buying online and shipping but always sold out. Not even sure how to hook them but always Looking for a new type of rigging.

 

[Melvinp]

Need moving water look for shaded spots that have bigger rocks and a sandy soil (moss is good)get a net or screen and have a person flip rock above the net(summer). Spring flip rocks on shore same conditions let the little guys go to get bigger

 

[Nappy]

Shore line monsters are really starting to change over with all the heat we had

 

[Don]

They sure do creep me out.
last summer in Flaming Gorge we didn’t know about the Salmon Flies. Every night at dark the came through camp like biblical locust swarms. They don’t bite but hav allot of pokey appendages. You think they’re biting but they aren’t. When the hit you they immediately and quickly begin crawling in out and all over you. My grandkids freaked and we almost had to get tranquilizers for the one poor kid. That is how I am with Dobsons.

 

[HenryDavid]

They are looking for something to hang on to, brush, trees, etc. so a human is just another object to land on, so is your fishing rod. The mandibles are for clinging on to the opposite sex for mating. I've come to respect the Dobson fly, it means no harm but is equipped with serious pincers.

"Although not to the same extent as the larvae of mayflies and caddisflies, hellgrammites are intolerant of polluted waters and may have potential to be used as indicators of water quality." < Wikipedia >

 

[Don]

I didn't realize that the long ones, Helgramites, Male???? are not legal to possess or use. weird

 

[Randy Z]

As far as hooking them. Hook right under the first articulating shell back from the head!!!

 

[Gremcat]

I’ve never found one,

 

[HenryDavid]

The gulp or many other rubber imitations work for river smallies, I also have a few flies I bought online that imitate a helgramite and have caught bass on them. LOL, I just googled for spelling purpose, the correct spelling is "Hellgrammite" even their name gives them a bad rep.