Texas has 500 miles of coastline on the northwest Gulf of Mexico. Wind generates our surf as it does everywhere on the planet. We rely on the prevailing SE winds to generate most of our swells.  Low pressure cells hovering in the Gulf, timely arrival of sweeping cold fronts with North or West winds bring it all together. Timing is everything and these conditions generally don't last long. If you surf in Texas you are generally "eaten up" by it, you skip work, school or obligations to go surfing. If you don't drop what you are doing you're gonna miss a potentially epic session. With a few exceptions,  the farther south you travel the larger and harder breaking surf you will find. It can go off on any given day at any spot along the Texas Coast and those who stay in tune with the weather and conditions score the best sessions.

The best waves in Texas are at South Padre Island, near Port Isabel . It is simply the most consistent spot. If you want to be serious about surfing in Texas this is going to have to be one of your stops. There's more fetch, the water is deeper, and the waves have more power. It is the best place to receive a true groundswell, sometimes long-range and long wave period groundswells. The best waves break near the jetties, where the inside jacks up and the outside gets well overhead .  Steamers breaks farther down the beach away from the jetties and there is plenty of open beach break behind the hotels. North swells break across the inlet at Boca Chica, which is primarily a left. When it is on it breaks like a long left point. Boca Chica generally doesn't break as hard as the Padre Island side of the jetties but is still a choice break. There is usually an outside indicator wave breaking off the end of the Boca Chica jetty when the conditions are good. On large swells the legendary Cove breaks in the channel between the jetties. If it's big enough the cove wave will start lining up past the jetties bait stand. The Port Mansfield jetties at the cut about 40 miles north of Port Isabel is only accessible by four-wheel drive or by boat. It is a (not-so) secret spot but surfed by only a few.

Other good surf spots are in Corpus Christi . The Bob Hall and J.P Luby piers both offer good pier breaks. The Bob Hall pier holds a bigger swell and produces a nice tube but gets crowded. The Luby pier is designated for surfing and the surrounding beach is the party beach. Condos is a nice beach break behind the hotel strip between the piers. This part of the coast gets very windy, however. The Fish Pass jetties is another good spot located inside the Mustang Island State Park. The short jetties shield the wind and break the rip currents creating a good lineup. Port Aransas  is a growing beach community just northeast of Fish Pass and has plenty of open beach break with a good pier break. The Horace Caldwell pier is a large structure and offers a good pier break. San Jose Island  is an uninhabited island just across the channel from Port Aransas and is accessible by ferry or by boat.

Matagorda  is another good surf spot near the river mouth of the Colorado river. Here the beach is steeper and the sandbars more defined. The waves here are generally more hollow and break with more power coming out of deeper water. It is another favorite spot. Matagorda is a fickle spot but it is definitely worthwhile to catch it when it is on, especially after a cold front with an offshore wind. Because it is near the river mouth the water is usually murky and brown with a little debris floating around. A little further up the beach is Shell Banks. Here the sand and the sandbars are layered with seashells. An old oil barrel stuck in the sand marks this area. Back across the Colorado river is a small jetty and miles of beach break. It can get good on east or northeast swells. The Port O'Connor jetties in the Matagorda Island State Park  is a very remote  area. It is accessible by ferry or by boat from Port O'Connor.

On the upper Texas coast lies Galveston  and Surfside . Galveston's seawall is lined with small jetties creating numerous breaks. The 37th street and 61st street jetties are the most prominent breaks but the Flagship pier hosts the best wave in Galveston. The coast here is very shallow and the waves don't break hard. Galveston receives little true groundswell. The beach replenishment project has built up some of the sandbars, helping some breaks while hurting others. The long jetties in Surfside are similar to those in South Padre Island, however the waves here are rather slow and mushy. Longboards work well here and are recommended for the entire upper coast. The Octagon house along beach drive is a good lineup marker. The long jetties in combination with a more easterly facing beach than Galveston enables it to receive some moderate groundswell from the eastern Gulf. On large swells waves break in the channel between the jetties. Large east or northeast swells break across the Freeport channel at Quintana. The old Surfside pier is another good spot and there is more open beach break. The old surfside pier is a pretty good summertime break as it will have small waves when most other spots are flat. Even farther north along the coast is Meacom's Pier in High Island and Sabine Pass.

Map overview contributed  by Billy Cowan