Louisiana Going Crazy Over Gigantic Idaho Crawfish

Crawfish are kind of our thing here in Louisiana. We're known across the U.S. for them to the point where whenever anyone sees a crawfish they immediately think of Louisiana.

Well, what if we told you that there's a place in Idaho that boasts a native species of crawfish that can grow about twice the size of what we catch in Louisiana and apparently are "the best tasting crawfish in the world"?

Huge Idaho Signal Crawfish

Today we learned that crawfishing is a big deal in parts of...Idaho.

As far as we know they don't farm crawfish in Idaho, it's more of outdoors fishing activity.

Just taking a look at procrayster.com, you can tell there is a passionate crawfishing community in Northern Idaho.

Also, they get bonus points for calling them crawfish and not crayfish or crawdads.

From procrayster.com -

"Crawfishing is our passion.

With Crayster gear, we catch bigger crawfish and we catch them more often. We enjoy sharing delicious recipes.

And because we have so much fun, we want to help you experience that too!"

So, what kind of crawfish are they catching in Northern Idaho?

According the Facebook group Crayster's Idaho Crawfishing Reports what they're catching is the "Pacifastacus Leniusculus also known as the Signal Crawfish".

The Signal Crawfish is native to the western United States but has become an invasive species in many parts of Europe and Asia.

It gets its name from the distinctive white or blue-tinted patch near the hinge of its claws, resembling a "signal."

This mack daddy of crawfish species is found mainly in the Western United States, especially in rivers and lakes of Oregon, Washington, and California.

The Signal Crawfish typically grows to 6–9 inches and comes with claws far larger than what we normally see in Louisiana.

Not only are these Signal Crawfish really big, but apparently taste fantastic.

From Crayster's Idaho Crawfishing Reports -

"DID YOU KNOW? One of the biggest and best tasting crawfish in the world originated right here.

The native range of Pacifastacus Leniusculus also known as the Signal Crawfish is a wide-ranging species native to the Northwestern United States.

Much of the Signal Crayfish’s presumed native range is found within the Columbia River Basin."

Looking at the comments on Crayster's Idaho's Facebook post, it didn't take long for folks from Louisiana to take notice and start drooling.

You can see multiple pictures of these massive Idaho crawfish over on the Crayster's Idaho Crawfishing Reports Facebook page.