Why warmer winter means better crawfish on your table
BEAUMONT, TX (KTRK) -- It's the kick-off to crawfish season, and this year's haul may be the biggest and best yet!
With our unseasonably warm winter, the mud bugs have been feeding more often, meaning the crawfish in the catch will be on the larger side, according to Alan Gaulding with the Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm, near Beaumont.
"[We've seen] pretty good sized crawfish out of this field," said Gaulding, whose family has been crawfishing for 30 years, pulling up about 500 pounds a day during the crawfishing season.
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"You'll wonder all winter long how the catch is going to be and the first couple of days you'll get a feel for it," Gaulding said on day two of his season after about three hours in the field.
Gliding his boat through the rice fields, which were flooded with just the right amount of water, Gaulding said the catch is dependent on the environment.
"Too deep, you don't have enough vegetation, but too shallow, there's not enough crawfish in the field," he explained.
Once the crawfish have been purged to make them nice and clean, the mud bugs are bagged up and read to sell for $2.50 a pound.
