Is it Crayfish or Crawfish?

I’ve been having so much fun tying my tiny UV “Crayfish”. My wife Cassie has kept in good humor though she has been bearing the brunt of it all. What I mean by that is she is asked to look at and admire, with appropriate oohs and ahhs, every new creation. Apparently she hasn’t just been humoring me though, she seems genuinely interested. Admiring my latest creation she asked an actual question, “Is it crayfish or crawfish?”

Good question. Here’s my take, if you’re north of the Mason-Dixon line, it’s crayfish, -south, it’s crawfish. I have been using the former because as I was once told, “Nobody from Mississippi fishes like that” (meaning fly fishing), so, since apparently I don’t live in Mississippi, I’ve been using the North of the Mason-Dixon line version, crayfish. Actually I did it because people from all over may read the blog and crayfish seems to be more commonly used because in fact, MS is not a big fly fishing state.

In my efforts to determine exactly which crayfish I am trying to tie, I sent some emails out to different biologists. One sent me a list of Mississippi crayfish and I went down the list looking for more information on each one. Finally I found information on one that fits the size and description I was looking for and it has been reported as being in the body of water I was interested in. It was first observed in my target stream in 1974 and last observed in 2015.

The Ditch Fencing crayfish (Faxonella Crypeata) is about 1 to 1.6 inches long, usually reddish-tan to olive-tan with two dashed lines running along the side. The claws have orange on the inside. It is found in the waterway but is also commonly found in roadside ditches and so of course it is no wonder that the bait fishermen have been using them.

On the Crayfishes of Mississippi poster, the Ditch Fencing crayfish is the fourth photo down in the left-most column.

Below is my latest creation with respect to the new information. I went to a dumbbell eye to insure that it fishes correctly and I am tying it short with a little bit of shank exposed to make it easier to tie on and also I think it will keep the tail from interfering with the tippet, tying on, unhooking etc. Below it is on a size 6 Daiichi Swimming Nymph hook tied short on the shank and the hook eye well exposed, but I have also been tying it in size 12 and size 14 on regular nymph hooks.