New enterprise committed to mudbugs, family business

In recent years, crawfish have become such a treasured delicacy, thanks in no small way to Shreveport’s Mudbug Madness, that one could never keep up with the demand by such old-fashioned methods. Set to capitalize on that growing demand is the new Caddo Crawfish Farm, which is the brainchild of someone who considers himself to have a “Ph.D. in crawfish.” That aficionado is a retired fireman, the appropriately named Smokey James.

After 33 years with the Shreveport Fire Department, Smokey James retired last year as battalion chief.

Always a hard worker, for 17 of those 33 years he also worked as a paramedic for Willis-Knighton. Someone with that strong of a work ethic can never truly “retire” so he is now stretching his entrepreneurial muscles by developing Caddo Crawfish Farm. James has also brought in three partners to help him run this new enterprise. Keeping it all in the family, his partners are his three children: daughter Jordan, daughter Kristin and son Matthew. Even though they are as equally committed to this family business as their dad, each of the three James children have also kept their day jobs.

“Jordan is an assistant apartment manager, Kristin works with a local bank, and Matthew is a driver for UPS,” James said proudly.

Caddo Crawfish inhabits a 300-acre expanse on the Blanchard Road just north of the I-220 intersection. This location makes it easily accessible from I-220, where it is only a few hundred yards north of the Blanchard Road exit.

“I bought the first 157 acres in the late ’90s and have added to it as the property became available,” James said. “We currently have about 300 acres, 200 of which are designated as wetlands with about half of that committed to crawfish farming. We are closely following the mandates of the Federal Wetlands Act.”

He likens the property to the Atchafalaya Basin.

Always an avid outdoorsman, this type of operation is perfectly suited to James’ lifestyle. Not only do he and his family hunt and fish locally, but he has a hunting lodge in Colorado, where they spend as much time as possible each season hunting elk.

Illustrating his seriousness for the project, he initially bought a $50,000 excavator to work the property and recently purchased a $14,000 aluminum purging tank.

“Anyone who knows the crawfish business will understand the importance of purging the crawfish to clean them out,” James said. “We have the only purging tank in the Shreveport- Bossier market. This is not necessary if you are buying to stock, but if you are buying to eat, it is essential.”

“Since I take this business of crawfish very seriously,” James said, “it is important for us to do the best crawfish farm that can be done. Since I retired last year from the fire department, I now have the time to devote to getting this operation off the ground. This is truly a labor of love and even more so since I am able to do this in partnership with my three children.”

Until just recently, the burgeoning business has primarily depended on word of mouth to generate sales, but they are definitely gearing up to do greatly increased business in the very near future. Their company slogan is “Home Grown Tail, Always for Sale.”

– Karl Hasten

MORE INFORMATION:

To learn more about Smokey James and the Caddo Crawfish Farm, you can check out thier Facebook page at Caddo Crawfish or call them at 834-3361.