Biggest Crayfish You've Ever Seen?

[jimithyashford]

I caught this fella at Creighton on Monday. He was way bigger than any fish I've caught this year. 9.5 inches from tail to claw tips. A "wingspan" of 11.5 inches with his claws wide to the sides.

He is a Longpincered Crayfish.

They are tied with on Texas species for the largest species in North America, and this is a particularly large specimen.

He was delicious.

[Flysmallie]

He would have been awesome in my aquarium!

[MOsmallies]

Holy cow that thing is massive!!! 6 inches is probably the biggest I've ever seen at Lake of the Ozarks. That would have been a cool pet in an aquarium. Eating him had to of been like eating a small lobster! Thanks for sharing

[Andy & JoAnne]

I have seen quite a few large crawfish up here in the Northwest. Not that big but a good number of 7-8 inchers.

[jimithyashford]

Here are a few more pics to give some better size context. And I am not a small person.

[Mitch f]

They are all over Table Rock

[cnr]

Missouri Lobster

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

I have never been pinched by a crawfish/crawdad but that one would worry me. Do they not pinch as hard as I'm thinking they would?

[ollie]

Capps Creek are full of them that big. Not sure why either, but I have seen some that would equal that one. I always thought about small lobster tail as well!

[jimithyashford]

They taste pretty much identical to lobster. I know they are typically thought of as a cajun food, but I prefer to prepare them similar to how you would other shell fish, with lemon and butter. Also just about any recipe that calls for shrimp can be subbed in with Crawdad tails to pretty awesome effect.