South Farm Crawfishing

South Farm Crawfish trip

South Farm is located on the east side of Sherburne WMA.  Sherburne is located just north of I-10 between Whiskey Bay and Ramah. It is part of the Morganza Floodway system of the Atchafalaya Basin. Over 43,000 acers of bottomland hardwoods, dense ground cover and bayous.   From Baton Rouge travel west on I-10 and take exit 135 Ramah. Turn right on Ramah rd and take the first left near L&L Bait shop, then take the first right and another right on the levee. Follow the levee north be on the look out for cows crossing or sleeping on the road. You will see a sign for South Farm you will have to go up the levee and down to the other side to park.

To access the ponds, you will have to walk or ride a four-wheeler. A gravel road will lead you to the ponds take note that some of the roads do not allow four wheelers or ATV’s.

My first trip to South Farm I was by myself. I arrived just after sunrise on a foggy March morning. After checking in at the self-clearing permit station. I started my long walk pulling my garden wagon with all my supplies down the gravel road. After arriving to the first set of ponds I could tell the water was low. The water on the edge of the ponds was shallow and clear. Crawfish don’t like clear water maybe because birds that prey on them can see them. It was foggy and I couldn’t see but maybe 50 yards. It’s a great area that I now love to revisit to see the birds and wildlife. Wild swamp hibiscus grow in abundance along the roadside. You can see garfish swimming in the ditches and sometime a small gator or two.   

Most of the crawfish we caught where small to medium. 

I set up a few of my set nets. A triangle set of 4 wires that spread out like a pyramid, a mesh net on the bottom holds them together. I tied a small strip of reflective marker to the top of each one and tied on a piece of beef melt to the center of each net. I later learned from a couple I meet out there that they used cheap metal shower curtain hooks to hold the beef on the net. After placing them in the shallow water with my push pole I waited about 10 minutes before checking them. I had great dreams of coming home with a sack or two of big red crawfish and inviting my friends over for a crawfish boil. But when I picked up the nets they were empty.  Some other people had rode by me in the morning with four wheelers and nets.  I followed the direction they went in and tried some other ponds. These are old rice and crawfish ponds now managed by the department of wild life and fishers. Some are clear with open water and pockets of grass. Some have flooded timber and have become overgrown.

My son picking up the nets,

These ponds also looked low but had some spots with knee deep water. I placed a few nets in these ponds and decided to walk through the fog out towards the middle of the pond. After walking off the road into the pond the water seemed to get shallower the grass began to get thicker through the fog I could  see open water and ducks. There were had about 20 teal swimming in the water without a care. Seems like they know when duck season is over.  Once they flew off I moved towards where they were swimming. That water was to shallow for crawfish nets. After returning to my nets I picked them up and then had a few medium sized crawfish each. I put them back in and walked to another pond. This one had knee deep water and grassy areas that crawfish seemed to like. I set out a few nets and returned to my first few. I walked back and forth until a found a pond that was catching the best.

I set about a dozen nets out in the pond some about 15 feet or more apart and as far as I could reach out with my pole. As the sun started to come out and the temperature started to warm up the nets started filling up. With each net I picked up sometimes they had only a few sometimes a dozen or more. All this hard work and walking back and forth made me thirsty. I looked in by bag for a bottle of water and could not find any. This is not good I was hot and sweating and getting thirsty. I was maybe a mile or more from my truck.  I meet an older couple from Central Louisiana out there, they  also flooded in the great flood of 2016. They were kind enough to offer me a bottle of water.

I walked up the side of the pond picking up the nets and dumping the crawfish in a basket.  After my basket started get about half full around 25 pound I started thinking to myself. It’s a long walk back pulling this wagon and I am out of water. I better head back. I didn’t want to dehydrate. I wanted to stay longer I was still catching crawfish but my lips started getting chapped and thirst kicked in.  On the walk back pulling the crawfish and all the nets, I had even brought some crab nets rigged for deep water just in case I need them, my folding chair, hip waders which I never used. I was really getting hot and tired from not drinking. I looked in the wagon for an extra shirt I had brought what did I see? Two bottles or water! All this time I was so thirsty and I had water the whole time.

One my next few trips out to South Farm I learned what to bring and what not to bring. If your walking in bring minimum supplies but please bring water. I rarely stopped moving so a chair is pointless. I bring my retractable push pole, 1-2 dozen nets, plastic fish basket, beef melt, water and a couple snacks.  I also bring scissors and a machete, I like to walk out there in my tennis shoes and will sometime bring a pair of boots to crawfish in.