Texas answers the season question mostly by not having one. The state runs on bag and length limits rather than a calendar, and the closure that does exist is for a single fish in a single six-week window.
Every season we have verified in Texas
One block per rule, because a single species can be on two calendars in the same state depending on the water. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is what our own data says the fish are doing.
Southern flounder — Statewide, coastal waters
From November 1 to December 14 the flounder fishery is closed outright and the bag limit is zero. That window is the autumn migration out of the bays, when the fish are concentrated and easy to catch, which is exactly why it is protected. Regulations run from September 1 to August 31 rather than by calendar year.
- Size
- 15 inches.
- Limit
- 5 a day.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Legal dates were read on the agency’s own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
What the water is doing while the season is open
This is the part an agency page will not tell you. The temperature row above is the seasonal curve we use for the 45 of 76 Texas waters we track on a southern reservoir profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. A season that opens while the water is still in the forties is a legal invitation, not a biological one: the fish are there, they are just not eating on your schedule yet. Cross the legal band against the activity row before you book the day off.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 76 Texas waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Lake Conroe — Montgomery County
- Sam Rayburn Reservoir — Angelina County
- Lake Fork — Wood County
- Lake Palestine — Henderson County
- Toledo Bend Reservoir — Sabine County
- Lake Livingston — San Jacinto County
- Lake Tawakoni — Hunt County
- Lake Buchanan — Llano County
- Lake Whitney — Hill County
- Richland-Chambers Reservoir — Navarro County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Texas requires a licence from age 17, and residents pay from $30.00 against $58.00 for visitors. What a Texas licence costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does fishing season open in Texas?
It depends on the species: southern flounder closed november 1 to december 14. Every date on this page was read off TPWD on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Texas?
Yes. Texas requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $30.00 for residents. A season being open is not permission to fish: the licence is separate and so are the size and bag limits.
Are these Texas dates going to change?
Some of them, and the page says which. Dates written as a rule in the regulations are calculated here for 2026, so they follow the rule rather than going stale. Dates the agency sets each year are shown as exactly that, with no calendar band, because inventing one would be worse than leaving it empty.