So how did the lowly crawfish gain such prominence in our culture? Well, actually, Native Americans in the area were the first credited with harvesting and consuming crawfish even before the Cajuns arrived on the scene. They used to bait reeds with venison (deer meat), stick them in the water and periodically pick up the reeds with crawfish attached to the bait. By using this method, the Native Americans would catch bushels of crawfish for their consumption. By the 1930s nets were substituted, and by the 1950s the now ubiquitous crawfish trap was widely used. The trap is still the current method of harvesting mudbugs.

Louisiana leads the nation in the production of crawfish with approximately 100 million pounds of crawfish per year. About half of the production comes from the Atchafalaya Basin and half from an extensive aquaculture system which involves some 135,000 acres of ponds throughout the state.

Crawfish season typically runs from March through about June. This is when you will get your best crawfish. From August to February the shells on the crawfish are quite hard and not as easy to peel, and they are not as "fat".

And, there is actually a season. Crawfish harvesting begins in the Spring, thus this is why your best crawfish are in the early spring months.