Christmas Bay, TX

Christmas Bay is a shallow 4,173 acre embayment in the southwestern portion of the Galveston Bay system. The bay has good water quality, extensive oyster reefs, and fringing salt marsh habitat consisting of Spartina alterniflora, Batis maritima, and other species, and has not yet been greatly altered by human activity. The northern shore of the bay is home to the 42,000-acre Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. Anglers will enjoy fishing for spotted seatrout, red drum and flounder, and much of the shallow bay features a bottom firm enough to wade. The bay supports a higher diversity of finfish than any other portion of the Galveston Bay estuary and has been designated a nursery area and a Coastal Preserve by TPWD. On the preserve, the Texas quahog (Mercenaria texana), an edible species of hard clam, inhabits the shallow-water perimeters. The area is home to migratory and resident waterfowl and shorebirds. Stands of cordgrass provide feeding and nesting habitat for waterbirds, and extensive oyster reefs are found in the bay.