Tahoe crawfish attracting international clientele
By Erin Breen, KTVN-TV
It is a beautifully calm day on Lake Tahoe as Ben Caldwell and his dad, Sonny, launch their boat from Cave Rock. They are headed for their first set of crawfish traps about 20 minutes away.
“This is the greatest cubicle anyone could ever work in,” says Ben with a smile. He and his dad sold an 18-foot boat to buy a 23-footer and joined forces with Fred Jackson and the Tahoe Lobster Company. “We love to fish and this is great.”
Tahoe Lobster Co. was the first to harvest invasive crawfish from Lake Tahoe . Photo/LTN file
These days you’ll find Jackson on the water less and less because more and more he’s focusing on the marketing end of the business, which is paying off nicely.
“I love being out on the boats,” Jackson says. “But what I found was that I just didn’t have the market for the crawfish we were catching. So I’m creating a bigger market.”
And that he has. Not only has be expanded the number of boats on the water with two subcontracting boats like Caldwells, but he’s opened a store front and warehouse in Minden. He’s purchased a refrigerated truck and next week they’ll make their first international shipment — to the U.K.
Tahoe crawdads are delicious! The Delta used to have a crawdad festival, and those down there were nasty. Tasted like mud. Our crawdads up here are sweet and clean tasting! So yummy.
How much are the crayfish per pound? China exports a lot of crayfish to the United States, why would they import them?
Tahoe crawdads are great eating, small, but great!
Here’s how we did it over at Skunk Harbor years ago.Get your boat into somewhat shallow water say, 10 feet, were there are lots of rocks on the bottom as this where they like to hideout. Tie a piece of steak gristle or pork fat to the end of a piece of strng ,then , lower string down to the bottom. Watch your bait closely from the boat. When the little guys take the bait pull em’ up and plop them in a bucket of clean cool Tahoe water. Repeat until you’ve got enough. Next up is to put the crustaceons into boiling water. Then you have to clean out the vein that runs from the body to the end of the tail . Break off the tail and cook it in a pan with butter and garlic. A fresh Baguette and a glass of Chardonay and you have yourself quite a meal.Bon appetite! OLS
OLS, that’s EXACTLY how we used to do it, only we didn’t have a boat. . . in the rocks over at King’s Beach there were a ton of ’em. Bacon, string, and a bucket. In an hour we got about 70 of ’em. Boil, clean, saute in garlic butter. NOTHING better!
Tahoe Lobster co., I’m happy to see your business growing! A refrigerated truck and store front in Minden? And now shipping overseas? All good news! Congratulations!!!
Joby Cefalu who owns “Mile High Fishing” has a client that hauls in a HUGE mac. You can bet ol’ Joby will get more customers once that happy fisherman’s story gets around!
These are the types of businesses that make people come back to Tahoe and also generate revenue that can go to repairing our infrastructure thru sales tax and TOT.
We have a long way to go but I think we are turning this big old boat, (SLT ),around.
Well, at least I hope so! OLS
If only no one had thought that introducing casinos to the shores of an alpine lake would be a good idea, we might be years or more likely decades further ahead in trying to build Tahoe into a destination for folks who might actually appreciate where they are.
Eventually, money will out. Especially where there are no people with a sense of the future – and how long eternity actually lasts.
Could this be, perhaps, the beginning of a turnaround?
on August 23 Mont Bleu will be hlsting the second annual crawfish fry, with concerts, craft beers, games. Should be loads of fun. The crawfish come out of our lake. Last year they ran out of crawfish