Crawfish are medium to large

Finding a baby in a slice of king cake may be the flavor of the moment, but the Cajun fare of boiled crawfish is also taking over the town.
Dakota St. Andre with College Junction Mudbugs said, “We’ve been serving boiled crawfish since before the first of the year. The size of the crawfish has been getting bigger lately. We’ve not been too busy with dine-ins, but we have plenty of pick up orders.”
Boiled crawfish at the restaurant are $5.29 a pound and $4.99 a pound wen purchasing 10 or more pounds.
Most of the restaurants in Eunice that carry boiled crawfish during the season are now serving boiled crawfish, but a few places, including College Junction Mudbugs, were serving crawfish before Christmas.
Rocky’s Cajun Kitchen began serving crawfish a few weeks ago.
Regina Perkins, a cashier at the restaurant, said, “The crawfish are medium to large. We’ve been really busy with people coming in for boiled crawfish.”
A pound of boiled crawfish at the restaurant costs about $5.
D.C.’s Sports Bar and Grill and Cajunland Seafood have also been selling boiled crawfish for the last few weeks.
Alexis Aguillard, a waitress at D.C.’s Sports Bar and Grill, said, “The crawfish are medium to large. We’ve had lots of business for boiled crawfish, especially on the weekends.”
Crawfish at the restaurant are $4.99 a pound.
Dinh Tran, manager of Cajunland Seafood, said, “We have been really busy. The size depends on who we buy from, and they are bigger on weekends. We sell more on the weekend, but during the week is fair, too.”
Crawfish at the store are $4.99 a pound.
At Ruby’s Restaurant and Courtyard, crawfish are three pounds for $15 or five pounds for $25.
Dwayne Vidrine, one of the restaurant’s owners, said they started selling boiled crawfish about three weeks ago.
“We’ve been somewhat busy with boiled crawfish sales,” he said. “We have so many different foods on our menu. Families come in and some people eat seafood and others eat crawfish. It’s been getting busy lately with crawfish, though. The price may go up or down a bit.
Vidrine said he also upped the amount of seasoning used to boil mudbugs this year.
“It gives it a little pop and makes the crawfish taste even better,” he added.
The business owner said the crawfish the first week of boiling were big, followed by mixed the second week, and big again last week.
“We’ll see that they deliver today,” Vidrine said.
Crawfish size and catch are expected to be good for the rest of the season, barring any extended cold spells in the weather.
Dr. Roy McClain, a professor of aquaculture with the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station in Crowley, said, “Crawfish farming conditions are very favorable this year. We had a sufficiently wet summer and fall and a mild winter. December was mild, January was normal according to the weatherman and February has been up and down so far.
“As long as winter temperatures are warm and cold and as long as cold spells don’t last long, the weather won’t effect the crawfish season. The catch will slacken up in long, cold periods, and conditions have been very favorable for growth and production up to this point. If we have a late, prolonged cold spell, things could change.”
McClain said crawfish production is good in most ponds this season.
“In ponds with high populations, the size of the crawfish being caught will be smaller,” he said. “Things are looking good across the board.”