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Photos: The Crawfish Farmers
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding gets started harvesting crawfish from the flooded fields early each morning so they can be purged before they're bagged and sold.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding gets started harvesting crawfish between 6 and 7 a.m. each day, just as the morning sun begins to rise over the trees. Gaulding works rain or shine.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding uses a flat-bottom boat equipped with a paddlewheel to manuever through the flooded rice fields to harvest crawfish.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
An early morning look at the flooded rice fields at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
There's a short window for crawfish season because in the water temperature is just right for crawfish to resurface deep from the mud.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding spends about three hours each morning alone on his boat harvesting crawfish.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding, now 43, was once a mechanical engineer before he decided to return home and work on his family's farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Crawfish season is short, spanning from early March to June at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm, so Alan Gaulding works five days a week harvest crawfish from 80 acres of flooded rice fields.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
During the beginning of crawfish season, which begins in early March at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm, Alan Gaulding will harvest between 400-600 pounds of crawfish per day.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding's workspace on his flatbottom boat is small: consisting of a wooden bench to sit, the controls to his boat to his left, bait within reach and a bucket of crawfish in front of him.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding has been farming crawfish at his family's Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm since 2005.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding replaces a bucket full of crawfish on his boat with an empty one to keep harvesting crawfish. After finishing half of the 80 acres, Gaulding has four full buckets, totaling about 240 pounds of crawfish.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Pogie fish are used as bait to catch crawfish.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Though not every basket pulled from the water is filled with crawfish, they quickly add up to the tune of some 1,000 pounds a day during peak crawfish season.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
There's 80 acres of flooded rice fields that are used to farm crawfish at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding is a one-man band on his boat. Not only is he responsible for harvesting the crawfish, he also drives the boat and rebaits the baskets before placing them back into the water.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding pulls a basket out of the water. Gaulding has been farming crawfish for 15 years at his family's Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding dumps a basket of crawfish into a bucket on his boat. Once he's emptied the basket, he'll add new bait and place it back in the water.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding pulls a basket out the water.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding's typically starts harvesting crawfish between 6 and 7 a.m. during crawfish season. "It's a peaceful time out on the boat," Gaulding says.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
It takes Alan Gaulding about three hours to harvest crawfish through the family's 80 acres of flooded rice fields each day.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
The crawfish taken out of the baskets in the rice fields are placed into these large buckets until they're taken to purging tanks.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
A paddlewheel propels Alan Gualding's flatbottom boat through the shallow water. The boat is built specifically for farming crawfish in the family's flooded rice fields.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding dumps a basket of crawfish into a bucket on his boat. Gaulding pulls about 800 baskets each day, five days a week.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Crawfish season begins at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm around early March and often runs until June.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Plastic tubes are used at the top of the crawfish baskets to prevent them from crawling out. The baskets have three openings that are placed underwater. Bait is used to attract the crawfish.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm uses 80 acres of flooded rice fields to catch crawfish during the season.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
During peak crawfish season, Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm sells upwards of 1,000 pounds of crawfish.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm has 80 acres of flooded rice fields where crawfish are farmed five days a week during crawfish season.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding unloads a bucket of crawfish from his boat.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan (left) and John (right) Gaulding load up a 60-pound bucket filled with crawfish from their field at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm. In peak season, Alan says the farm sells upwards of 1,000 pounds per week.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
John Gaulding of Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm pulls a basket of crawfish out of a purging tank. Purging crawfish allows them to purge the dirt and mud out of their system and makes them taste less gritty, Gaulding says.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Crawfish that have been dumped out of a purging tank at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm. The farm purges crawfish, owner John Gaulding says, because it makes them taste less gritty.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Crawfish pulled out of a purging tank at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
John Gaulding sorts through crawfish that were just dumped out of the purging tank at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm. Gaulding sorts out the crawfish that may have died or are too small to sell.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
John Gaulding prepares to bag crawfish at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
John Gaulding bags crawfish at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
John Gaulding ties up a bag of crawfish that's ready to sell at Southeast Texas Crawfish Farm.
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Matt Keyser / KHOU.com
Alan Gaulding gets started harvesting crawfish from the flooded fields early each morning so they can be purged before they're bagged and sold.
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