Fishing for Crawfish!

Hi Blog!

From late February to early June, one of Louisiana's most beloved native foods is in season - the crawfish (also known as crayfish, crawdad or mudbug). The crawfish boil is a tradition that holds a special place in Cajun culture. Though the crawfish boil wasn’t always as popular as it is today, eating crawfish in Louisiana dates all the way back to pre-colonial times.  Though the Acadians are often credited with bringing crawfish to Louisiana, Native Americans were eating the shellfish long before Europeans arrived. Local tribes would put reeds baited with deer meat into creeks and ponds to catch crawfish. Today, much of Louisiana's crawfish are raised by farmers, but catching them still requires baited traps.

Just down the road, in Kaplan, Louisiana, is Crawfish Haven and Mrs. Rose's Bed and Breakfast. The proprietor, Barry Toups, offers visitors a unique crawfish experience. We started our adventure with a little tutorial on crawfish. Did you know that Louisiana produces over 100 million pounds of crawfish per year? Barry is responsible for almost 50,000 of those!  

He had some crawfish holding in a cleaning tank, and showed us the difference between male and female.

After our lessons, we headed out to the back of beyond where we would meet our fishing guide. We passed a number of flooded fields. The fields are drained in June so rice can be planted. Rather than harvest the rice, Mr. Barry slowly starts flooding his fields in September. The rice is then eaten by the crawfish. Apparently, you can earn more money from crawfish than you can from rice!

Since there were a number of us from Betty's RV Park, we took turns going out to catch the crawfish. We looked back as the rest of our group as they hung out by the gazebo awaiting their turns on the boat:

The various ponds are surrounded by dikes. We had to hike a little way out the dike to meet our boat.

Heir to the old Cajun swamp-going boat but with the benefit of generations of creativity and modern materials, these little boats are constructed both to glide along the top of a flooded field and to ride easily along dry roads, even going along the side of the highway toward the next crawfish field. Click the link to see this video of the crawfish boat "craw"ling over the dike between ponds.

As we made our way out into the pond, we could see the rows and rows of rice next to rows and rows of crawfish traps. In June, when the fields are drained, the crawfish dig down into the mud. Crawfish mate in the autumn and lay eggs in the spring. The eggs, attached to the female’s abdomen, hatch in five to eight weeks. 

Our captain, Andre Dore, is a local shrimp fisherman. When he is not out on his shrimp boat, he works for Mr. Barry pulling crawfish pots. Watching Andre maneuver the boat is a lot like watching a drummer. He uses his feet and legs to steer the boat and his hands to pull the pot, empty the crawfish into the sorter and bait the pot in time to put it down before grabbing the next one.

Our job, was to sort through the catch, make sure the little ones were returned to the pond to grow bigger, and not let the big ones get away.  We also were responsible for weeding out any frogs or snakes that came up with the other contents of the pots. We also had to look out for females with eggs. The crawfish move pretty quickly, so you have to be on your toes so you don't get bit on the nose. 

Dave gave this crawfish a name. He called it lunch!

Crawfish aren't the only critters that call these ponds home. One of our pots contained a bullfrog. After serenading him with a stellar rendition of Jeremiah was a Bull Frog, we set him free. Captain Andre then told us that he has pulled pots containing water moccasins - North America's only venomous water snake! We were much more cautious sorting through the catch after that.

We really enjoyed our time out on the boat with Captain Andre, but it was time to let the next group take their turn. We used the waiting time to warm ourselves around the boiling pot. When the last group returned, our catch was put in the pot. After a quick boil, it was time to add the spice. Every good cook has his own secret spice recipe.

We lined up while Mr. Barry dished out a full tray of steaming crawfish.

The room suddenly became quite, which is unusual for folks from Betty's RV Park.

Mr. Barry looked on as we enjoyed our crawfish feast:

We learned a little of the history of the property. The house was originally built in 1903 for Paul and Oza Landry Blanchard. In 1921, Rose was born in this house. She was raised here with her other siblings. Rose and her husband, Leroy, later bought the house and renovated. Mr. Barry took over the property after Mrs. Rose passed away and named the Bed and Breakfast after her.

Crawfish Haven -- where you can have a farm to table experience without ever leaving the farm. Bon Appetite!