Crawfish lovers ponder whether it’s time to eat mudbugs

It’s early January, and we’re all refreshing our feeds and patiently waiting for that one local spot to do it. You know—share a photo of glistening red mudbugs lovingly stuffed into a metal bowl, surrounded by a couple cobs of corn, an enormous sausage link, a few sweaty red potatoes and plenty of garlic, or assorted spices, or whatever the heck.

Above that photo, a message that the local spot has ‘em live and big enough for twisting and sucking. Come on by, order a couple beers, tuck that bib into your shirt and get goin’. 

So … is it crawfish season yet?

Now that the calendar has turned, several restaurants and eateries specializing in crawfish boils may be announcing that they have mudbugs, but they’re still probably of the frozen variety. Which can be delicious if prepared properly, but you know, live from nearby waters is best.

So why aren’t we seeing lots of live crawfish locally? The reason is the weather. 

Crawfish thrive in warm temperatures with plenty of water, but the Gulf Coast didn’t get enough rain over the past several months. As a result, according to WWL-TV in New Orleans, the area has experienced a shortage of healthy, live crawfish. That means the expectation is for smaller and pricier mudbugs to start.

Meanwhile in Central Texas, the intrepid restaurateurs who travel to Louisiana for fresh crawfish are prepared to wait it out a while. According to KCEN-TV in Temple, diners closer to Austin and Waco should expect tinier and pricier mudbugs until the end of March.

This seems to happen annually, and in Houston we’ve become accustomed to start crawfish season around Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl. As long as the winter stays warm, we’re bound to be just fine for the spring.

But again, that’s if you crave live crawfish naturally born from local waters. Some of the area’s larger crawfish restaurants bring in mudbugs year-round from other parts of the world, while others have connections to Gulf crawfish farms that harvest more regularly through controlled environments. But many more prefer to wait until they can get live crawfish in-season.

Smaller crawfish farms and part-time farmers are great for getting you enough for your one-time boil, but if you’re looking to make crawfish night a weekly occurrence, you’re probably waiting a few weeks.