Where to fish

Three bays, a ship channel, and a bayou. Nobody in Baytown is more than ten minutes from water with fish in it.

The spots. Bayland Park, Business 146. The boat ramps the town launches from on Saturday mornings, a shoreline for the folks without a boat, and a pier that makes it the night spot when it's lit. Speckled trout and redfish in the bay, black drum along the rocks, flounder in the fall along the shoreline. Open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.; the lot is full by seven on a summer Saturday.

Thompson's Fish Camp, Simms Road. A working bait camp on the east bay: live shrimp, a ramp, a pier, and the restaurant when you've caught nothing. The old-timers are here at dawn and will tell you where they aren't catching anything, which is its own kind of help.

The Lynchburg Ferry landing. Bank fishing along the channel at the landing, mostly catfish and drum, mostly locals who've been doing it for thirty years. Watch the ferry wake; it'll take a rod.

Goose Creek Park, 3 Price Street. The Goose Creek fishing pier — catfish, bass, sunfish, and a quiet morning. The beginner's spot; take a kid here first, with a bobber and a can of corn. Roseland Park, which people confuse with it, is on Cedar Bayou.

The Nature Center, designated areas only. Fishing is allowed where the signs say and nowhere else, license required. Redfish in the shallows on a fall morning is the local secret, and the herons will show you where.

Under the Fred Hartman. Not from the bridge — that's illegal and stupid — but the shoreline near the approaches on the Baytown side holds fish around the pilings. Locals only, by feel; we won't draw the map.

The seasons. - Spring: trout on the flats, drum in the channels, crawfish on the table. - Summer: dawn or dark, nothing in between. Redfish in the shallows at first light. - Fall: the best. Flounder run in November along every shoreline; trout school up; the weather is finally decent. - Winter: the day after a norther. Trout in the deeper channels, drum everywhere, nobody else out.

The rules. A Texas fishing license for anyone 17 and over, with the saltwater endorsement for the bays. Limits and sizes change; the state's app is the source and it's free. Tides matter more than time of day — the moving water an hour either side of the change is when the fish eat. Sunscreen is not optional; the water doubles it.

Where to buy. Live shrimp at Thompson's; tackle at the sporting-goods stores on Garth; ice everywhere; a license online or at any of them.

En español. Dónde pescar en Baytown: las rampas de Bayland Park, el campamento de carnada Thompson's en Simms Road, la orilla del ferry, Roseland Park para principiantes. Licencia de Texas para mayores de 17 con el endoso de agua salada.