For The Best Fresh Crawfish, Grab Them During This Season

No matter if you call them crawfish, crayfish, crawdads, or mudbugs, they sure are delicious. Everyone has slightly different ways to prepare them for the softest shells, the sweetest meat, and most tender texture. In fact, there are many personal stories about crawfish boils and family celebrations involving how to cook the little crustacean. However, one thing folks tend to agree on is the best time of year for harvesting them. In general, the best month for munching on these tasty critters is March, though they should still be at peak quality through May.

The reason for this is pretty straightforward — crawfish like warmer weather. When it's cold, crawdads don't move around as much, so they take longer to migrate into traps. If it's very cold, crawfish will dig themselves into little mud burrows to nap until conditions are more comfortable. Once waters warm up, they'll become more lively and hungry after remaining dormant during winter. By March, they typically reach maturity. At some Southern farms, this gradual awakening can begin as early as November and continue through July. So, a reliable crayfish season spans from January through May.

The two biggest advantages of peak season are more plentiful and meatier crawfish. People who harvest fresh crustaceans will find their traps fuller during this time. The crawfish they pull will be more flavorful since they have matured, with shells easier to peel. Females will have fatter tails, and males will have bigger claws. When crawfish are abundant, prices drop, so this is one secret to a great backyard crawdad boil that you shouldn't overlook.

Crawfish are aggressive, fickle little creatures, as evidenced by how they're willing to gnaw their own legs off to escape being eaten. That same fickleness shows up in their season, which varies by region. Louisiana and Texas are top crawfish suppliers, with Louisiana boasting 250,000 acres of crawdad farms — surpassing Texas' 15,000. While Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi crawdad seasons run comfortably from January to July, Texas' is a little shorter, spanning February through June.

In California, where the clawed critters are considered pests in the rice fields, crayfish are harvested from July through October. Washington has a crawfish season, too, from May through October. In West Coast states, August is a prime time for crawdads, which is significantly later than in Southern states.

Across all regions, there's some variability in when the peak month occurs. Very cold winters can cause crayfish to die in their burrows or take longer to re-emerge, delaying the season. An uncharacteristic cold spell in spring or summer can slow their activity, causing traps to yield smaller loads. Farmers also must keep an eye on overcrowding, since too many mudbugs will prevent them from growing big and tasty, regardless of the season. While March is still a good general guideline, the smartest hack is to check local farms to see when they expect peak crawfish season. Mastering how to properly crack open and eat crawfish takes finesse, but finding the best season to enjoy them is simple.