“Oh, I use a boat once in awhile,” Baitshack Ben admits, “but most of the time I don’t bother with all the expense and trouble. There is plenty of action on the piers and jetties. Besides, I kind of like the atmosphere. I’m out here to catch fish, but I like the people, too.” 

Those are familiar sentiments on the saltwater fishing piers dotting the Texas coastline. The fishing is often good, and people are relaxed, friendly and generally helpful to one another.

Pier fishing along the Texas coast is easy and convenient. Whether you're fishing for shark, redfish, spotted seatrout, or flounder, there's a pier close by with plenty of room for everyone.

For more on the good fishing and interesting characters that can be found pier fishing on the Texas coast, read Rusty Middleton’s full story, Pier Pressure, from Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. Then, to see it live, watch the TPWD video, Fishing with your Piers.

Saltwater kayaks lend a whole new meaning to “getting on top of the fish.”

For a long time, without as much as a halfhearted test, I dismissed the kayak as an unviable fishing boat. Anything that narrow, I figured, had to be unstable. Chalk it up to too many canoeing mishaps.

I was wrong, and I’ve never been so happy to be so misguided. For stability and simplicity, canoes don’t even remotely compare to modern-day fishing kayaks.

Larry Bozka talks more about discovering the joys of saltwater kayak fishing in his article, Stealth Fishing, from Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine.

Looking for a place to try your hand at saltwater kayak fishing? Check out one of the eight Texas Paddling Trails along the coast.

If you want to catch a fish, learn how to act like food.

If there is indeed a “secret” to consistently catching fish it has to be the ability to think like one. Successful fishing, especially with artificial lures, boils down to convincing a creature with a pea-sized brain that whatever we are throwing at it looks and acts like the real thing. Fortunately, predator species share many common behaviors.

Get the inside scoop - read this article fromTexas Parks & Wildlife magazine.

Each winter, starting after Thanksgiving, TPWD stocks rainbow trout in approximately 100 locations. Dates and locations will be listed on our Web site by mid-November, so check back soon for trout fishing opportunities near you! Watch this video about last year's trout stocking to get a firsthand look at what to expect for this year!

Fourteen of the locations where rainbow trout will be stocked are Neighborhood Fishin' lakes located close to urban areas. In these bodies of water, trout will be stocked approximately every two weeks, so there will nearly always be a fresh supply of fish ready to take your bait! Visit www.neighborhoodfishin.org to find a Neighborhood Fishin' lake near you.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began accepting "lunker" bass weighing 13 pounds or more into the Toyota ShareLunker program on October 1, 2010. The current season marks the 25th year of the program. 

Read the press release announcing the start of this year's exciting season, and watch this video to see how the program works and how you can be a part of it. 

For complete information and rules of the ShareLunker program, tips on caring for big bass and a recap of last year’s season, see www.tpwd.state.tx.us/sharelunker. The site also includes a searchable database of all fish entered into the program along with pictures where available.

Information on current catches and other topics, along with brief videos of angler interviews, will be posted as available on the program’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/sharelunkerprogram.

This program is made possible by generous support from

What are big and plentiful and ready to give anglers a good fight? Large schools of mature red drum – male and female – aggregating near gulf passes to spawn. Listen to Bill Balboa, TPWD ecosystem leader for Galveston Bay, talk about the annual Texas-style running of the bulls in this audio story from TPWD's Passport to Texas radio show.

Remember that there are bag and possession limits and minimum-maximum size limits on red drum. Be sure to be familiar with the regulations each year before you head out to fish on the Texas Gulf coast.

Texas is one of the best places in the country to boat and fish. But this may not always be true. Right now our lakes, rivers and bays are under attack by invasive species.

Invasive species push aside and outcompete native plants and animals, throwing our ecosystems out of whack. Invasive plants like giant salvinia can double in size in a week and block recreational access. And many species, like zebra mussels, harm water quality and damage boat engines by plugging the water intake system used for cooling.  In the process, they can cost the state and taxpayers millions of dollars.

You can do something to prevent this threat by following these 3 easy steps: clean, drain and dry your boat, trailer and gear EVERY time you leave the water. Watch this video to learn more.

For more information on the hundreds of invasive species threatening our state, visit www.texasinvasives.org/.