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Home › Waters › Texas › Winters Bayou
Bayou · East Texas, San Jacinto County, the Sam Houston National Forest bayou above Lake Houston · Texas

Winters Bayou Fishing Guides

A clear, sandy-bottomed bayou running through Sam Houston National Forest, with public land on both banks and a genuine wading fishery.

Bald cypress hung with Spanish moss standing in still bayou water in Louisiana
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Winters Bayou

Winters Bayou is not what most people picture when they hear the word bayou. It runs through the pine and hardwood country of Sam Houston National Forest in San Jacinto County, and for much of its length it has a sand and gravel bottom, moderate gradient and water clear enough to see fish in. It behaves far more like an east Texas creek than a delta bayou, and it is one of the more pleasant small waters in this part of the state.

What makes it genuinely valuable to a visiting angler is the public land. Large stretches of the bayou run through national forest, which means bank access and wading are legal and practical along much of it, and that is unusual in Texas where most stream frontage is private. The Winters Bayou Scenic Area protects a section of hardwood bottomland along the bayou, and the Lone Star Hiking Trail crosses and follows the drainage in places, which gives walk-in access well away from the road.

Largemouth and spotted bass hold in the deeper runs and against wood. The sunfish fishing is excellent and underrated, with bluegill, redear, longear and warmouth all present and willing, which makes this fine fly water for anyone happy to catch panfish. Crappie hold in the slower pools. Channel, flathead and blue catfish are present, with flatheads in the log jams.

The gauge at State Highway 150 reads stage, and after heavy rain the bayou comes up fast and colours badly, so timing a visit to a dry spell matters more here than on bigger water. Coldspring is the nearest town and Lake Livingston and Lake Houston are both close.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Winters Bayou.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Winters Bayou cfs

Now: 0.3 cfs, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 08069840, Winters Bayou at SH 150 nr Coldspring, TX).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Coldspring - the county seat nearby, with lodging, fuel, food and basic tackle.
State Highway 150 crossing - the bridge at the gauge, the main road access.
Sam Houston National Forest - public land along much of the bayou, open to walk-in access.
Winters Bayou Scenic Area - a protected bottomland hardwood tract along the bayou.
Lone Star Hiking Trail - a long trail crossing the drainage and giving walk-in access.
Lake Livingston - the large reservoir east of here with ramps and full facilities.
Lake Houston - the reservoir downstream that the drainage ultimately feeds.

Seasons

Spring: bass and sunfish move shallow, and the bayou runs full but usually fishable between rains.
Summer: low clear water makes this a wading fishery, best early and late for bass and panfish.
Fall: cooling water brings strong bass fishing in the deeper runs and against wood.
Winter: fish hold in the deepest pools, with catfish and the odd bass on milder days.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Winters Bayou?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Bowfin, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Longear Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, Spotted Bass, Spotted Gar, Warmouth on the Winters Bayou in Texas.

Where can you access the Winters Bayou?

Coldspring - the county seat nearby, with lodging, fuel, food and basic tackle. State Highway 150 crossing - the bridge at the gauge, the main road access. Sam Houston National Forest - public land along much of the bayou, open to walk-in access. Winters Bayou Scenic Area - a protected bottomland hardwood tract along the bayou. Lone Star Hiking Trail - a long trail crossing the drainage and giving walk-in access. Lake Livingston - the large reservoir east of here with ramps and full facilities. Lake Houston - the reservoir downstream that the drainage ultimately feeds.

When is the best time to fish the Winters Bayou?

Spring: bass and sunfish move shallow, and the bayou runs full but usually fishable between rains. Summer: low clear water makes this a wading fishery, best early and late for bass and panfish. Fall: cooling water brings strong bass fishing in the deeper runs and against wood. Winter: fish hold in the deepest pools, with catfish and the odd bass on milder days.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Winters Bayou?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Texas agency site: https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/fishing/