It is the time many Louisianians look forward to all year long.
“As the Lenten season begins, it’s almost the official start of crawfish season, especially with the availability we have,” said Bill Pizzolato, a co-owner of Tony’s Seafood in Baton Rouge.
Pizzolato said crawfish season actually came early, but that’s a good thing.
“This year has been a very unusual year. We started with the warm weather in November, December. So, It’s really looking great for the farm raise crawfish, but normally, you don’t see a lot of crawfish being produced until February,” said Pizzolato.
His customers aren’t complaining. Tonja Stampley is a regular at Tony’s. Stampley said she comes here around four times a week.
“It’s a good season. So I’m grateful to God for that,” said Stampley.
Stampley is here to feed her son’s “crawfish addiction.”
“Since he’s been here, he’s been eating the crawfish every day,” explained Stampley.
For another regular, Shane Godso, he kicked off the crawfish season a while ago.
“I’ve gotten them at least six times this year so far,” said Godso. “Usually I get about two, three pounds.”
Pizzolato said the Lenten season is the busiest time for his business, where they expect to sell up to 125,000 pounds a week as the season continues and the temperatures climb back up.
“When you have warm weather, the crawfish don’t hibernate as much. They tend to shed and get bigger,” said Pizzolato. “So as it gets warmer, like in the next week or so, they’re projecting in the mid 70’s and higher, you’re going to start seeing the size of the crawfish improve.”
We’re told the average price for a pound of live crawfish, right now, is around $3.50, but experts do expect that price to drop in the upcoming weeks.