Anyone tried this in a similar way as the tarantulas?  

I tried it on a couple islands last night and failed.   One of these islands had 2 water bugs in the river to begin with -- but when I chopped down all trees, plucked all flowers, and removed the rocks they never spawned again.   Nothing.  Zilch.  

Can this be don with GWBs like the Tarantulas?

I have an easier time spawning them on the islands that have ponds.  That one island that is just a giant pond they constantly spawned there even after I cut trees/flowers/broke rocks etc