ABC-13 goes fishing on Texas crawfish farm

WINNIE, TX (KTRK) -- It's the peak of crawfish season, and it's become a big business in Texas.

Chances are you've had a pound or two, or 10. But have you ever wondered what it takes to get them from farm to table?

Just 60 miles east of downtown Houston, Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm can't keep up with the demand. John Gaulding's family's flooded rice fields along I-10 East are a breeding ground for the crustaceans.

"We've got more orders than we anticipate having crawfish for," said John Gaulding of Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.

Trapping crawfish is a lot of work, so I joined son Alan Goulding for his usual morning harvest on a small six foot boat.

There are rows of 400-500 traps in the marshes. While riding in the boat, you pull up the trap, dump the mudbugs into a bucket, put bait back in the trap, and put it back in the water. Sounds pretty easy, right?

"It's a lot of work. You get cuts on your hand from the bait," Alan Goulding said. "Occasionally you'll pull up a snake in the trap."

Little mistakes could cost farmers money, while raccoons, otters, and birds do even more damage to the traps.

Alan Gaulding said he traps about 250 pounds of crawfish every day. By comparison, in about 45 minutes out on the boat, we trapped about 60 pounds. But that's just the beginning.

Up next, we had to purge the mud bugs. Purging is completely submerging them in water for a long period of time to clean them. After a two hour soaking, we sorted and bagged them. Then the 30 pound sacks were ready for pickup.

It's a lot of work during the short season, but can be a very lucrative business since everyone loves their mud bugs! The Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm makes more than $100,000 during the three months that make up crawfish season.