Tent camping on the beach at Padre Island National Seashore is free. Port Mansfield, a remote town along the Laguna Madre, also is a common fishing destination. Day and half-day offshore fishing charters to snapper reefs are available in many coastal communities. For beach, bay and jetty fishing, the game fish of choice is the redfish, also known as the red drum. Redfish are tasty and fun to catch, and especially plentiful this year.
Licenses are available at bait shops and fishing supply stores, as well.
Bird watchers from all over the country flock to the Texas Coast, which offers an extraordinary variety of sea, marsh and land species. Whooping cranes winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where trails, boardwalks and towers help visitors catch a glimpse of the cranes and other birds. Coastal hot spots also include High Island Sanctuary and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, both east of Galveston. The state parks department offers an informative free pamphlet on the coastal birding trail. Texas beaches range from awful to sublime.