During my trips home to south Louisiana, time in the bayou is a must. Of course my oldest daughter Addison is now a veteran crawfisher after our last trip down. LOL. But this was my first trip crawfishing. From the boat ride out, cutting the bait, pulling traps, dumping the traps, and rebaiting, I can say we worked for our food! After about 2 hours of running traps, we finished up with about 55-60 pounds. In some areas, people will raise and catch crawfish from crawfish ponds. While in Louisiana, if you’re ever driving down I49 just south of Alexandria, you can see many of these ponds, dotted with the red or white tops of the traps. 
Down around the Atchafalaya River and basin, crawfish are generally caught from the bayous like we did. It’s a matter of finding the right spot, watching water levels to make sure your boat can return to that spot, and hoping the lilies or a critter doesn’t take off with your trap (which aren’t cheap). And then there’s always the worst part of having some jerk run your traps or even steal them, although the typical fisherman here always respects another fisherman’s area and traps. I may have finished up smelling like rotten fish, but I definitely had a blast!
By Lacy Byles