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You people in Michigan are NUTS!

Really? Crawfish an invasive species that needs to be eliminated? YOU PEOPLE IN MICHIGAN ARE NUTS! Crawfish is a cash crop raised by farmers who makes millions every year selling them in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. They are exported around the world! What is the matter with you!


Disclaimer: In all seriousness, invasive species are very destructive and crawfish can damage earthen dams and possibly cause soil erosion in some areas. In Louisiana, this species is controlled by eating them.

Comments

  • Crawfish are a poor man's lobster and several times when I'd go to an old fishing hole near me I wouldn't come home with any fish but a bucket of crawfish. I usually filled up the bath tub with enough water for the critter to clean themselves up a bit. Get's that muddy taste out of them as they excrete what-ever it is they eat that can make them taste bad. And after giving them a day or so of fresh water swimming I boil the little bastards alive until they turn red - and eat them. Hey, the zombie apocalypse will be upon us sooner then we think and I'll be making soup out of that dirty crawfish water.

    And to the people of Michigan I say ... "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And when nature gives you an abundance of crawfish, make Etouffee."  

  • We used to catch 'em in a creek back-up. We'd put an inch of raw hot dog on a closed safety pin tied to a long string and throw it into the middle of the water, let it sit a minute or two and then slowly drag it out. The mudbugs would not let go. We'd take 'em off and throw 'em right into a large tomato soup can filled with water from our canteens that we set to boil on a fire made of twigs. Then fish 'em out with sticks.

    Suck the heads, eat the tails. Some of the big ones were near six inches long.
  • When we gathered Mussels we'd put them in a bucket with a handful of cornmeal to clean them out before cooking.
  • We used to catch them just for fun and keep them as pets, we would go to the Euclid Creek reservation and find them under the rocks,@motie2 will remember that place.
  • A few years back, my sister and brother-in-law was heading back to Texas from New Orleans early one morning. They were about halfway to Baton Rouge on I-10 in very light traffic when the car in front of them suddenly hit it brakes and pulled over to the side. My sister slowed down and then said she ran over something in the road so they pulled over. It was crawfish migrating from the swamp on one side of I-10 to the other side. Brother-in-law immediately dumped everything but the ice out of the ice chest and the started scooping up the critters. Said the picked up 15 lbs of live crawfish in about a half hour.
  • @PappyJoe, all this post has done for me is wish it were still crawfish season...
  • @pipeman83 -- Indeed I do. Once we were turned loose on our bicycles, leaving the neighborhood -- pedaling to Euclid Creek to hang out and play in the woods and creek -- was a summertime favorite activity.
  • Maybe the lead in their drinking water has had a very negative effect.  Just kidding. I love me some crawdads, when I can get 'em here in New England.  A buddy of mine has them shipped here for an annual festival he attends in New York.  Dee-lish.
  • Perhaps some of our Louisiana members would consider mentoring our Northern friends on the Art of harvesting, preparing and serving this unforeseen bounty.
  • As a Michigander, I'd rather see 'em gone. We've got enough problem with invasive species in our lakes - zebra mussels,say.  They aren't supposed to be here.
  • @judandhispipe - I really do understand the dangers of invasive species and even wrote a magazine article about Zebra Mussels about 20 years ago. Louisiana has its share of invasive species also - including zebra mussels, nutria and Asian carp among others. The state placed a bounty on the nutria a couple of years ago and on top of that it's trapped for the fur. Nutria only eats living plants and is a lean, healthy meat to eat but most people claim its too much like eating a rat. "It's closer to eating rabbit and a lot of meat is exported to France where it's a delicacy."
    The worse invasive species we have I think is Northern Tourists during Mardi Gras though. At least they are seasonal.
  • The Jersey Shore has their "Bennies", Nantucket has their "Main Landers" OBX their "Renters" but the Cash Registers sing a happy tune.
  • flyfishedflyfished Apprentice
    We have our own natural crawdads, and these invasive ones impact those! I'd rather have our Michigan ones than these unnaturals.
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